It was a sunny morning in Tokyo-3. At the school attended by the now three Evangelion pilots, the first classes were finally over and the students were enjoying their lunch break. Shinji, along with Touji and Kensuke as was now customary for them, were eating their respective lunches under the shade of one of the oak trees in the courtyard.
"I really don't understand our classmates" said a grumpy Touji between mouthfuls "It seems all they can talk about lately is that damn redhead"
"Well, does it surprise you? The girl is a foreigner, an Evangelion pilot and she's super hot" replied Kensuke after sipping his juice "Besides, I haven't seen her behave at school like she behaved towards us that Saturday. Not yet, at least"
"Humph! That's because everyone is treating her like she's royalty!" exclaimed Touji after taking a sip of his drink as well.
"You sure you're not reacting like this because you're the only one she's slapped in the face so far?" asked an amused Kensuke while chuckling.
"Do you want to be the one getting slapped?" threatened Touji, directing an annoyed glare to his friend. Kensuke raised his hands defensively, while still chuckling slightly.
"Honestly, as far as I'm concerned I hope they keep thinking about her the way they have until now" commented Kensuke while patting his pocket, which held his well-filled wallet "I made a ton of cash this morning with the pictures"
These past days, after acknowledging the commotion that Asuka's arrival had caused on the school, the boy with glasses had decided to take pictures of the redhead while she attended the various classes in order to sell them to whoever was interested, which to no one's surprise were most of their male classmates. He had sold a ton of pictures.
"Well, is obvious the pictures don't show her personality" grumbled Touji as he chewed "What do you think of her, Shinji? You were both at NERV yesterday, weren't you?"
Shinji pondered for a moment as he finished chewing a bite "Well, I tried to ignore her as much as possible, but... it seems as long as people play along with her at the whole being the best at everything she does thing she doesn't make a fuss" concluded the Third Child "Honestly, I think her ego is the size of her Eva" Shinji added with a slight smirk. The three boys laughed at that comment.
"Ha, ha, ha... Well, sooner or later someone won't play along and we'll see how she reacts" commented Kensuke. Shortly after saying that, he spotted precisely the Second Child walking purposely not too far away from where they were sitting "Oh, speaking of her majesty... there she goes" he said pointing in the direction of the German girl.
The boys looked in that direction and could see how indeed Asuka was walking with a determined step towards some benches nearby. Shinji raised an eyebrow when he saw who was the only person sitting on those benches: Rei Ayanami.
The redhead stood in front of the First Child, put her hands on her hips and started talking to her. Shinji couldn't help but having a bad feeling about that...
Rei didn't have many hobbies, but she liked reading. That day, the girl had decided to devote the lunch break's time to reading one of the books she had borrowed from the library. She was calmly engrossed in the activity until the shadow of a person obscured the book. She glanced forward to find her new pilot companion, Asuka Langley Sohryu, standing a couple of steps in front of her, arms in her hips and directing the bluenette a look she didn't quite know how to interpret.
"Hello!" greeted the redhead in a rather loud voice "I'm Asuka Langley Sohryu, Evangelion Unit 02's pilot"
"Hello" Rei answered flatly while holding the girl's gaze. She didn't understand why she was introducing herself, after all she had already introduced herself to her whole class the week before, and while she had not talked with her neither at school or at NERV yet, she knew perfectly well who she was.
"You are Rei Ayanami, the pilot of the Unit 00 prototype, right?" asked the German again rather loudly.
"That is correct" was the reply from the First Child.
"Good. Let's be friends" indicated the redhead, while increasing the grin of superiority she was exhibiting.
Rei held the redhead's gaze for a few seconds longer, slightly surprised by the proposition, though her face remained serious. Meanwhile some students had begun to congregate a short distance away, attracted by Asuka's voice.
"Why?" was the blue-haired girl's reply.
"Why?" repeated the German as if she had been asked the most obvious question in the world "Because is convenient for you to be friends with me, of course. I'm the best pilot!" she replied smugly.
Rei looked at her with indifference. Although she had never been asked by anyone to be friends with before she could sense that her fellow pilot's offer was insincere. Besides, she liked quietness, and Asuka rather loud tone of voice at that time wasn't particularly compatible with that.
