Many thanks to Silvermoonlight GJ for their insights into planning this chapter, it probably wouldn't be anywhere near up to par otherwise
Also shout out to guest reviewer 'Ransworn': thank you so much for your review, and I'm glad you're enjoying this fanfic! With regards to your criticisms, as someone estranged from my own genetic family, the idea of Asuka finding family in someone who was at first just a friend is not at all strange from my perspective - though I'm sorry that narrative element doesn't resonate with you. With regards to Misato and Ritsuko being together - well, it's difficult to swallow because it's a difficult relationship. One that'll soon be getting even more strained, in fact. Idk, I might even break them up completely if the story demands it; Misato is so morally inflexible and Ritsuko is complicit in so many dark secrets, there's no way they can have an easy time reconciling the gulf between them.
Also if my prose seems a bit weird in this chapter I gotta warn you that I'm constantly switching between writing this and writing a high fantasy piece so I might not be sticking too well with my scifi writing procedures
X-X-X
Chapter 10
X-X-X
Running, running through featureless white hallways under the glare of fluorescent lamps. I'm smaller, younger, dressed in a child-sized plugsuit. I can't run as quickly as the teenagers or adults, but it doesn't matter. I'm happier than I've ever been. This is the most important day of my life.
"Mama!"
I haven't reached the door I'm looking for, but I call out anyway. Maybe my mama will hear me, even if the door is thick and padded.
I turn a corner, closing in on my target. The room is at the end of the hall. I don't like the room; everything about it and what it represents puts me off. I haven't been back here since the time the nurses had to pull mama's hands off my neck. But this time, I'm excited to be here.
Finally, I reach the door.
The handle is high up, almost level with my eyes. I reach up and grab it and pull. It's stiff, so stiff. Children shouldn't open it, so it's not designed for them. It's supposed to be hard to open. In fact, it should be locked.
It isn't locked today, but I don't think about it. I'm too excited.
Pulling the door open is another struggle - it's strong, which makes it heavy. But I can manage it. I'm good at managing alone.
"Mama!" The door opens slowly. I'm yelling. Father always told me not to yell indoors, but I don't care. "Mama! I took the test. They accepted me! Project E accepted me! I'm gonna be a pilot!"
The silence doesn't mean anything; mama never talks much anymore. It doesn't bother me. I step through the door with all the confidence of a young, naive child.
"Mama…!"
She isn't sitting on the bed like she normally is. Nor is she standing.
She's hanging from one of the light fixtures. There's something around her neck, and she isn't moving. Hanging right beside her is the doll, the devil doll, her replacement for a real daughter.
The doll swings slightly, even though there's no breeze. It twirls, slowly. Now it's facing me.
"Die with me."
It's mama's voice, but the doll's mouth moves. Its horrible stitched mouth tears itself open and speaks with mama's sweet voice. I want to turn, I want to run, but my body is frozen and my feet are stuck to the floor. I try to scream, but my mouth won't open.
"Please, Asuka. Die with me."
The doll opens its mouth again, and this time there are teeth. Huge teeth, blades the size of my body. The doll's face stretches out, turning into a monster as long as an aircraft carrier - a horrible amalgamation of sackcloth and angel flesh. I'm not in the mental ward anymore, I'm underwater. I'm sitting in Moloch's entry plug, still frozen, still silent.
The monster lunges forward.
"DIE WITH ME."
The entry plug cracks. Water swirls in, the warm, vitalizing, almost sweet orange of the LCL leaking away into clear fountains of hellish cold salt. Whatever force kept me pinned is lifted, and I can move, I can speak, but I'm trapped in the entry plug and when I open my mouth to scream my lungs fill with seawater -
X-X-X
Asuka's eyes snapped open.
She immediately tried to bolt upright and cough at the same time, which - combined with the reflexive curl around the stabbing pain in her gut and shoulder - resulted in what probably looked like a spirited attempt to jackknife right off the bed. She ended up lying on her side with her arms wrapped around her torso, shuddering and coughing.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. They must not have pumped my lungs right after I passed out. But the coughing fits brought up no LCL, and when she finally looked up, all she could see was blurry, smeared outlines around vague shapes.
Her eyes stung slightly.
No! Don't you dare! You're stronger than that, soldier!
Asuka bit down on the inside of her lip, almost drawing blood. The pain brought back a sense of focus, and her breathing finally slowed.
