As my side stories invariably gain more readers than Two Souls does, and the kids' teenage antics and fumbling romance is still popular, I carry on with yet another sequel. And so, you can now enjoy "What happened, son?", a direct continuation to the previous side story. It starts sometime during Chapter 8. of Two Souls, sharing part of it with the previous story.

Word of warning: The story is canon in regard to Two Souls and may contain some minor spoilers to characters' actions and motivations; so if you want to preserve Kyoko's PoV as the dominant one, I suggest refraining from reading this. If not – enjoy the shift in perspective and the teenage drama (even more than in the previous story – consider this a warning).

I – "Let's do it, together"

.

"How was your trip to New Yokosuka yesterday?" Shinji asked.

"Way cool!" Kensuke exclaimed in a tone he usually reserved for the most exciting of his experiences. "Speaking of which, I picked up some interesting information", he added in a much lower, almost conspirational tone.

"Oh?" Shinji raised an eyebrow, trying his best to look interested – but not overly so. The crash course Asuka gave him about interrogation and information retrieval felt really incomplete, somewhat chaotic, and frankly, quite useless; he was actually convinced she made at least half of its content up – but he had nothing else to work with.

"I heard they're shipping Eva Unit-03 to Japan", Kensuke continued; Shinji quietly blessed the fact that his friend was eager to share, no matter how suspicious or inept Shinji's prompting might have been. "The one they were building in America. It's completed, isn't it?"

"I'm not sure", Shinji half-lied; he was indeed not sure if it was completed, even if he was quite sure it was being shipped. Formulating it that way made it easier to say.

"I know you've got to keep it secret, but please tell me", Kensuke pleaded with a sudden intensity, turning his face towards Shinji. "Haven't you heard the rumour that the activation test will be held at the second test facility in Matsushiro?"

"I haven't", Shinji replied; this, at least, was true.

"The pilot hasn't been chosen yet, right?" Kensuke pressed on.

"I don't know about that stuff", Shinji replied; he had to try his best to hide his disappointment.

"I wish Misato-san would pick me for it. Hey, Shinji, would you ask her for me too? I want to be an Eva pilot!" the intensity in Kensuke's voice increased even further.

...

"Okay, that's enough", Asuka interrupted with an annoyed tone, a hard headshake, and a raised hand. "You could've just said he didn't know anything and spared me his whining."

They were sitting at the table in Katsuragi's apartment, handbooks and notebooks spread around to provide plausible deniability at their activity should Misato decide to return earlier than the late night that became the new norm. Of course, they started with their spy reports, meaning that the homework was left entirely untouched.

"It's not that he didn't know anything", Shinji protested. "He told me where the test would take place… and he knew about the Unit-04's disappearance."

"Okay, that's something, granted", Asuka agreed reluctantly. "He didn't know anything useful, then. At least not for us; NERV might be interested that they're not that good at keeping secrets as they wished. You should've asked your gorilla pal instead of your nerd pal", she added with a smirk.

"Um… what? Why? Toji's a great friend, but that's not really his thing?" Shinji shook his head, his expression clearly questioning Asuka's words.

"You'd be surprised", Asuka continued with her smirk intact.

...

To say that Asuka Langley Soryu knew the NERV HQ well would be something of an overstatement – but, on the other hand, there was a lot of doubt, even among veteran employees, whether anyone could truthfully claim such knowledge, considering that it was a veritable maze that seemed to grow over time. Despite that, she certainly knew the few crucial places and numerous paths that lead to them: the Command Centre, the Cages, the locker room, the test chambers, the cafeteria… and the small office currently in use by a certain man that had the information she dearly needed.

She stopped in front of the door in the dark corridor, listed the good manners and formulas she was going to need here, summoned all her courage, thought out a scenario in her head, and braced herself. The door opened with an ominous sound, foreshadowing the dire news that she would certainly–

...

"Asuka…" Shinji interrupted with an exasperated expression on his face. "You know how much I like the sound of your voice, but–"

"Hey, do you want to learn who was chosen or not?" Asuka scoffed.

"Yes, I do want to learn exactly that", Shinji pointed out with a hint of pain in his voice.

"Then don't interrupt!" she demanded.

...

The door opened with an ominous sound, foreshadowing the dire news that she would certainly learn inside – and she stood there with the best smile gracing her face, with her hands behind her as it befitted a good girl.