"I'm not interested" she replied while returning her attention to her book.
"What?!" the redhead exclaimed dumbfounded "You're rejecting my proposal? Are you stupid?"
"I'll befriend you if I'm ordered to do so by one of our superiors" replied the blue-haired girl without looking up from her book.
Asuka looked at her with a mixture of anger and stupefaction. Was the First Child going to make a fool of her in front of their classmates? Then Rei's words brought an idea to her mind.
"I hear you're Commander Ikari's favorite. I was wondering why, if you haven't shown any significant performance as a pilot" the redhead said dismissively "But now I understand... you always do what they order you, as if you were a doll?"
"Is that any of your business?" asked Rei still without stopping reading, unfazed.
Asuka's frown increased, frustrated at not being able to get a reaction out of the bluenette. She then noticed that some of her classmates who had come over to watch the scene were laughing at the sight of her unsuccessful attempt to talk to Rei and the frustration she was feeling quickly turned to anger.
"Look at me while I'm talking to you, don't think you can treat me like this because you're the commander's favorite!" the redhead shouted as she began to close the distance that separated them. She didn't even got to take a step, however, before someone grabbed her arm preventing her from continuing. Asuka turned her head in the direction of the one grabbing her arm and she found no other than Shinji Ikari.
"That's enough, Asuka!" exclaimed the Third Child with a force in his voice that matched the one his hand was exerting on the girl's arm. Asuka was stunned to see what she considered her pusillanimous fellow pilot intervene in the situation.
"Oh, so that's the way it is..." said the German girl giving Shinji a fierce look "What complete losers, both of you!" after saying this she released herself from Shinji's grip and hurriedly left the place while fuming.
Shinji sighed, relieved that things hadn't escalated more than that. He turned his attention to Rei to make sure everything was alright, and met the girl's slight surprised gaze, staring back at him.
"Um... are you okay?" the boy asked slightly concerned.
The First Child was shocked by what she had just seen, although her face remained relatively stoic. She had never seen Shinji act in such a proactive manner outside of his fights aboard Eva 01, and now he was once again showing concern for her. As it if were clockwork, Rei felt her chest being filled with that pleasant warmth she had been experiencing in recent days. This time the warmth, however, seemed to rise to her face as well "Yes. Thank you" was the girl's short reply.
Shinji raised his eyebrows in surprise. Was that a slight blush he was seeing on Ayanami's cheeks? He couldn't believe it. For a second he gazed intensely at the girl "She looks... so cute…" thought the boy. One second later, however, it finally dawned on him that they weren't exactly alone at that instant.
Shinji finally realized what he had just done. He had bolted towards his fellow pilots as soon as Asuka started yelling without stopping to think about what he was doing. To make matters worse the group that had formed around them had grown larger upon hearing the redhead's screams, so once he noticed the surprised looks their classmates were giving him for what he had just done, he blushed deeply.
However, and fortunately for Commander Ikari's son, the situation did not last much longer. A loud emergency siren began to sound. A couple of seconds later, his phone rang, and immediately after, the one ringing was Rei's.
"Incoming call from Misato" read the boy on the screen. It wasn't too hard for him to deduce the reason.
"Pattern blue. Is definitely an angel" confirmed Makoto Hyuga.
"All personnel to your battle stations" ordered Fuyutsuki. Beside him, Gendo Ikari clasped his gloved hands in front of his face in his classic pose.
"Tokyo-3's defense system was significantly damaged in the battle against the fifth angel. Since it is still under repair, we will attempt to destroy this angel before it reaches the city" Misato explained over intercom to the pilots "Units 01 and 02 will take turns attacking the angel at melee. Since Unit 00 is not yet fully repaired either, we will not send it unless absolutely necessary. Understood?"
"Understood" Shinji replied.
"Hmmm. It's my combat debut in Japan, why can't I take on the angel by myself?" protested an annoyed Asuka.
"Asuka, this is not a sports competition. The priority is to destroy the angel, not for you to show off in battle" replied Misato sharply.
"Tch, I alone am more than enough for this operation" replied the Second Child. She pressed a button to open direct communication with Shinji's entry plug "If you're going to have to participate you'd better not get in my way, understood Third?"
"Dully noted" replied a slightly annoyed Shinji.
