Sokila was there, this time.
"You really went outside?"
However, she was speaking to the silver-haired man in blue from before...
"Indeed I did! I often explored the strangeness of humanity's world, accompanied by...a dear friend."
His cheerful response elicited a pout from the little girl.
"I miss going outside..."
The tall man smiled gently.
"Your time will come in due course, little one. I'm sure your guest will enjoy it just as much."
Sokila positively glowed at his words.
"Okay...I'll try and be patient! Thank you, Theo-san...no, that's not right...Theo-senpai!"
The man nearly keeled over, yellow eyes wide with shock.
"So...
this is what it's like to be a senpai...truly, an awesome responsibility..."
The faint haze of blue began to brighten-
xxxx
/Tuesday: June 23, 2015/
/Courtyards, Hakone Academy/
Shinji Ikari focused really intently on flipping a coin as he walked around, doing his best not send it to far. This was all for the sake of practice, he swore to himself.
All the while, the chatter of nearby students filtered through like background noise.
"-you ever wonder why we're here?" inquired a male second-year student.
"It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it?" answered another boy with an ostentatious sagacity. "Why are we here? Are we the product of some bizarre cosmic coincidence, or are there really gods, watching everything? You know, with plans for us. I don't know man...but it keeps me up at night."
Flip. The coin barely rotated, even though it went two feet into the air. How do people do this so easily?
"...what?! I mean why are we here, at this school?"
"Oh. Uh...yeah."
"What was all that stuff about gods?"
"Oh. Um...nothing."
Flip. A few rotations.
"...you wanna talk about it?"
"No."
"...you sure?"
"Yeah."
"But seriously though, why are we here? As far as I can tell, we live in a world where at any given instant, we can go utterly insane because of Angel Syndrome. Even playing it safe is no guarantee. So why are we busting our asses to try and get good grades in school?"
"Mm-hmm."
Flip. The coin veered upward at an angle. Nonononononononono! Shinji barely caught it without stumbling. Whew...
"I mean, what's stopping us from just not going? Attendance officers? I mean, I bet I could make an argument that becoming a hikikomori is a valid survival strategy in this day and age. Would anyone disagree?"
"...well, your mom and dad would."
"Okay, besides them, who would care?"
"...I'd care, dude."
"...damn it man, going for the emotions is a low blow. That ain't an argument!"
Flip. Shinji's brows furrowed with concentration as he caught the coin. Hmm...
"And none of that's gonna stop your folks from tearing you a new one if you don't get a good score on finals."
"Yeah yeah, don't remind me..."
"...maybe you can ask the gods if their plans involve you getting an above average score?"
"Now you're just being a smartass..."
Flip. The coin actually made over a dozen rotations! Okay, so it's all in the thumb...
And so he continued onward towards Hakone Academy.
xxxx
/Class 2-A, Junior High Branch, Hakone Academy/
As classes concluded for the day, Shinji Ikari found himself experiencing an odd feeling of déjà vu. Did the Track Club and the Literature Club have to fall on the same day again?! Referencing the extracurricular schedules on his phone, he realized that it was due to probability more than anything else; apparently, the track team met on every day except Thursday and Sunday. That's...a lot of days. Thus, it only felt fair to give the Literature Club priority over the track team. Okay...if it's numbers, it'll be a mission; Literature Club otherwise. With more practiced ease relative to yesterday, he flipped the hundred-yen coin into the air. It lazily spun about, landing in his open palm, the numerals for 100 seemed to stare back up at him. So...it's time for a mission, then. Now came the even more daunting task of actually picking a mission, because hoo boy there were a lot of them. He couldn't keep flipping coins for all of them, could he?
However, as he browsed the Mission Board app, one particular submission caught his eye. Huh...I'd be working with him...? That actually sounded somewhat...interesting. It feels like it's been a while...
xxxx
/The Cognitive Protection Center, Tokyo-3, Metaverse/
Goro Akechi looked honestly surprised at Shinji's presence, sitting at his desk within the large, Archetype-ridden office inside the floating fortress. "I have to say, I'm honestly surprised that you were the one to take the request."
Shinji Ikari quietly shrugged; getting here via the false 'cognitive teleporter' underneath NERV had taken a bit of a detour, but he didn't quite feel confident enough to try phasing through realities to get here directly. "Well...I was told that I have a quota to fulfill."
"And you thought working with me would be the simplest way to fulfill it?"
The question, although rife with potential for snark, betrayed nothing but simple curiosity. Even so, it was enough for Shinji to flush with embarrassment. "N-N-No, nothing like that! It's just, well...there were a lot of options, and then I saw that you had submitted this one..."
