Happy all fools' day! Luckily for you all, this chapter isn't a joke! I ran this right against the deadline, but I wanted be really sure it was just right. I hope it's worth it.

How do promotion ceremonies work? I dunno, I hate that armies even exist. Also, I don't actually know if the Shoigunjinsho medal is still a thing (introduced in 1938, seems like it could have been discontinued), and I can't easily find up to date information. Well, whatever. Nothing is real. Here's more fan fiction.

CW: hypodermics. I hate putting a CW on a turning point scene but…. yeah, if syringes squick you out you might have a rough time with this one.

X-X-X

Chapter 30

The Siege of Hakone: Vigilance

X-X-X

There was a throbbing ache pulsing through Misato's head. While it had never been unusual for her to get stress or eyestrain headaches, the whole-skull pain was new, coming and going multiple times a day since -

Matsushiro.

She didn't even remember much clearly. Flashes of seeing Pilot Horaki's smiling face, being in the control box, technicians rattling off lines of activation routines she knew by heart, then a smearing swirl of bright lights and pain and darkness.

Fucking head injuries.

Her fingers itched for a cigarette, but she clenched her fist and deepened her frown and kept walking. She'd had to avoid alcohol for days, the mere smell of liquor enough to cause or worsen a headache. She was determined not to replace it with an even more destructive vice.

Ahh, here we are. The big boy's box.

Misato straightened her shoulders, took a moment to check that her uniform was presentable, then knocked on the door of the Commander's office.

"Enter."

Pushing the doors open, Misato was surprised to see Asuka standing in front of the desk, looking back curiously as the captain entered. Knowing the commander's uptight ways, however, she knew better that to comment, and merely stepped into rank beside the pilot.

The Commander and Lieutenant-Commander, of course, might have been installed appliances for how predictable their positions were: Gendo leaning forward on his desk with his fingers laced, Kōzō standing stiffly at attention behind his right shoulder.

"Warrant officer Langley-Soryu. Step forward."

Asuka tensed at the mention of her name, but nodded, taking one step forward sharply. In the rarely displayed NERV dress uniform, she almost looked like a real soldier, if one were to ignore her not-quite-adult stature.

Gendo stood up, then, and for a moment Misato blinked at the rare display of movement from a man known for incredible impressions of statues. Wow, he almost seems human.

Kōzō followed his commander dutifully, picking up and opening a small wooden box from the desk as he did so. Gendo retrieved a set of bars from the box, pinning them to the front of her uniform.

"Effective immediately, you are reinstated to the rank of Second Lieutenant, with all the privileges and responsibilities thereof."

Asuka opened her mouth to say something, but then seemed to think better of it, and opted for a simple salute before stepping back.

"Captain Katsuragi, step forward."

What? It can't be, I haven't quite been a captain for two years! Angel threats might be unusual circumstances, but-

"For your service at the battle of Matsushiro, you are hereby awarded the Shoigunjinsho Sen-sho, in recognition of wounds sustained in the line of duty." Gendo's tone was as even as ever as he clipped the medal to Misato's jacket. "And in recognition of exemplary service throughout the Angel Siege, effective immediately, you are promoted to Major, with all the privileges and responsibilities thereof."

With that, he turned and stalked back to his desk, sitting back down and raising his head just far enough to convey a pointed look behind his opaque orange glasses. "That will be all, officers. Dismissed."

Misato saluted, and bowed slightly before she quite realized what she was doing. She recovered quickly, turned on her heel and headed for the door; Asuka fell into step behind her.

"Get the fucking shakes just looking at that door," Asuka muttered. "You ever get that, capt- er, Major? Like he wants to see you crawl."

"You shouldn't speak of a superior officer that way, Asuka. Especially not after receiving a commendation."

"You're thinking it too," Asuka replied confidently. "Dare you to say otherwise."

"That's beside the point."

"Knew it."

"Anyway, Light duty still means some paperwork." Misato crossed her arms, huffing. "I'll be here another two hours at least. If you want a ride home, you'll have to entertain yourself for awhile."

"Oh, I can do that. Not a problem."

"That had better mean staying out of the cages. Deep repairs is not the time to be asking the techs to do your custom fine-tuning."

"Yeahhh, I ain't too eager to put on a radiation suit today anyway. I'll be in D wing, actually."

"Good. I'll call when it's time to go."