The Evangelions reached the shore and got into position awaiting the angel's appearance, Asuka armed with a glaive and Shinji with a rifle. After a few moments, a huge body surfaced. The seventh angel was relatively humanoid-looking, with sharp crescent-shaped arms and legs.
"There it is!" exclaimed Asuka euphorically. Without a second thought Eva 02 lunged toward its target in long strides. Shinji took aim with his rifle and fired, but the angel's AT field had no trouble stopping the bullets. It was then that Shinji noticed a detail, the angel had two red spheres on its chest, slightly separated from each other.
"Are those two cores?" the boy wondered. He didn't have much time to consider this, as Asuka had arrived there, more than ready to attack the enemy.
"Die!" screamed the German, taking a great leap upon the angel. In the fall she wielded the glaive with all her might, cutting through the AT field with no trouble and literally splitting the angel in half.
"Good job, Asuka!" exclaimed Misato at the image of what she thought was the dead angel.
"Ha! It's the least that could be expected of me, the angel didn't stand a chance!" Asuka boasted wile her ego inflated to the stratosphere. Her face appeared again on Shinji's entry plug intercom, "What did you think, Third? Learn a little, battles must be clean and smooth"
"...It wasn't bad" the boy acknowledged with a half smile. He didn't like Asuka's attitude, but it was evident that she knew how to pilot. Shinji's expression quickly darkened as he saw the two halves of the angel begin to move "What...?" The two parts of the angel regenerated completely, becoming two entities almost identical to the angel that originally formed "Asuka, watch out!"
Asuka turned Eva 02 as soon as she heard Shinji's scream, only to find the two copies of the angel surrounding her with their limbs. Unit 02 swung her glaive again, severing one of said limbs. It was a useless effort, however, since said limb regenerated almost instantly, and then took the glaive from the Evangelion's hands and sent it flying away from there.
"Shinji, help her!" Misato ordered, nervously.
Shinji opened fire again on the now two enemies. Since Asuka was struggling with them, her Eva's AT field kept the angels' AT field at bay, so the bullets did manage to hit their targets this time. However, the result was just as unsuccessful: the wounds caused by them regenerated shortly after.
"The rifle is useless!" Shinji exclaimed nervously.
"Then go melee!" Misato replied.
Eva 01 took out his progressive knife and prepared to run towards the angels, but he barely took a couple of strides when a huge mass fell on him. The angels had thrown Eva 02 through the air in Shinji's direction. Both Evangelions collided with each other and fell clumsily to the ground.
"Dammit" Misato cursed.
"At 12:58 of the present day, Evangelion units 01 and 02 were attacked by targets A and B." said the voice of Maya Ibuki while the images of the battle were shown on the command center screen. "At 12:59 unit 02 was sunk half a kilometer from Suruga Bay, 20 seconds later unit 01 was attacked by the targets and was also immobilized"
Shinji and Misato lowered their heads in shame as they saw the images of the two Evas buried face down in the ground. Asuka crossed her arms and looked away, annoyed.
"At 13:01 NERV handed over strategy direction to the UN Second Division, which bombed the targets with a new type of N2 bomb" Maya continued "This incinerated a large portion of the angel's constituent material, but the MAGI indicate that it continues to slowly regenerate. The estimated targets' recovery time is five days"
"Damn, what a shameful way to lose..." Fuyutsuki lamented when he saw the state the bomb had left the coast in "We'll have to redraw the maps again."
Gendo Ikari remained silent until that moment, the rigidity of his posture indicating that he was not at all satisfied with what he had seen "Pilot Ikari, pilot Sohryu" he barked in a very serious tone. The aforementioned turned to look at the commander with some fear "Do you know what your job is here?"
"...Pilot the Eva?" Asuka asked timidly, to Shinji's slight surprise.
"No. It's defeating the angels" Gendo responded with a grim face. "NERV does not exist for the world to make fun of us for shameful displays like this one"
Shinji lowered his face, saddened. Hearing those words from his father hurt him more than he would have liked to admit. Asuka also lowered her face, apparently repentant.
"I'm very sorry for what happened, Commander" Misato then intervened "I am the director of operations, the responsibility is mine"
"On that point we agree, Captain Katsuragi," Gendo said directing his attention to the woman "You have five days to fix this situation, or believe me that you won't like the consequences" After this, the commander stood up and left followed by Fuyutsuki.