Akechi smiled cheerfully. "Ah, did I make that much of an impression on you?"
"...well, it just felt like it had been a while. That's all..."
The Chief Warden of the Tokyo-3's Cognitive Protection Center couldn't help but chuckle. "It does almost feel like it's been a lifetime since you were last here, even though in reality it's been less than two weeks."
Thinking about elicited a strange sense of nausea in his stomach. "...it feels like so much has happened..."
"Well, time has a way of slipping away from the best of us." His manacles clinked and clacked as he folded his hands in front of his mouth, evoking an image that made him nervous for some reason. "It is true: events since the last new moon have been rather taxing. Notwithstanding the usual destruction caused by Ghosts and Acolytes, we've had to extensively review our security protocols in light of the fact that the Angel somehow managed to whisk a Shadow out of the Cognitive Protection Center without any warning...or signs of forced entry. Needless to say, this has been seen as a significant failure on our part, and must be rectified...or else."
"Or else...what?"
Akechi smiled darkly. "I'd rather not bore you with the minutiae of political intrigue. It can be rather depressing at times."
Shinji didn't quite know what to say to that. Instead, he glanced down at the phone in his hand - which had stopped receiving normal signals since he had entered the Metaverse - and read once more the text from his accepted mission:
SUBMITTED BY: Goro Akechi (Anti-Terror Task Force)
LOCATION: Cognitive Protection Center (Tokyo-3)
MISSION: To assist local A.T. Agents in the pacification of Shadows held within the Panopticon.
Steeling himself, he asked, "...what does it mean to pacify Shadows?"
"Precisely what it says: one of our many duties besides assisting judicial proceedings and law enforcement, as was the case during your last visit, is to ensure the psychological well-being of those whose Shadows reside here. Normally, within their rooms, Shadows tend to keep to their own devices...but sometimes, events in reality can instigate a sufficient degree of mental agitation that the cognitive barriers between rooms can become weak. Or, perhaps, a better word would be permeable. And interaction between Shadows is discouraged as a matter of policy...after all, the hidden sides of people tend not to be pleasant."
Shinji thought back to Kensuke Aida's encounter with his own Shadow. "Yeah..."
"Normally, we would have a sufficient level of staff on hand to take care of such routine work, but as I've said, various circumstances have coincided to make that...impractical. Hence, why you're here now."
"...so what do I do?"
Akechi smiled, rising from his desk; a nearby Archangel proceeded to dust his cognitive desk. "Follow me, and I shall explain more along the way."
xxxx
/Panopticon, Cognitive Protection Center, Tokyo-3, the Metaverse/
Shinji Ikari stood in front of a doorway alongside Goro Akechi, thumbing the silver medal pinned to the front of his shirt.
("Take this," advised Akechi, handing him a medallion that, save for the color, matched those of A.T. agents perfectly. "It will serve as your means of temporary access while working here. Furthermore, given your...unique status, you won't even need your own randomized identification tag either. Now, place your hand here, we need to scan your prints.")
Akechi went to the right hand scanner, while Shinji went to the left; they spoke aloud into the intercoms on each side of the door.
"Agent Goro Akechi, identification zero-zero-foxtrot-zulu-six, requesting access to Resident Delta-Bravo-Four-Nine-Nine-Epsilon."
"Guest Shinji Ikari, identification...Evangelion-user, Third Child, requesting access to Resident Delta-Bravo-Four-Nine-Nine-Epsilon."
"Standby for authorization."
Moments later, the armored door hissed and unlatched, opening to unveil the Shadow's Realm within: a far contrast from Chiba Takehide's corrupted office environment, this particular Realm looked like a gigantic racetrack in the middle of a stadium; thousands of masked humanoid silhouettes populated the stands, cheering on the Shadow of a woman driving a highly-customized race car. As it continued to perform multiple laps at high speed, Shinji looked nervously at the cheering 'fans.' "Will...we have to fight them all?"
"Hmm. She must be rather agitated for this aspect of her to be this prominent in her Realm..." Akechi calmly grabbed an empty seat, an expectant smile on his face. "I'll step in if necessary, but I'd like to see if you're able to pacify her without assistance."
"...are you sure?"
"I'm quite sure. Remember her profile, and you'll do just fine."
Shinji grimaced as he slowly descended the steps of the open-air stadium, trying to recall what Akechi had told him on the way to this particular Realm. Aika Nakamura...in real life, she's the manager of a local Tamayo Transport warehouse...her personality is apparently rather stoic in person, but her Shadow apparently is incredibly determined and focused. It was so strange, to see how Shadows could diverge from the people they were sourced from...well, seemingly, that is. This was but another hidden side of Nakamura-san, apparently.