Pushing herself back into some semblance of lying normally dragged a ragged groan out of her as she put pressure on her nerve-shocked shoulder, but no fresh tears fell. She angrily wiped the remaining stragglers away with the hospital blanket, erasing all evidence that she had ever cried.
Except for the puffy eyes, I guess, but that'll pass eventually. I'll be fine as long as no one comes by in the next few minutes. Soldiers don't cry.
As if on cue, the door opened. Asuka barely held in a shriek, rolling to face the other direction and doing her best to feign sleep.
Not like this! I can't let anyone see me like -
"Ahh, you're awake!" Came a bright voice, speaking English. "Sleep well? You've been out more than a day."
Asuka didn't respond, and Mari - for it could be no-one else - seemed to hesitate.
"Princess?" The other pilot switched to German, and a set of soft footfalls approached the bed. "Hey, I saw you moving. Everything alright?"
An irritated response started forming on Asuka's tongue, but she bit it back, holding out a shred of hope that Mari might go away and leave her alone.
The soft creaking of springs and shift in the mattress beside her crushed that hope, however.
"Come on, lil' sis. It's just me here." Asuka couldn't suppress a twitch as she felt a hand gently stroking her hair. "Not feeling too well? I know you get cagey when you're stressed."
Asuka gritted her teeth. She'd be damned if she capitulated now, no matter how well Mari knew her buttons.
The doorknob rattled again, and Asuka felt the same stab of panic. She forced herself to lie still.
"Oh, now you're in here." It was Maya's voice. "Miss Illustrious, I'm afraid I'll have to -"
"Shh!" Maya, surprisingly, fell silent immediately. "She's sleeping," Mari said, her voice as soft as she could manage when speaking Japanese.
There was a beat of silence before Maya spoke again, and this time it was much more quietly. "I'll come back later." The door clicked shut once more.
"Why did you do that?" Asuka growled, before cringing as she realized her mistake.
"If you didn't want to talk to me, I can hardly imagine you want to talk to Maya."
Asuka took a minute to process Mari's response. Not only had Mari not called her out for sulking, she'd acted out of consideration for Asuka's well-being - and she was sticking to German, too.
The lilting tone that Mari's londinian accent lent to her spoken German had always come across as endearingly provincial to Asuka. Because of this, it wasn't uncommon for Mari to stubbornly speak only in English or Japanese, even if Asuka was answering her in German. The fact that she was speaking German now only supported the theory that she was genuinely worrying.
"… well, you weren't wrong." Asuka's tone was grudging, but she could already feel the knotted tension in her shoulders starting to recede.
"What can I say?" Mari chuckled. "I may not be a blood relative, but I'm still your sister. I know you."
Asuka didn't respond. Moments like these were few and far between in her life; ever since a young age, Mari had been the only figure in her life that she could really think of as family. Letting down her veneer of unbreakability wasn't something that came naturally to her, and she was often left unsure how to respond.
"Now, are you gonna make me lie down or are you gonna sit up so I can hug you properly?"
Asuka rolled over so that she was no longer facing away, but when she braced her hands under herself, she encountered a problem.
"Asuka?"
"Can't get up," she hissed back. "Shoulder."
Mari was behind her in a flash, lifting her with strong arms - one somewhat weaker than Asuka remembered, but with two good arms between them they made do - and pulling her up to lean against her. "This okay?"
No, Asuka wanted to respond. There were few things she hated more than relying on someone. But with nerve shock robbing her the use of an arm, a leg and a large segment of her core muscles, she didn't have much choice.
And if I have to lean on someone, better her than anyone else.
It took her a moment to realize that, although the arms around her were strong as ever, Mari's breathing seemed slightly unsteady.
"Hey, you okay, four eyes?"
Mari didn't respond immediately, and when she did her voice sounded like she was alarmingly close to her own tears. "I thought I'd lost you," she managed. "I… when I saw Gaghiel dive…"
"Hey, none of that, four eyes." In truth, Asuka was afraid that if Mari started crying it'd set her off again in kind. "We made it. Bloodied, yeah, but we're alive and the angel's dead. Don't beat yourself up over it."
"Yeah." Mari took a deep breath, composing herself. "Sorry. I just… you're all I have left, Asuka."
"I ain't going anywhere, Mari." Asuka let her head fall back, knocking against Mari's shoulder. "I'm the ace pilot, right? No way would I fall before you do."
"Heh." Mari's chuckle was dry. "You're good, princess, but not invincible. If you do die, I'll never forgive you, or myself."
Asuka didn't reply immediately, instead opting to burrow slightly deeper into Mari's warm embrace.