"Scheisse! My first battle in Japan was a disaster and it's all because of you!" Asuka exclaimed angrily pointing her finger at Shinji.
"What?!" The boy exclaimed, with a mixture of surprise and anger "How is this my fault?"
"If you had covered me properly I could have defeated the two copies of the angel without problems, but you just stood there looking like an idiot while they grabbed me!" the redhead claimed.
"Are you listening to yourself?!" exclaimed the third chosen, now clearly furious "What did you want me to do if shooting the angel didn't do anything to it?!"
"Well, then you should have come to help me at melee!" Asuka replied.
"If you hadn't let them throw you into the air, maybe I would have had time to do it!" Shinji snapped back.
"Enough!" Misato exclaimed, stepping between them "This isn't about finding someone to blame, Asuka. You are both dismissed, I will notify you as soon as I have new orders for you"
Asuka gave Shinji one last angry look before storming out of there. Shinji shook his head in annoyance and headed for the exit as well, leaving a worried Misato behind.
"A long night awaits me..." the woman thought bitterly to herself.
The next day, Shinji returned to Misato's apartment from school with a serious look, his discomfort over what happened the previous day still present on his mind at that point.
The boy sighed. He knew that he was expected to get along with his fellow pilots, and he understood perfectly well that teamwork was important in situations where more than one Eva was needed to defeat an angel, but all patience had a limit, and Asuka was pushing him to that limit very consistently.
The German's bad temper was something Shinji couldn't deal with. A huge ego? Tolerable. Caring more about being the one that defeated the angel than the fact that the angel was defeated or not? Acceptable as long as she actually pullet through with defeating the angel. But pinning the blame on him for the previous day's disastrous battle? That was too much. To make matters worse, his father had reproached them in an unpleasant way for their performance in the fight, which hurt Shinji a lot more than he would have liked.
The Third Child opened the door to Misato's apartment with resignation. This resignation quickly turned into surprise, however, when he saw the living room of the house practically filled to the brim with moving boxes.
"What the hell is all this?" the boy wondered aloud.
"How rude. Those are my things" he said a voice to the left of him. Shinji turned in that direction to see Asuka, dressed casually and with a can of soda in her hand.
"What are you doing here?" the boy asked without hiding his displeasure.
"I live here now" The German responded after taking a sip of the soda with a smug smile. "Misato asked me to bring my things this morning"
"What?!" Shinji asked without understanding anything.
Misato emerged from the kitchen soon after "Welcome home, Shinji." the woman greeted cheerfully as if nothing strange was happening.
"Misato! What does this mean?" Shinji asked pointing to the room.
"In summary, what Asuka told you" the woman responded simply "It is necessary to defeat the angel"
"Defeat... the angel?" asked the boy, his confusion clearly increasing.
Misato sat in the living room and opened a beer "The seventh angel has only one weak point" Misato explained "Well, technically two: its two cores. The only way to defeat it is to perform a simultaneous attack on both cores at the same time. In other words: a coordinated attack of two Evas in perfect synchronization with each other."
"Right... and what does that have to do with Asuka living here...?" Shinji began to ask.
"The necessary level of synchrony that must be achieved is very precise" Misato continued explaining "Both of you must cooperate at all times in order to achieve it, so from now on you will live together"
"Wait, so this idiot isn't going to get out of here?" asked a displeased Asuka.
Misato looked at her confused. "Of course not, what made you think that?"
"I thought that after his pathetic performance yesterday you were changing him for me, who clearly am the better pilot" the girl explained as if she were the most obvious fact "I can't live under the same roof as this pervert, what if he decides to abuse me at night?"
"I'm not that desperate..." Shinji muttered under his breath.
"I heard that, idiot!" Asuka reproached him with fury in her eyes.
"Guys, enough" Misato said in a serious tone "We have four days to destroy the angel, this is not about what either of you wants, humanity depends of the success of this mission"
Both pilots remained silent. Although they didn't like the idea, they knew that Misato was right about that. Seeing that they had calmed down, the woman smiled and sat up while she took a sip of her beer.