"Aye-aye, Major. I'll have my phone on me."

X-X-X

"Hey."

Asuka tried to swallow the nervous lump in her throat as she stepped around the door. "… Hey. They, uh, told us you were awake yesterday, but it was already after visiting hours."

"It's fine." Hikari's voice sounded hollow. "They… didn't give me my phone, anyway. I expect it's buried under a mountain of ruins now."

"Almost certainly. They'd have given you a NERV issue one anyway, though," Asuka said, trying not to sound bitter. "A good deal if you don't mind the fact that someone else probably reads all your messages."

Hikari looked down, staring numbly at the space where her right arm should have been.

"They didn't tell me it would be like this."

Asuka fought down a wave of nausea as her mind conjured images of the worst moments - the visceral proxy-injuries that returned as haunting phantom pains, the choking panic of watching a teammate fall and the scalding sear of touching an overheated entry plug, the helpless, hopeless sight of the light disappearing above her as she sank further into the pacific ocean. "They never tell us," she muttered, looking away. "They never tell us what it'll be like, and they never give us a choice."

At that, Hikari looked back up. "You didn't know it was me."

Asuka shook her head. "We didn't… I didn't…" she took a deep breath. "It wasn't until contact that we were even aware it was a hostile evangelion. And the whole battle, they tried to pretend like there wasn't a human pilot in the entry plug, too."

Hikari looked away. Asuka though she might have heard a whispered curse, too, but she couldn't tell.

"Yeah, it's not that bad all the time. Sometimes it's simple… just a fight for your life, not moral judgment calls on top of that…" Asuka shook her head. "I know, I know. I used to talk big like it was so cool. It's not cool. It's grim. War isn't a place for… not for anyone, especially not teenagers."

Hikari mumbled something in response, but once again Asuka failed to catch it. "Hmm?"

"I said, you came to say welcome to hell, then?"

"… Yeah." Asuka nervously scratched the back of her head. "Better me than Capt- er, Major Katsuragi. Welcome to hell. Sorry about the arm."

"You never lost a limb." Hikari sounded more tired than accusatory.

"No, but - look, it's not a contest. We've all been hurt by Eva."

"How have you been hurt, Asuka?" This time it was definitely accusing. "How has serving at NERV hurt you?"

Asuka sighed, then took a deep breath. "On my first day in Tokyo-3, I suffered unshielded close exposure to a nuclear fireball. Apart from some permanent hearing loss in one ear, I have to get blood screening for Leukemia every month for the next eighteen months, then every six months after that for ten years, then every year after that for the rest of my life." She looked back up to meet Hikari's eyes. "And that's not the only thing but… it's not a contest."

Hikari looked away, ashamed. Asuka sighed, leaning forward and taking Hikari's hand in her own. "Hey, don't feel bad. It's okay to be bitter. I'd be angry as hell if I were you right now."

Looking back up, Hikari stifled a choked laugh. "Of course you would," she muttered. "You always get angry. Never sad or hopeless or afraid, just angry. I wish I had that kind of strength, that kind of drive…"

The tone was one of awe, but the words hit Asuka like a sucker punch to the gut. Never hopeless? Never afraid? Clearly, I'm not the Asuka Langley-Soryu you look up to-

"Also, I can barely feel that." Hikari tilted her head towards where Asuka was holding her hand. "There's still a, uh, a lot of healing for that graft to do. Doctor Akagi told me it'll probably always be a bit stiffer and less sensitive than it once was."

Asuka deflated slightly, and after a moment, she let go of Hikari's hand. Hikari leaned back, then, resting her head on the pillow.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," Asuka said at length.

"Yeah. I'm sorry this happened to you, too."

X-X-X

"I'm surprised you agreed to this, for such a - well, comparatively - mild case of feedback shock."

Mari winced as the needle lanced into her deltoid muscle. "Mild to you," she grunted. "Sure, no paralysis, not so much pain as the standard fare, but that EMP buzz tingles."

"I suppose that doesn't sound fun." Maya noted the visible skin on Mari's arms was slightly reddened, as if she'd been rubbing it vigorously.

"No. It's like pins and needles. But they don't go away as usual, they come and go at random."

"That does sound pretty uncomfortable." Maya made quick work of the second injection. "Well, the steroid-LCL suspension has worked well for you so far with paralysis and acute pain. Let's hope that extends to EMP shock."