"What day is it?" She finally said, her voice soft.
"Scheisse, haven't been paying attention." Mari tilted her head. "Let's see… I pulled you up in the early morning after the battle, and you've been asleep about thirty hours, give or take. Midday Thursday, then?"
"Could be worse, I guess." Asuka shifted uncomfortably. "Fuck, I hope this heals quickly. This level of nerve shock is uncharted territory."
"You're telling me. I only just got a bit of motion back in the arm this morning." She shifted the offending limb slightly, and Asuka realized it was the one that had seemed weaker than usual earlier. "The fourth angel fucked Baal up pretty bad. They're gonna need to rebuild that arm prosthesis from the ground up."
Asuka chuckled at the admission. "I'd wondered about that, when I saw you show up with a missing arm." There was a wry tone in her voice. "And Gaghiel chewed Moloch's leg off. I guess we match now."
"Yeah, we sure do." Asuka wasn't looking at Mari's face, but her voice was already lighter and more jovial. "So, I've been posted to NERV-J for the indefinite future, so you won't be getting rid of me anytime soon. Anything super interesting pop up since we last talked?"
Asuka shrugged, to the best of her ability. "Other than the battle with Shamshel and the fact that I recently broke eighty percent sync, I think you've got it covered."
Mari nodded. "Still at odds with the first child? You seemed pretty vocal about that last time I visited Tokyo-3."
That was a line of inquiry Asuka hadn't expected at all, and for a moment she floundered. "We… I… Ahem." she cleared her throat. "We seem to have come to a mutual understanding of sorts," she finally managed.
"Ahh, is that what they're calling it these days? 'mutual understanding'?"
Asuka twisted her neck to fix Mari with a sharp look. "And was zur hölle is that supposed to mean?"
Mari was saved by the bell, however, as a soft knocking on the door drew their attention. A moment later, the door opened slightly, although no one stepped through.
"Pilot Soryu?" It was Maya's clipped tone again. "You have more visitors."
The British pilot shifted, sliding out from behind Asuka but keeping an arm around her shoulders. "Is more people okay?" She asked softly.
"I think I'll be fine," Asuka murmured back. "Hey, get your arm off me."
"Nope." Mari smirked impishly. "You can come in, Maya!" She said aloud.
The lieutenant pushed the door open just enough to step around it. If she was surprised to see Mari effectively cuddling the other pilot, she betrayed no sign of it. "Captain Katsuragi and Pilot Ikari are here to see you."
Mari looked to Asuka for assent; the younger pilot hesitated, but then gave an almost imperceptible nod. Maya stepped back out of the room for moment, and there were a few inaudible words spoken.
Shinji stepped in first, followed by Misato. A worried atmosphere clung to him like a miasma. When he saw Asuka awake and, relatively speaking, unharmed, he visibly sagged with relief. "You're okay," he whispered, likely more to himself than anyone else.
Well, yeah, except for the whole massive local paralyses thing, and the additional notches on my PTSD bed post, Asuka thought. She bit down on the words. "Takes more than a big fish to drag me down," she declared, keeping any trace of pain or doubt out of her voice with a decade's worth of practice.
Shinji smiled with half his mouth. "Yeah," he replied, his voice still soft. "I guess it does."
Misato, in contrast to Shinji, was in full uniform and was standing to a stiff attention. She didn't speak at first, apparently waiting for Asuka to acknowledge her.
"Captain," she said, nodding slightly in Misato's direction. The formality felt strange, spoken outside of an entry plug, but Asuka had a distinct feeling that Misato wasn't just here socially.
"Warrant Officer," the captain replied softly, nodding in kind. Right on the money. I bet this is going to suck. "I'm glad to see you pulled through. According to Doctor Akagi, the x-ray burst and EMP of the angel's death briefly disabled the entry plug systems entirely… apparently the central nervous system trauma could have easily left you in a long-term coma."
Asuka blinked, digesting the information. "Well, I'm glad I'm not comatose, too," she said at last. "Wouldn't do for you to lose your best, after all."
A distinct look of discomfort flickered over Misato's face. "Yes. Well. On that note."
Oh, scheisse. Here it comes.
"I… did everything I could to speak on your behalf," Misato said haltingly. "But the UN High Command demanded you be punished for deploying an Evangelion unit without prior authorization."
The words were like a physical blow to Asuka, and she felt her blood turn to ice. UN High Command. The highest level of military authority in the world. The only direct superior to Project E and NERV. I am so, so screwed. She felt Mari's arm tighten around her shoulders.