"Okay, let's finish with Asuka's boxes while I explain the plan" she said pulling a CD out of her pocket.
Shinji was stirring a pot with a ladle, he was about to finish the curry he was cooking. Several hours had passed since Misato had explained to him and Asuka how she intended for them to defeat the angel. According to the woman, both of them had to do a choreography in which the steps would allow them to hit the two copies of the angel in a synchronized way to leave them in the ideal position for the last simultaneous blow to both cores. The plan sounded feasible in theory, but in practice...
The boy remembered the training he and Asuka had done that afternoon. For three hours they had practiced the steps of the choreography, and although they were already able to follow it without making mistakes, doing it at the other's rhythm was another matter entirely. The Second Child seemed determined to do it as quickly as possible, and the boy had a hard time keeping up with her. It would be quite affordable if the redhead would just slowed down a little, but of course, she refused to slow down under any circumstances.
Shinji sighed in resignation. Some very unpleasant days awaited him.
"You seem in a bad mood, Shinji" Misato commented, opening the refrigerator to get a beer. Shinji looked at her with narrow eyes "Hey, don't look at me like that..." the woman replied, amused.
"What mood am I supposed to be in, Misato?" the boy said while shaking his head "Working with Asuka is horrible. She refuses to cooperate with me"
The woman sighed while a sympathetic smile formed on her lips "I understand, Shinji. Believe me, I do. But we have no alternative."
"I know..." the boy indicated, lowering his head "I just don't understand how Asuka can be like that..."
Misato looked at him for a few seconds. She then glanced at the bathroom door, where she could still hear the water running from the shower. Asuka would still take some time to come out, so she decided to tell the boy something.
"Actually, Asuka's situation is not as obvious as it might seem at first glance" said the woman, sadness creeping on her face "She had a very difficult childhood. Her mother… died when she was a child, and as far as I know she doesn't get along very well with her father" Shinji tensed upon hearing this. The story sounded awfully familiar to him "I imagine you can imagine what that's like" the woman added. The boy nodded, somewhat sad.
"Asuka may seem like a proud and confident girl on the outside, but she's more fragile than you think. Feeling like she is the best is her way of dealing with her insecurities. Misato said, putting a hand on the shoulder of the Third Child "I know that sometimes it's difficult to work with her, and I'm not asking you to just accept everything she tells you without complaining, but be patient, okay, Shinji?" she asked with a slight smile.
The boy looked her in the eyes. He nodded.
Touji was watching how the numbers of the elevator he was in changed slowly. Next to him, Kensuke was checking his cellphone.
"I wonder what happened to Shinji" said the sporty boy "He hasn't come to class for three days straight"
"Who knows, but I bet it has to do with NERV" Kensuke commented as he put away his phone "Asuka hasn't gone to class on the same days either"
"It's possible, I guess" Touji conceded "But Ayanami did go to class"
"Well, we'll find out soon enough" concluded the boy with glasses with a shrug.
At that moment the elevator reached its destination and the door opened, giving way to the boys. To the left of them, an adjacent elevator also opened, and Hikari stepped out, much to the surprise of the other two.
"Class rep?" Kensuke asked, surprised "What are you doing here?"
"Hello, guys" Hikari greeted, also somewhat surprised to meet them "What about you?"
"We're here to visit Shinji" Touji responded as the three headed to their corresponding destinations "He hasn't come to class for days and we want to know if something is wrong with him"
"Oh, I understand" said the girl "My case is similar, I'm here to see Asuka"
"Asuka?" Touji asked, frowning "Does the bad-tempered German also live in this building?"
Hikari gave the sporty boy an annoyed look and he backed away a little. Although she had only known Asuka for a few days, both girls had become friends very quickly, so she didn't like Touji's comment. The three teenagers walked in silence for a few seconds until they arrived in front of the door to Misato's apartment, where they all stopped.
"Why are you stopping here, Horaki?" Kensuke asked when he saw that the girl had also stopped in front of the same door as them.
"Asuka told me on the phone that she lived in this apartment" said the girl.
"Here?" Touji then asked "Impossible. Shinji lives here with Misato"
The three teenagers looked at each other, surprised. Finally they decided to ring the doorbell.