"It'd be nice if it worked for the recurring chronic pain too," Mari said, trying not to sound sullen.

Maya sighed. "We're doing our best."

"I know. I just -" Mari shook her head. "It doesn't seem fair. Going out to butcher and get butchered. Then when we get back to base all beat up and bloody, the best we get are experiments."

Maya didn't respond immediately, instead finishing the final injection for the right arm, then setting down her equipment and stepping over to the counter. She picked up something small - Mari couldn't see the object from her angle - and, after a faint buzzing sound, set it down.

"Well, now that the microphone bugs are jammed, we can talk," Maya murmured. It didn't escape Mari's notice that Maya was avoiding excessive movement of her mouth, too.

"About what?" Mari replied softly.

"These 'experiments'? You're getting the safe versions. The first formulations were tested on Rei, and some nearly killed her."

"Shit." Mari winced, biting the edge of her free thumb, masking the distress as a reaction to the hypodermic entering her left shoulder. "Surprised none of them did kill her. She seemed like such a paper-thin waif before Asuka pushed her to take better care of herself…"

Maybe they really did kill her. Those clones in the tank… can't help but think they're backups.

"No… medical testing wasn't what did it. Nor even berserking evangelion failures." Maya's voice was almost a whisper. "The first time she died was murder."

Mari looked up sharply, momentarily forgetting that there were probably still camera bugs in the room.

"And the second time was so damn banal. It was an allergic reaction. I guess anaphylaxis kills you quick, no matter who or what you are."

"Been reading the un-redacted versions of the good doctor's reports, have you?"

"Yeah. She's been a lot more cooperative lately. I guess almost killing Rei a third time spooked her." Maya chuckled, quietly and humorlessly. "You don't seem surprised."

"I broke into Terminal Dogma awhile back. Saw the tank where Gendo keeps the spare pets."

"Terminal Dogma?" Maya frowned. "What a name. I guess I should give the base some credit for thematic consistency, if nothing else."

"It's the real bottom floor of the AEL elevator."

"I see." Maya capped the syringe, dropping it into a biohazard bin. "There was a detailed blueprint in the files I was reading, too, labeled Guf System. It looked like some kind of fucked-up inverted linking circuit. Used to make brain backups… and restore from backups. I bet that's what you saw."

"Hmm." Mari stood up, a little stiff from sitting still. "So it really is the same Rei being resurrected… I can't tell if that's better or worse than what I assumed."

"What did you assume?"

"That new iterations were either being trained to act vacuous, or kept too drugged for anyone to notice a difference."

"Well, she's off the drugs now." Maya scribbled on her summary sheet. "I'm amazed Gendo hasn't noticed a difference."

"His pet half-angel is to be seen and not heard. He doesn't think about her when he doesn't need her. I know that type of guy."

"Sounds about right." Maya opened the cupboard again, making a small hand signal before switching off the jammer. "Alright, Miss Illustrious. You're good to go! As always, call me if you notice any unusual side effects."

Mari made her best doe-eyed expression, and Maya frowned with trepidation.

"Don't I get a kiss goodbye?"

Maya's frown dissolved into a cryptic smile, and she stepped forward, leaning into Mari's personal space -

"Not while we're on duty," she whispered, just a millimeter away from Mari's ear. Mari swallowed, suddenly more nervous than she'd been when discussing stolen intel in an enemy base. She'd have bet money she was blushing too.

"Here's your visit summary. I'll see you later, Warrant Officer."

"Y-yeah. You too, Lieutenant."

X-X-X

There was a soft chime from Ritsuko's watch, and she smiled to herself, tapping a special sequence on her tablet before discarding it and standing up.

For the next fifteen minutes, Section 2 would not be watching her front door. The bugs in her apartment were now repalying a random day from the footage archives. She had until the next shift came on to make her way out.

Fifteen minutes was enough. Her bag was ready to grab and go.

It took her six minutes to get to the bottom floor of the complex, then another four to clear the patrol's watch zone. Technically, that freed her from the time constraint, but she didn't slow down her walking.

At fourteen minutes and twenty-two seconds, she entered the front door of the complex two blocks down.

Not my fastest time, but under fifteen still. Good enough.

The door she was after was on the bottom floor. Ritsuko didn't slow down as she approached - indeed, she had the keycard already out, swiping it as soon as she was able.