"They… ahem. There was talk of court-martials and… other disciplinary action, all in various shades of excessive." The captain seemed to realize she had been shifting nervously, and straightened. "However, Doctor Akagi and I made some headway in talking them down. You'll be suspended from duty for seven days from the day you're released from hospital care. This incident will go on your record as overstepping authority, mitigated by circumstance. Lt. Ibuki will be reprimanded for direliction of duty, also mitigated by circumstance."
Asuka blinked, unconsciously letting her shoulders sag. "That's… all?" She managed. "I mean, not that I'm… thrilled or anything, but I… I kind of expected more."
"I said I talked them down. I didn't say it was easy." Misato nodded slightly, which was probably as close as she was going to get to a formal bow. "I'll let you recover."
Somewhat stiffly, she turned and marched out of the room. Shinji turned to watch her go, a look of surprise on his face.
"I didn't realize…" he shook his head, a rare note of genuine anger creeping into his voice. "I can't believe they tried to punish you for this. While you were still unconscious, even."
Asuka smirked, the expression's usual malevolent edge in full force. "Welcome to the military, conscript," she replied. "When efficiency is everything, rules come before fairness."
"But - but that's -"
"Unfair? Yes. Yes it is."
Mari nudged Asuka sharply. "Princess, be nice to the puppy."
A childish pout crossed her face, but Asuka relented. "Hmph. Fine."
For some reason, that brought a smile to Shinji's face. "I'm glad you have Pilot Illustrious to look after you," he said at length. "It's never fun staying in the hospital, but it's even worse when no one visits you."
His words had a subtle weight to them - a reminder, to Asuka, that Shinji was even more lost and alone than she was. She had formed an easy camaraderie with Mari in her early childhood, and their sibling-like relationship had supported her in whatever ways it could after she lost her mother and fell out with her father; but Shinji had no one.
"She isn't looking after me," Asuka said, out of reflexive indignation. "She's just -"
"I totally am, princess. Shh, don't try to fight it."
Asuka opened her mouth to issue a scathing retort, but she was interrupted by the door opening once more. "Pilots Ikari, Illustrious?" Maya poked her head in. "Sorry about this, but we need you to return to Central Dogma plug pools for post combat recalibration tests."
Shinji's shoulders slumped, and Asuka felt Mari's arm tighten around her. "Of course they do," Mari muttered softly. "The Evas are more important than their pilots, after all."
"I'll be sure to come back tomorrow," Shinji said hastily. "That - that is, if they don't discharge you by then. Dr. Akagi said you might not need to stay long, unless the, um, stomach injury, causes deeper damage."
The Japanese pilot ducked out the door, and Mari slowly distangled her arm from Asuka's shoulders. "You going to be okay without me, Asuka?" She asked, switching back to German.
"Yeah, yeah." Asuka smiled. "Get going, you."
X-X-X
The click of the door was so faint that even someone already awake might miss it. But Asuka hadn't slept easily for a long time, and had the practiced hypervigilance of a career soldier on her side; the click might not have woken her alone, but the shift in the air as the door swung open came to more than enough.
Asuka thanked whatever fortune had dictated that she lie facing the door at this precise moment. She cracked open one of her eyes, just barely enough to see a fuzzy silhouette standing in the rectangle of light.
The indistinct look was all it took, however. There was only one person in Tokyo-3 who would wear a school uniform when visiting a hospital after hours. The faint impression of blue from the light filtering through her hair only cemented the assumption.
Was zur hölle? Wondergirl? What's she doing here?
Rei didn't speak - nor did she seem inclined to move further into the room. She simply stood, silent and unmoving.
Fuck. I wish I could see her face; she doesn't fucking do the whole 'body language' thing. Gotta look fucking close to find any tells.
The seconds continued to tick by. Whatever Rei's purpose - in standing silently by the threshold of the hospital room - was, she seemed to have no intention of abandoning it anytime soon.
Oddly enough, Asuka didn't exactly find it creepy - at least, not as she used to. Everything about Rei strained the limits of the word 'weird', but the German girl no longer saw any reason to feel unsettled; despite their many failures of communication, Rei had never shown any sign of malevolent intent towards her. And as Asuka had slowly come to learn the tiny expressions and subtle vocal tells of the other girl, the unnerving doll impression had begun to fall away.
Asuka was no longer sure exactly where she stood with regards to the first child. As someone who disliked uncertainty, it was… agitating.