"Coming!" two voices exclaimed in unison. The teenagers' curiosity increased. Seconds later the door opened, revealing Shinji and Asuka, both dressed in identical tights and t-shirts and with headphones in their ears. The jaws of their three classmates almost touched the ground.
"Shinji?! Didn't you say you couldn't stand the redhead?!" Touji exclaimed in disbelief.
"They even wear the same clothes..." Kensuke commented equally surprised.
"No, it's not like that!" Shinji exclaimed.
"We have to live and sleep under the same roof!" Asuka excused herself.
Hikari, respectively, was surprised and blushing in equal parts "Asuka, you... are you living in sin with Ikari?!"
"NO!" both pilots exclaimed again in unison.
At that moment, a smiling Misato approached the five teenagers, accompanied by Rei "Good afternoon everyone" the woman greeted.
"Misato, what the hell is going on here?" Touji asked.
Minutes later, after the needed context was explained, everyone present was sitting in the living room drinking tea except for Shinji and Asuka, who continued practicing their routine. Misato, with significant help from Kaji, much to the annoyance of the woman, had developed a choreographed attack that followed a musical pattern with which the pilots could deliver the final blow to the cores angel simultaneously. At least, in theory.
"So they've been training this for three days" Touji commented as he watched the choreography with amusement.
"They do it pretty well," Hikari added with a smile as he petted Pen-Pen. As soon as she said that, Asuka took the next step she was supposed to do a little faster than expected, and Shinji tried to keep up with her, but in doing so he gained too much momentum and ended tripped over "Well... maybe not so much..." Hikari corrected herself with a sigh.
"I can't take this anymore!" Asuka exclaimed, throwing her headphones across the room "It's impossible to lower myself to Shinji's pathetic level!"
Misato looked at her smugly "You're giving up, then?"
"There are things that not even someone as great as me can do" the girl said with a shrug.
"Alright. In that case..." Misato said directing his attention to Rei, who was sitting next to her "Rei, why don't you switch places with Asuka and give it a try?"
"Understood" said the girl getting up.
"Ha, this will be fun" thought the redhead giving way to Rei "I bet the doll's coordination skills are even worse's than the idiot's"
Shinji, respectively, was not very happy about the turning of events either "Does she want me to do the choreography with Ayanami without even having practiced with her before? What is Misato thinking?" thought the Third Child.
Rei put on the headphones, the music started from the beginning, and the pilots began to follow the steps. Several seconds passed, and to the surprise of most of those present, their coordination was practically perfect.
"I imagined this could happen, so I made Rei practice the choreography last afternoon at NERV" Misato said with a confident smile "Eva 00 is not yet fully repaired, but seeing these results, perhaps the most appropriate thing to do is to pair Shinji with Rei instead of Asuka"
Asuka watched the scene with dismay. The idiot and the doll had insulted her pride, but Misato's words were the straw that broke her camel's back. She felt rejected, and that was not a feeling the German girl handled very well.
"Fine, then let them do it! For all I care!" she screamed as she stormed into her room, slamming the sliding door shut with force.
"Asuka..." Hikari whispered.
Misato sighed "Leave her. I'm sure she'll calm down after a break" the woman said with some resignation.
A moment later, Shinji and Rei finished their choreography, with almost perfect synchronization.
"She's angry again, isn't she?" Shinji asked, taking out his headphones, which had not allowed him to hear Asuka's words well. It wasn't very difficult to deduce the context without them, however. Misato nodded.
"In any case, good job, guys. If Asuka fails to synchronize with Shinji in the end, you will team up with him, Rei. I will try to speed up the repairs of Eva 00." the woman said with a wink.
"Understood" the First Child said with a nod.
"Well, I think we better go," Touji commented upon seeing Hikari's face, who seemed sad after what happened with her friend "See you on Monday in class, Shinji" he said while giving the boy a thumbs up.
"Goodbye, Shinji. Give that angel a good beating" Kensuke said.
"Bye, guys" a smiling Shinji did the same.
Hikari approached the boy and gave him some papers "They are the school's notes from these past few days. Give them to Asuka later" the girl said, sadness still present on her voice.
"I see, thank you..." Shinji said a little indecisively. He then decided to say something else to the class representative "Don't worry about Asuka, as soon as her tantrum goes away, she'll be her usual self again"
"Are you sure?" the girl asked.