"Mister Kaji?" she started in a pleasant tone.

"Oh, Asuka?" he replied offhandedly without even turning around, his voice betraying something that could be even perceived as an annoyance. "Sorry, I'm a little busy right now. Later, okay?"

Asuka's expression dropped; after all, Mister Kaji always made time for Misato! But she was on a mission here and could simply not let even such a blatant rejection deter her, oh no.

She put her smile back on her face and approached him to grab him in a friendly embrace.

"Hey, not right now!" he protested vehemently – but it was too late: the treacherous content of his screen was laid bare for her.

"These are our synch data reports, right?" she asked cheerfully, ignoring his unpleasant tone and general abrasiveness. "Four of them?" she pretended to be surprised. "What in the hell is this? What's going on? Him?"

...

"Who, Asuka?" Shinji insisted, ignoring the narration and Asuka's attempts at drama.

"I told you to ask the gorilla, didn't I?" she smirked again, paused – and continued quickly upon seeing the intensity of Shinji's glare. "It's him. They chose Suzuhara", she revealed.

"Why…? How?" Shinji asked, shock evident in his voice.

"That's what I asked Kaji next…"

...

"No! I don't understand! What is this?!" Asuka objected loudly.

"You should not be seeing this, Asuka", Kaji stated, his tone clearly annoyed. "And I must ask you to be quiet about it", he added firmly.

"But why him?!" Asuka ignored him and kept asking insistently as she turned to face Kaji.

"Major Katsuragi will explain that to you once you need to know", he explained, his patience obviously increasingly strained.

"Need to know?" she scoffed with an incredulous expression. "We're going to work with him, fight alongside him, how is that not 'need to know', and immediately?"

"This is not my decision, and you know that", he countered.

...

"…and then he practically threw me out!", she grumbled. "Without any further explanation or even an apology for treating a fair maiden with such a lack of esteem! So, you better appreciate my sacrifice and skill."

"I can't believe it", Shinji shook his head, his voice hollow, his gaze elsewhere.

"What, my skill? You better do… ah, you mean that it's Suzuhara?" she corrected herself upon catching his glare, a mix of disbelief, anger, and seriousness. 'Uh. This touched him a bit deep… hell, of course it did!' she suddenly realised what the problem was. 'That's his best friend, and he didn't tell him…'

Unsure what to say, Asuka stayed silent for a few moments as she watched Shinji try to process the facts; her smugness and satisfaction from being the better investigator melted away in the face of the unexpected seriousness of the shock Shinji experienced.

"What should we do now?" Shinji finally asked. "You were ordered to keep the secret–"

"Pfft. Do you see me obeying that order?" Asuka scoffed with disdain. "Besides, Kaji is not in my chain of command, Misato is, and above her, it's the Vice-Commander and then the Commander. So, unless she delegated some authority to him while I wasn't watching, and I seriously doubt she would, he's not the boss of me. So, ignore that part. The question is, what do you want to do with it?"

"Really, I don't know", he let out a heavy sigh, his expression still concerned. "I'm sure he had good reasons to keep it quiet… maybe they ordered him to?" he tried to reason. "And what could make him agree?"

"Everybody has something they can be persuaded with", Asuka shrugged. "Maybe they offered him money, maybe some big favour? NERV can buy people like nobody else. Easy when you have a huge budget, right?"

"But he seemed happy… on his own, I mean. He's not the guy that needs much", Shinji objected.

"Maybe they offered him the daily all-you-can-eat buffet?" Asuka suggested with a perfectly serious expression.

"Asuka…" Shinji gave her a disapproving glare – but could not help but chuckle at the thought. "If they did, he'd stop fitting inside a plugsuit within a month, you know? No matter how elastic the thing is."

"Hey, we're young, physically active, and with high metabolism", Asuka objected. "Otherwise I would not be fitting inside my plugsuit with all the great food you make."

"Thanks", Shinji replied after a few seconds of stunned silence, confused by both the compliment and the unexpected change of subject. "Thank you."

"What? Did you think I hated your food and only ate it because there was nothing else?" Asuka eyed him, quietly congratulating herself on successfully – if accidentally – distracting Shinji from his increasingly darker thoughts.