Finally, Asuka decided she'd had enough. Putting as much effort as she could into looking like she'd only just awoken, she opened her eyes and pushed herself up - as well as she could, with one hand. "Was? Wondergirl? What're you doing here?"
Rei jolted as if she'd been stung. She stood frozen for a second, then reached for the door handle, pulling the door shut as she stepped backwards.
The latch clicked again as the door swung closed, and Asuka was left staring bemusedly at where the light had been.
And yet again, she leaves me thinking… was zur hölle was that all about?
X-X-X
"I'm… err, I'm glad you're recovering well."
Asuka gave the other pilot a death glare, but for once Shinji didn't seem fazed by it. "Oh, don't be like that, Soryu. I've known you a little while; you couldn't be any more proud of having won a battle that hard." He calmly opened his lunch. "Don't even try to deny it. I've seen you crowing about it to Horaki."
"Verdammt, Shinji, it's no fun having a superiority complex when people just give me praise," Asuka shot back - trying and failing to keep the smile off her face. She leaned over to punch him in the shoulder, but she was stuck using her right arm, and the blow lacked any significant bite.
"Well, I'm just glad you can still smile," Shinji replied, still unconcerned despite the weak blow. "Misato made us watch the Gaghiel footage yesterday, and… well. I think going through that would have broken me."
"Oh, this from the guy who trashed Shamshel while impaled on two plasma whips? Now I know you're just buttering me up." Asuka rolled her eyes, and her voice took on a more serious tone. "It was being relieved of duty that hurt most. I bet my sync score has already dropped from lack of practice."
"But only for a week," Shinji reminded her. "Seems pretty light, for issuing orders above your station and joyriding in a war machine. Besides, aren't you back on duty tomorrow?"
"It's the principle of it!" Asuka whined. "Now my service record is marked. Marked! For doing the right thing!"
Shinji just rolled his eyes. "I thought no soldier made it through their career without breaking at least a few rules." He shrugged. "Circumstances like that can't be unusual… uh, albeit on a smaller scale than angel attacks, but still."
"Hmph." Asuka crossed her arms, though she couldn't actually deny the statement. "And who told you that?"
"Kensuke, obviously."
"Oh, right, the total nerd." Asuka frowned, looking away.
"Well… you're not wrong," Shinji admitted. "I swear he'd read military regs for fun."
"What about you two, anyway?" Asuka groused. "You were both on deployment too. Not a bruise between you?"
Shinji actually laughed out loud. "After Shamshel, that was nothing. An ugly machine that can swing its arms is a very different animal from an evil alien monster." He shook his head. "I hardly even had to do anything. You should have seen Ayanami - she had the whole operation on lockdown."
Asuka tilted her head. "Rei? Really?" Verdammt, talk about a subject I'd rather not discuss.
"Oh yeah. The minute the robot started fighting back, she was like a machine," Shinji replied. "Also, 'Rei,' huh? Not 'First' or 'Wondergirl'?"
A faint flush crept over Asuka's cheeks, but she gritted her teeth. "I'll grudgingly admit she's earned a little respect," she ground out sullenly. "I'm just surprised she took initiative. She seems like more of a quietly-take-orders kind of dolly."
"Well, she does take orders well, but she doesn't get lost if she isn't told what to do." Shinji shrugged. "As a pilot, she's plenty competent - more than I am, for sure."
Asuka looked over at the subject of their discussion. True to form, the first child was staring out the window with glassy eyes and a neutral expression. She had, as usual, neglected to bring anything to eat during the lunch period.
An unpleasant memory raised the hairs on the back of Asuka's neck - the image of Rei pulling loose clothes around a rail-thin body, her skin stretched painfully tight over her bones.
"… I'm gonna go talk to her," Asuka abruptly declared. She stood up sharply, faltering slightly as her semi-responsive left ankle wobbled under her weight.
"Wh- really? I thought you hated Ayanami -"
"Don't be stupid. I may not like Rei, but I'd never hate a member of my own team." Asuka was aware that she was blatantly contradicting things she had said earlier, but she ignored it as she pressed forward.
I've been avoiding her for the last six days, but I bet she won't even care. I don't think Rei even understands what social awkwardness is. I guess it has its upsides.
She'd had to bring a crutch to school on her first day back, but now - six days later - She only showed a slight limp to her walk. It had been terrifying at first, displaying any kind of weakness in front of her classmates, but a few retellings of the story behind the injuries had firmly established an awe-like respect for her endurance. With a reputation like that, she had no problem with proudly displaying her war wounds.