As he got down to the edge of the racetrack, a silhouette waved a black-and-white checkered flag, signalling 'victory' for the racing Shadow. Even though there was no other opponent, the spectral extensions of the Shadow cheered her on regardless; the slim red Formula 1 car slowed to a stop, and the driver hopped out. Wearing an all white racing suit and helmet with a reflective blue visor, the woman withdrew her helmet with a flourish, letting shoulder-length blue hair fly free. "New best time. Still room for improvement." Her yellow eyes turned swiftly towards him. "You're a new face. The Task Force is getting younger and younger these days."
Shinji blinked. "Oh. Um...I'm just a guest. Doing a mission."
"Well, if you're done wasting my time, I need to prepare for the next race. Can't slow down, after all."
Shinji couldn't help but wonder just how stressed out Nakamura-san had to be in real life if her Shadow reflected such an intense focus on speed. "Well..." He tried to recall her profile, as Akechi had previously explained. "How about I race you, then?"
"No offense, but you don't look like you'd even reach the pedals."
"But...what if your vehicle breaks down? You'd still have to make it to the finish line anyway, right?"
"...a fair point. It has been a while since I flexed my legs." Nakamura's Shadow promptly began stretching. "If you lose, I'll kick you out. I have no time for people who'll slow me down."
...is pacifying Shadows always this intense?
xxxx
From the stands, Goro Akechi watched in silence as Shinji Ikari proceeded to race Aika Nakamura's Shadow around the track. The boy's stamina was considerably more thorough within the Metaverse, a mere consequence of just how his ability to fight Archetypes, Shadows, Acolytes, and Angels reinforced his own self-image. The more he battles, and the more experience he gains...the more he will be able to endure, as his cognition becomes convinced of his growing strength. Already, there was a greater degree of certainty in his movements compared to the battle against Chiba Takehide's Shadow.
The after-action reports from the battle against Shamshel only cemented the reality that Ikari held more promise than he had initially estimated.
The quiet stranger tilted his head. "You acknowledge his potential?"
"It would be foolish to do otherwise."
"Does it cause your pride to ache?"
"...I would be lying if I said no."
"You are at least honest."
"Attempting to mislead you would be an exercise in futility."
"Perhaps...I like to believe I'd have enough tact to take your feelings into account."
He resisted the urge to sneer. "I do not need to be coddled."
"Coddling and politeness are not the same thing."
"...I would prefer blunt truth, no matter how painful it is."
"There is no need to maintain any pretenses for me."
"It is a useful pretense, if nothing else."
"I suppose...after all, if you will not allow yourself to feel hope, then you will at least hold on to that façade."
"I will leave hope for those more suited for it."
Down below, Shinji Ikari barely managed to outpace Nakamura's Shadow; the silhouettes comprising the audience seemed paradoxically agitated yet calmer by the result, as if the fact she had lost to a mere teenager was sign enough that her real self needed to take a break. I wonder if his nature allows him some measure of insight, even if he isn't consciously aware of it?
The quiet stranger smiled sadly. "I would not be surprised."
"To be unaware of such...how deep was his very essence buried?"
"As deep as it needed to be."
"...you truly fear
that man, don't you?"
"We all do, for good reason."
"A shame that I cannot act as openly as I would like..."
"It is a limitation we all must deal with. After all, we are not gods."
Akechi snorted bitterly; how true that was, no matter how much he had once deluded himself otherwise.
As the silhouettes gradually reduced in number - a sign that Nakamura's Shadow was increasing in docility - Akechi found himself looking at Shinji more intently. We will have to foster his growth by any means necessary. How vexing, for such an unknown figure like Ikari to be the proverbial linchpin. Such thoughts were masterfully hidden behind the face of a consummate actor, his hands clapping lightly as Ikari advanced up the stairs. "Bravo; you handled that quite well. Have you ever considered participating in track and field competitions?"
Shinji, despite his increased stamina, was still breathing heavily. "It's...funny...that...you...mention...that..."
"At any rate, we have more residents to pacify." He reached into one of the satchels around his waist, grabbing a miniature can of coffee. "Drink up. It'll help."
"...are you sure? I...don't exactly like canned coffee..."
"It's special coffee," he said with an intentionally playful wink. The younger teenager frowned, before finally giving in; popping the top off, he took a tentative swig. The taste must have been quite invigorating, judging by his wide eyes. "Even mundane food and beverages from the real world can have a rejuvenating effect in the Metaverse."