"Well, you certainly never left anything on the plate, but you said nothing, either…"

"Seriously?" Asuka's palm met her face; the gesture was genuine on her part: she knew the boy could be a bit dense and unperceptive, but this particular failure was taking the cake. She could somehow understand him missing the romantic signals – after all, he had zero experience in the area – but something as obvious as satisfaction from food? That was hard to miss… or so she thought. "Get it in your head, okay? Once and for all? You do well in the kitchen, and if it wasn't ninety per cent Japanese food, you'd be my favourite cook."

"Thank you", Shinji repeated, his mood suddenly improved.

"Don't let it get into your head!" Asuka warned, eyeing him warily. "I'd rather you do other kinds of food, not just Japanese."

"I'm sorry, I don't know many other recipes", he admitted apologetically. "But I'll try", he promised with a small smile, still visibly happy.

"Great", she grinned, once more quietly congratulating herself for doing something right. Regretfully, she was not done yet. "Now, about what we're supposed to do with this fine mess we uncovered. Let me", she said, raising her hand as she saw Shinji open his mouth, "he's your friend, you care about him and are confused why he didn't say a word to you, and while I don't exactly like him, he's a fellow pilot now, so I guess I should care too… What do you say to that: once Misato's here and able to talk, we'll confront her together and blackmail her for information?"

"Um…" he blinked in confusion. "Wait, what? I'm not sure that–"

"Metaphorically, I mean", Asuka interrupted, her finger raised. "You'll threaten her with bad or cold food, and I'll tell her I'll replace all beer with a non-alcohol version, or something like that", she explained with a chuckle. "Until then…" she smirked, "until then, let's celebrate!"

"Celebrate… what?" Shinji shook his head, his confusion only deepening.

"Our first successfully completed secret mission together! What else?" Asuka scoffed.

"Well, you succeeded…" he started.

"Hey! I told you I'll carry you, right?" Asuka scoffed once more. "I'm better at this stuff, so of course I did better. But you tried, and you learned something, right?"

"I guess…" Shinji nodded carefully.

"I'll take it. So, we deserve a celebration!" Asuka's expression left no doubt about her confidence in her own words.

"Well, I can bake a cake after I'm done with the dinner…" he suggested.

"Really", she rolled her eyes. "We have the whole home for ourselves for the whole evening and you want to bake a cake?"

"Um…" he blinked. "Yes? What's wrong with that?"

"I have a better idea. There's a great movie up in about an hour and a half, so go make food, and I'll do the Math and English homework. Once it's just stirring and turning, we trade places and you do the Modern Japanese and what's left of English", Asuka directed. "And then we grab a beer each and watch the movie."

"Wait, what? What beer?" Shinji shook his head.

"Okay, without the beer", Asuka corrected herself with a smirk. "I'm glad we agree on the rest, though!"

Shinji rolled his eyes – but with a smile. "You didn't have to do that. I like that plan. One correction: Modern Japanese is bigger since we have to finish a self-study again… so I need to have more time. So… can you do the chopping?"

"With those delicate hands?" Asuka presented her palms dramatically. "You are a callous monster, Shinji Ikari. No respect for a fair maiden!"

"It's either that or accepting that we'd be late to the movie", he countered with sincerity and suppressed amusement in his voice. "And it's not that I'm asking you to butcher a cow, it's just vegetables. I'm sure a maiden knows how to operate a knife no worse than an assault rifle?"

"Okay, okay", Asuka rolled her eyes. "The Great Investigator Asuka Langley Soryu, now demoted to a mere cook… on it, on it."

Shinji let out a sigh – but with a semblance of a smile on his face. Asuka never did anything that was not her idea without a protest – but he was quite confident that he learned when to take those protests seriously, and when to insist. This time, he was right.

This time.

...

"Did I tell you you're a callous monster?" Asuka grumbled for the fourth time as Shinji wrapped another cut on her finger. "How will I do my homework now?"

"I'm sorry", Shinji repeated for at least a seventh time. "But you write with the same hand you were holding the knife", Shinji pointed out. "So, you're not going to get off this too easily."

"Don't worry, I won't leave you alone with Math homework", Asuka reassured him, her grumbling tone unchanged. "You'd ruin my fun from the movie if you kept doing them while I was watching."

Shinji wisely did not comment on Asuka's priorities and motivations; he already learned that this was inviting an argument, and while she seemed to enjoy those at times, he most certainly did not. He simply finished the last dressing and bowed to carefully kiss every single injured finger.