"Yeah, it's not the first one since we started training…" said the boy.
Hikari smiled slightly and said goodbye as well, accompanying Touji and Kensuke out. Misato finished her cup of tea and went to look for her jacket "Well, Rei, I'll take you home too" The woman said as she put on said jacket. At that moment, however, her phone started ringing "Oh, it's Ritsuko. Wait a moment Rei, I'll take this call and we'll leave afterwards" she added as she went out to the terrace to answer the call.
"Alright" was the girl's brief response, as she sat down again in front of the living room table. Shinji realized that they had been left alone, so he hesitated for a moment, considering what to do. He eventually sat down in front of the table too. Silence persisted the next few seconds. Shinji, as usual when this happened with Rei, tried to start a conversation.
"You do the choreography very well, Ayanami" said the boy.
"Captain Katsuragi had me practice it yesterday's afternoon at NERV" the girl clarified.
"Oh... I understand. That makes sense" said the Third Child, who had not heard that information while he was doing the choreography through the headphones he was using "Is everything okay at NERV?"
"Yes" was the monosyllable he received in response.
"Good, good..." the boy said, seeing that this conversation was going nowhere.
Silence.
"And at school? Anything new?"
"Nothing in particular" Rei responded.
"I see..." the boy whispered. Seeing that Rei didn't say anything else, he didn't try to continue with that conversation either.
Silence again.
Shinji lowered his head, somewhat dejected "I'm sorry, Ayanami. I must be boring you..."
The girl looked into his eyes, confused "Why do you say that?"
"Well... I never know what to talk with you about" the boy said while looking away, embarrassed "Besides, I know that I'm not a person with whom it's interesting to be around..."
Rei observed the boy for a few moments. A long time ago, when they met, she would have agreed with that, but for several days now things were different.
"I like being around you" said the girl.
Shinji opened his eyes in frank surprise. He looked at the girl, who looked back at him "Really...?" asked the boy still in disbelief.
"Yes" was the blue-haired girl's response.
"O-Oh..." Shinji whispered eloquently.
"And you don't have to worry about conversation" added the girl "I like being around you when we talk about something and I also like it when we are silent. I don't mind"
Shinji blushed so hard he could stop traffic. He didn't expect that one "O-Oh, well... thanks, Ayanami..." said the boy, very embarrassed but also very happy. He hesitated for a few moments, considering whether to reciprocate the compliment or not "I... I also like being around you" he finally said with a sincere smile.
Rei felt that warmth in her chest once again upon hearing those words. She observed the smile of the boy, who looked at her very happy, and the warmth also rose to her cheeks. The First Child glanced at his blue eyes and smiled too. They stayed like that for a moment, looking into each other's eyes, until...
"Am I interrupting something, guys?" Misato asked in a playful tone.
Shinji jumped on his seat as if a bee had stung him. He was so absorted in the moment had completely forgotten that Misato would be ending his call at any second. He blushed a deep crimson when he saw the woman's mischievous look "Of course not!" exclaimed the boy "We were just waiting for you to finish!"
Rei, for her part, had returned to her usual serious face, but still had a slight blush on her cheeks. She didn't quite understand why, but the look Captain Katsuragi gave them made her slightly embarrased.
"Oh, well, if you say so, Shinji…" the woman said before giggling softly "Okay, Rei, we're leaving"
"Goodbye, Ikari" the girl said, standing up, regaining her composure.
"Goodbye, Ayanami..." the boy said, sinking into his seat.
Misato gave Shinji one last amused look before walking out the door with the bluenette. He sank further into his seat.
Asuka did not leave her room for the remaining of the afternoon. Once dinner time arrived and she still didn't show up, Shinji began to worry. He turned off the stove and headed to the redhead's room.
"Asuka, are you okay? It's time for dinner" the boy said without opening the door.
"I'm not hungry" was the response of the redhead.
"Are you sure? I've made some more curry like the one I made two nights ago" the boy added, knowing that Asuka had liked it.
"I don't want your curry!" the German exclaimed.
Shinji scratched his head "Looks like I was wrong… this is not a simple tantrum" he thought hesitantly "What should I do now?" he checked his watch, Misato probably wouldn't be home until much later, she would be at NERV optimizing the details of the next day's battle so he couldn't ask her for advice.