"...so...you can heal yourself by eating junk food?"
"As a matter of fact, yes."
"...that's...that's...what?"
"You might as well get used to it. Trying to question it will only reduce its effectiveness." Such was the way of the cognitive world.
xxxx
As the hours passed, Shinji Ikari ended up visiting the Realms of several different Shadows.
Not all of them had gone as smoothly as Aika Nakamura's.
Like that of a mild-mannered and placid salaryman...
xxxx
The Shadow chortled as he flexed his improbably large muscles; clad in a wrestling mask, he stomped his boots in the middle of an arena. "Come on, kid! Unless you're afraid to face the demon of the ring!" The audience roared with approval.
"...he seems really angry."
"My, he must have a lot of pent-up aggression in real life," commented Akechi, eating from a bag of popcorn. "Well, you're up."
Sighing, he summoned Hamlet and trudged into the ring.
If asked, he would not admit just how badly the German Suplex had hurt. Mostly because he feared the Misato-san would find out and give Akechi-san a hard time.
xxxx
...or that of a punk delinquent girl...
xxxx
"I stay out late because my parents are never at home..." Her eyes seemed way too doe-eyed. Then again, it fitted the theme of her relatively frilly and feminine room. "...is it too much to want to be tucked in?"
"At your age, most would say yes."
Shinji balked. "Akechi-san!" He turned back towards the Shadow, whose form appeared to briefly wobble from sheer sadness. "Listen, um...I can read you...a bedtime story?"
"...really? Can it be the Pink Alligator?" The Shadow reached into the wall - which had suddenly became a bookcase, what - and pulled out a tiny children's book.
"Sure," he said, not really knowing that story.
He was not too proud to admit that he was sniffling alongside the Shadow by the end.
xxxx
...or that of a relatively stern high school teacher...
xxxx
Shinji paled, closing his eyes with both hands. "I-I-I'm not sure I can h-help you...!"
The older woman, wearing a leather outfit straight out of an inappropriate film, chuckled sultrily. Various silhouettes in high school uniforms were...doing inappropriate things on the stage behind her. "Now now, you little darlings have such vibrant energy. It's so...irresistible~"
He impulsively summoned Cait Sith, who stood with his sword at the ready. "Uh...I...I need an adult!"
"Oh, but I am an adult~"
Fortunately, Akechi was there to save the day. "It seems your skills do not include charm," he casually remarked, before instantly grabbing the Shadow's attention with a confident smile. "Now..." He then proceeded to confidently dismantle her entire demeanor. "Need I remind you about the legal consequences of pursuing your...urges?"
"Oh, you're no fun!"
"And yet the consequences remain regardless."
"Fiddlesticks."
The disturbing movements occurring behind the teacher's Shadow began to fade away as Goro Akechi calmly explained to her why doing such things would be a bad idea.
xxxx
...he wasn't quite sure that Misato-san would have approved that encounter either. Then again, Chiba Takehide had been kind of similar...speaking of which, "Akechi-san?"
"Yes?" replied the Chief Warden, calmly typing away at the computer on his desk.
"Whatever happened to Takehide-san?"
"...ah, you refer to Chiba Takehide. He did turn himself into the local prosecutor's office nine days ago; thanks to his personal testimony, his cousin Kuro Takehide was then arrested three days later on charges of covering up various incidents of sexual harassment. As it turns out, Chiba Takehide was not the only one who had been accused of harassment at Tojo & Sons." Akechi leaned back in his chair, nonchalantly allowing two Archangel Archetypes to fan him with their flapping wings. "Because he had already been subject to judicial proceedings through the A.T. Task Force, Chiba Takehide's sentence was reduced. After all, there would be no point in fully punishing someone whose 'heart' had already been changed."
"...I suppose..." He thought back to all the Shadows he had encountered this afternoon, twelve in all. None of them had transformed like Chiba Takehide's had, even if some of them had been...questionable, in their demeanor and personality.
"I hope you now understand why pacifying Shadows is considered one of our duties. Take that teacher, for example: would you consider her...'unseemly' desires regarding her students worthy of changing her like we did for Chiba Takehide?"
"...well...yes." That only seemed obvious. "Isn't that...an abuse of authority?"
"And what if I were to tell you that the teacher in question has never once acted on those desires?" Shinji's silence prompted the older teenager to add, "by all accounts, she is a model teacher. Very attentive, dutiful, willing to answer questions for anyone who asks, and rather fair in her scoring metrics by all accounts. None of those things erase the fact that she has such unsavory desires...but she has successfully refused to manifest that side of herself, so far. In other words, those desires have yet to become distorted." He looked at him heavily through his bangs. "Would you still go through it?"