After all, what kind of veteran has no scars?
She came to a halt in front of Rei's desk. The smaller pilot did not look away from the window, or indeed acknowledge Asuka's presence at all.
"Hey, First."
Rei's mouth opened slightly, as if preparing to speak, but she said nothing. She blinked, so slowly that she seemed almost on the verge of falling asleep, and turned her head to face the german pilot.
Asuka frowned as she took in Rei's appearance. Rei was anything but animated at the best of times, but she always at least seemed composed - indeed, her aura of serenity was more constant than Asuka would have thought possible for a human. Now, however, she looked rather different.
Her hair's dirty, and I haven't seen that since I saw her in the hospital. Asuka's eyes scanned the other girl critically, easily picking out the unusual flaws. Minute creases in her uniform, fractionally different lengths to the ribbon tails, the bottom button on her shirt not quite fastened -
Wow, Asuka, you've become a real expert on R- on Wondergirl, haven't you? Asuka clenched her teeth as she realized what she was doing. Sniping little details like that - and on anyone else they'd mean nothing. You really know how she ticks, huh?
"… Pilot Soryu," Rei murmured. It was barely even an acknowledgement.
A vague uneasiness made itself known in the pit of Asuka's stomach. Rei usually had unnerving focus, once you got her attention; today, it was as if she wasn't even there. Her scrutinizing gaze was replaced with a dazed stare, and the schooled neutrality of her expression was now no more than slack-faced emptiness.
Laying it on a little thick, Asuka! Would anyone else be able to see the difference in expression between neutral and spacey?
She'd meant to prod Rei about the Jet Alone mission, but suddenly battlefield performance was the furthest thing from her mind. "Are you… alright?"
A pause, just a second longer than it should have been. "I am uninjured."
Asuka frowned, grabbing a nearby chair and sitting down across from Rei. "I didn't ask if you were injured, I asked if you were alright. You seem… I dunno… kinda off your game."
Rei stared back at Asuka. Something's off about her eyes, but I can't quite tell…
"All my required functions are within acceptable parameters," Rei murmured back. Well, I can't say that was actually unexpected. Robotic responses are how she rolls.
Rei didn't look robotic, however. She looked like a corpse.
"Required functions? First…" Asuka almost choked on the word, but finally managed. "Rei. We're not on duty. No one's requiring anything."
The other pilot blinked, in the same lazy half-stunned manner as before. Asuka waited patiently for a response.
After about forty-five seconds of a blank, silent stare, she concluded that Rei had either decided to remain silent or had forgotten the question. She gritted her teeth, trying not to let her frustration boil over.
Clearly, I'm not going to get anything out of her by the direct approach.
"What're those bracelets?" She said abruptly - and Rei blinked, somewhat faster than before.
"Bracelets?" She repeated.
Asuka cocked an eyebrow, pointing to Rei's wrist. "What, you got some other weird name for those?"
"No." Rei seemed tired. "Those are medical alerts, not jewelry."
"Medical alerts? For what?"
"Severe allergies to shellfish and beta-lactam antibiotics."
Asuka was taken off guard. "Allergies? Really."
Rei stared back at her blankly. Asuka searched her face for the tiny tells of an unimpressed expression, but found none - the japanese pilot truly seemed entirely apathetic in every way.
Usually I can at least make her annoyed, if nothing else!
"I can't fucking figure you out," Asuka said, finally breaking the silence. "Every time I'm ready to write you off as a blank robot doll, you go and do something frustratingly… normal. Are you really a person, or just faking it?"
That, finally, got a response: Rei's eyes widened slightly, and her mouth opened as if she was preparing to speak.
Then there was another tiny flicker of expression, so quick that even Asuka almost missed it.
Was that… fear?
Rei shut down as quickly as she had opened up, her face stilling and returning to the blank nothingness of before. Her mouth closed without speaking.
I've seen her uncertain, but never once have I seen her actually afraid. What the fuck's going on with her?
Asuka opened her mouth to pry further. Before she could speak, however, a shrill ringing filled the classroom. Lunch period was over.
Rei's attention slid away from the other pilot, and she turned her head to stare out the window once more.
"Sory- er, I mean, Asuka?" It was Hikari's voice. "I'm going to have to ask you to return to your seat…"
Well, at least she remembered that I don't like the last name thing, Asuka grumbled to herself. She stood up, glancing at Rei a final time.
I'll figure you out eventually, First. You mark my words.
X-X-X