Finally the boy went to the kitchen and poured a serving of curry on a plate. He put it on a tray along with a spoon and a glass of water, and then covered the plate with another one so that its contents would remain hot for a longer time. After doing this he took the tray and headed back to Asuka's room.
"I'll leave you a serving here in case you change your mind" the boy said, leaving the tray on the floor in front of the girl's door. He got no response.
The Third Child frowned. He was about to go to the dining room to have dinner, but finally decided to say something else before "Asuka... you don't have to push yourself so hard... it's obvious that you're very good at piloting the Eva... but you're only 14 years old, you don't have to put so much pressure on yourself"
Again, he got no answer from the girl. The boy sighed "Well, I'm going to have dinner. Good night"
At least he tried. Shinji did not see, however, how Asuka opened the door moments after he had left, to take the tray and go back into her room.
The attempt had not been in vain.
Asuka woke up early the next day. The German had had a difficult night.
To begin with, she had spent almost the entire afternoon locked in her room, after the show that her fellow pilots had put on "Of course the doll had to do it perfectly the first and make me look incompetent, naturally" she repeated herself several times in her head during that afternoon. And she was betting that Shinji was delighted that she was now her choreography partner, instead of her. After how the Third child had intervened to defend Rei a few days ago, Asuka suspected that something was going on there.
What happened at night, however, threw her off. "You don't have to put so much pressure on yourself" What would he know? Asuka HAD to be the best. There was no other solution. And yet... the girl could see sincerity and concern in those words, as if somehow Shinji understood.
The girl jumped out of bed and left her room quickly. In a few steps she reached the room of the Third Child and opened the door without knocking "Shinji, wake up!"
The boy was startled to be woken up so abruptly "What... Asuka? What's wrong?"
"Come on, we are going to train the choreography right now!" the German exclaimed, arms on her hips. Shinji looked at her as surprised as her sleepy mind allowed him at that moment. He didn't expect Asuka to want to try again.
"Now...?" the boy asked, looking at his watch "But it's only seven in the morning..."
"Precisely for that reason, we have to start early, we still have a lot to pulish!" said the girl energetically "And you better try to keep up with me this time, because... I'm going to try to go slower!"
Shinji looked at her, this time totally surprised "Really?"
"Yes, idiot!" The redhead replied, crossing her arms "It's difficult for someone as great as me to lower myself to your level, but in order to defeat the angel I'm willing to make sacrifices"
"I can't believe it. She is going to cooperate" thought the boy as he smiled "Very well, give me a few minutes to get up and we'll get on with it"
"I'll wait for you in the living room. Don't take too much" Asuka said closing the door to the room.
In a perfectly timed double jump, units 01 and 02 impacted the cores of the two copies of the seventh angel simultaneously. These broke into pieces from the force. Seconds later, the angel was consumed in an explosion. They had won.
"They...did it" said a surprised Misato "They did it!" she exclaimed delightedly.
Cheers from those present filled the NERV command center. Misato, letting herself be carried away by her joy, hugged a more than willing Kaji, who received her with open arms. The woman turned away from the aforementioned as soon as she realized what she had just done, while Kaji glanced a mischievous look at her.
"Ahem... Good job, guys" Misato congratulated the pilots once she regained her composure. The pilots' faces appeared on a screen, courtesy of the command center's direct communication with the Eva's entry plugs.
"Thank you, Misato" Shinji said somewhat embarrassed.
"It was the least that could be expected of me" said Asuka, a bright smile on her face. She then directed her gaze to the Third Child. "Shinji, you were very slow in the second to last step, you almost didn't make it in time to take the final leap" she said with her arms crossed.
"I'm sorry, but you already knew that that part is difficult for me..." the boy apologized.
"Only you could find something so basic difficult" The redhead responded with a shrug.
"Well, what difference does that make now? We defeated the angel, right? That's what's important" the boy excused himself.
Asuka looked at him for a few seconds, finally relaxed her gaze and smiled "I guess you're right. Just because we defeated the angel I'll forgive you, but don't get used to it" she said amused.
Shinji smiled back. Maybe working with Asuka would be easier from then on.
To be continued...