"..." He honestly didn't know, now.
"As I told you once before, the Anti-Terror Task Force has an awful responsibility. Unless we have a clear legal mandate to do so, all residents within the Panopticon are not be altered or changed in any way...regardless of how unseemly those within may be. The possibility for abuse is simply too great. So...I'll ask again: would you do it?"
"...would you, Akechi-san?"
The question elicited a brief blink from the Chief Warden, who could only chuckle mirthlessly. "At one point...I would have done so without any hesitation."
"...but not anymore?"
"Well...let's just say that I faced the consequences of my actions."
"Consequences?"
"Well...everyone has little bit of a dark side. I am no exception." For the first time, his smile contained a hint of something...dangerous. And yet, Shinji did not feel threatened, paradoxically enough. "The only question is: how much sway does that madness have over you? It is a question all agents ask themselves, at one point or another; I would advise that you ask yourself that same question too. Otherwise...there may come a time where you can't distinguish between yourself and your darkness...and the capacity of making a free choice could be lost to you forever."
The Beast snorted.
"A foolish dichotomy, as though such were the only options."
It - she? Sometimes, he couldn't quite tell - sneered with a wicked grin.
"After all...one could just as easily embrace that darkness."
She loomed over him, as if challenging him.
"And you know that QUITE well...don't you?"
"...I'll keep that in mind," he murmured in response. "Thank you, Akechi-san."
"I should be the one thanking you," he cheerfully answered, lightening the formerly oppressive mood. A trio of Kumbhanda Archetypes - had they spawned simply because of the heaviness of their conversation? - huffed with annoyance as they stalked away, their horse faces neighing with frustration. "The residents were relatively quick to warm up to you; likely because you're an unknown to them. We actually managed to pacify the Shadows on my list in about half the time."
"...half?" They had been at it for nearly three hours!
"Some Shadows can be awfully stubborn."
"...I guess..."
"I may end up requesting you specifically in the future, if only to save on time. I'm not quite sure how long our current staffing shortage is going to last, but needs must, as they say. I'll make sure your personal account with NERV gets credited appropriately."
"Oh. Um...thank you, Akechi-san." One beat. Two beats. Three beats. "Does...this count as only one mission?"
"Why yes, as a matter of fact."
"Ah." So he still had three more missions to complete before the end of the month. Darn it.
xxxx
After Shinji Ikari had departed for the day, Goro Akechi wrapped his own administrative duties before signing out. As he emerged from the Metaverse at one of the A.T. Task Force's designated portal points - a mixture of both public stations bearing the Task Force's name proudly and covert spots within non-affiliated public and private institutions, for the sake of operational security if nothing else - he calmly ran a hand through his hair, hiding it under a baseball cap. Outside of the Metaverse, he looked far less 'special': just a young man in a long-sleeved button-up and a pair of blue jeans.
Such a distinction had once rankled him.
He gazed up at the cloudy sky, pregnant with rain. Flipping open an umbrella, he began walking.
Quietly reviewing news stories of the day on his phone - hmm, Governor Yoshida of Kyoto Prefecture collapsed today of a possible stroke? How interesting... - Akechi made his way to a local restaurant, a rather odd little location called Jazz Jingisukan. It was an eclectic place, possessing jazz-themed decor and background music against a hot pot restaurant whose speciality lied in Mongolian and Hokkaidō mutton dishes, particularly the 'Genghis Khan'.
It was mostly the jazz theme that drew him in. That, and the fact it was less than two blocks away from a Metaverse exit point.
As he slowly sat down to eat his grilled mutton, a wad of paper beaned him on the side of the head. Narrowing his eyes with suspicion, he turned in his attacker's direction...only to frown at the sight of a Hakone Academy high school student paying for their own meal, apparently finished. The frizzy-haired student departed without a word, stepping out into the rain under a black umbrella.
Akechi looked at the wad of paper and unfolded it; a simple message had been handwritten on it.
Howdy Pancake Boy,
Hope you're holding up.
Ja ne! - [J]
Huffing with frustration, he wadded it back up and stuffed into his pocket. You have a lot of gall to ask me that question, he bitterly thought. Especially when I should be the one asking you.
The quiet stranger smiled gently. "Friendship is wonderful, isn't it?"
"Shut up."
The young man calmly yet forcefully tore into his meal, focusing on nothing but the sound of a recorded saxophone mixed with the pitter-patter of raindrops.
It was one of the few things he could still call cathartic.
xxxx
END OF 6/23/2015
xxxx
/Fortune Social Link
/now at Rank 2!