"Stop it, idiot", she demanded in a manner that would be convincing if not for a big blush suddenly covering her face. "I'm not some delicate Fräulein to be doted over!"

"It's a well-known fact that kissed injuries hurt less", Shinji declared, his own face clearly redder than a few moments before, even if the colour was no match to Asuka's redness. "And if it stops working, I'll repeat it."

'He's gotten bolder, and cheekier. He might not have much initiative and I'm quite sure I will have to make a few steps… but God knows that can he sometimes surprise', Asuka admitted to herself. "Careful that you don't overuse it and hurt your lips", she grumbled and chided herself internally on how dumb it had to sound; definitely dumber than in her head. "And now, go do the cooking and let me do the homework. I'd hate to miss the movie!"

"What are we watching, anyway?" Shinji asked as he collected the medical kit.

"'The Professional'. You might have heard of it as 'Léon', too."

"I think I did… but I never saw it", he admitted. "Is it good?"

"Good?" Asuka asked in a tone that left no doubt about her opinion. "It's great. Let's just hope they're running the international cut here, not the original theatrical or the American one. That'd be a shame. Now, shut up and do the cooking, I have… well", she glared at the page full of familiar mathematical symbols and far less familiar kanji, trying to focus despite the still-red face and the emotions running through her body and soul. "I have to solve a product of the teacher's twisted imagination…"

...

"Come over, it's about to start!" Asuka exclaimed from the couch. She was surrounded by several pillows and blankets, had a secure – by the virtue of being completely invisible from the doorframe and most of the apartment – spot to hide in case Misato came in early despite her call that she was going to maintain the tradition of her overtime, and a glass of juice at hand.

"I've got just the pan left!" he exclaimed from the kitchen, reminding her that technically it was her turn to do the dishes – but since her fingers were carved up by her valiant battle with the vegetables, it fell to him. That, of course, meant that she was going to work it off the next week – but that was far away. Right now, she had a few good things ahead of her: a good movie, good company, and – if her plan worked – a bit more, a bit she waited for with stomach-fluttering anticipation. "Done", Shinji reported as he entered the room, no longer wearing his kitchen apron.

"Right on time", Asuka commented. "Come and join Asuka's Enlightening Movie Commentary Service!" she invited him with a gesture – and smiled with satisfaction seeing how he was no longer scared or even worried by sitting close to her – and that his first reflex was to embrace her.

'That's progress I want to see', she mused happily. 'I remember how much he was worried about holding hands, even in the side streets! He was all sweaty!' she recalled, choosing to conveniently forget the fact that her hands sweated just as much for the same reason. After all, that did not matter much anymore.

She snuggled against him and focused on the screen. Right now, with all the good things at hand, nothing really mattered anymore.

...

The credits were rolling, and – aside from the end music – silence reigned.

"Impressions?" Asuka finally asked.

"Very sad… but makes perfect sense", Shinji responded after a few long moments. "I liked it."

"Good", Asuka nodded solemnly. "Because if you didn't, I'd have to re-evaluate my feelings towards you."

Shinji found no words; he just gave Asuka a confused, questioning glare.

"What? I love this movie, and I have a great sentiment for it, too", she continued. "Mathilda is twelve here, and I think I saw this movie when I was ten or eleven. It's difficult not to identify yourself with the heroine, right? Maybe my family was not that shitty, but still, not very caring."

"I'm just glad you didn't pick up a smoking habit", Shinji replied with all sincerity, unsure how to comment on the last part and choosing the safer option.

"That worries you?" she replied with a chuckle. "Not a killing habit?"

"Well… we are trained to kill Angels, so I suppose that would be good?"

"I guess so", she nodded in agreement. "Okay, you passed another secret test of character, Third, so…" a mischievous smile suddenly emerged on her face as she disentangled herself from the blankets and jumped to sit in his lap, her face suddenly mere centimetres away.

Shinji swallowed nervously. "Asuka? What if–"

"Don't be a worrywart", she interrupted. "Trust me, she told you she's not going to be here anytime soon, right?"

"Well–"

"Less worrying. More kissing", she demanded. "It might not be a proper date, but we had dinner, we sat through a movie, and now it's kissing time. Objections?"

"If you put it that way…" he chuckled – and a half-resigned, half-relieved smile emerged on his face as he gently placed his hand on her neck and pulled her closer.

And soon, nothing mattered to him, either.