The door opened. The apartment was quiet.

Thank all gods. Quiet was better than crying. Ritsuko had gone to great lengths to securely lock down anything dangerous after the first chemical burn from mishandled kitchen cleaner, but she still worried - it was hard to keep a creative child's living space completely safe, and Ritsuko couldn't exactly keep watch all hours of the day.

The worry came back in full force at the sound of an unsteady footstep. No, no! She was still crawling yesterday, there's no way she's ready to-

A head full of blue hair leaned around the doorway of the living room, red eyes blinking curiously. A moment later, the rest of Kyū appeared, moving slowly, clinging heavily to the wall, but definitely walking.

Ritsuko dropped her bag, rushing over to Kyū's unsteady form. "Be careful! I sure hope you weren't trying this earlier. What if you'd fallen?" She took a deep breath, consciously removing the harsh tone from her voice. "I know you want to stretch - well, and strengthen - your legs, but you need to take it slowly, okay? I can't be there to help you all the time."

Kyū didn't say anything. Apart from the occasional noise, she'd never said anything, certainly never a fully formed word. Still, she looked up at Ritsuko's face, even as she struggled not to lean her full weight against the doctor.

Damn those soft eyes. This version of Rei never learned to be cold…

"Alright, you. Let's go back into the living room and sit down, shall we? I think you've done enough stumbling around; I wouldn't want you to break your pretty little head."

Although it wasn't a real acknowledgement, Kyū did nestle closer in to Ritsuko's body, stretching out her arms in an awkward hug.

"Yeah, yeah. I missed you too. I-" Ritsuko cut herself off, looking away. "I… I never wanted children, you know? You were just one of my many mistakes at first. But I've got you now anyway, and damned if I won't do the best I can."

Kyū just looked back up at her, face still blank.

"Don't look at me in that tone of voice. Come on. I'll help you walk to the living room, okay?"

X-X-X

Asuka jolted awake, rolling to her side and curling up around the pain in her stomach as she tried not to vomit.

Gaghiel wasn't a ghost that revisited often. No battle was pleasant, but the supercarrier-sized oceanic angel had been one of the simplest battles of her career: she'd been operating under her own command, she hadn't needed to seriously co-ordinate multiple units, and there wasn't much of a 'trick' to the angel beyond its immense size and power. As a battle, it had been the closest thing to a favorite she had.

Still, the memory of being pinned on the ocean floor in a crippled, maimed evangelion unit that had been bitten nearly clean in half…

It was just a dream. You're safe. You're lying in your own bed at home.

It's just pain. Just memories of pain. It hurts, but it won't kill you.

Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to roll over, stretching her legs over the side of the bed and making to get up. It was slow, careful going. The abdominal pain weakened her core and made her posture unsteady. But with some effort, she managed to stand.

By the time she made it to her bedroom door, her body was fully awake, ready to keep moving through any pain that wasn't actually paralytic. Her clumsy shuffle shifted into a quiet, poised walk.

Down the hall, the bathroom light was on. There were faint sounds of activity through the cracked door.

Asuka crept quietly up to the door, looking through the narrow gap. After ascertaining that 1) the occupant was Rei and 2) Rei was not indecent, her curiosity got the better of her, and she pushed the door open.

"Hello, Asuka. You should be asleep." Rei gave no sign of surprise.

"Can't," Asuka replied shortly, eyeing the bottles on the bathroom counter with suspicion. "Pain."

"I see." Rei put down the isopropanol swabs she'd been holding. "Do you need painkillers?"

"Nah, they don't work." Asuka cupped her hands under the faucet, and drank down the icy water as quickly as she could.

"I have other painkillers. Meloxicam is related to ibuprofen, but stronger."

"I'll tough it out, thanks." Asuka's gaze darted over to the bottles again. Once, Rei had kept many prescriptions; here were only three. Meloxicam, 'Nephilim Syndrome Supplement' and LCL. A hypodermic lay beside the last bottle, its plastic packaging unopened, and a small red biohazard/sharps container sat on the floor by the toilet. Asuka couldn't help but narrow her eyes.

"Where does it hurt?"

Asuka's attention snapped back to Rei. "… Gaghiel's bites."

Rei nodded. "May I touch you?"

"What?! Why?"

"I may be able to soothe the pain." Rei took a tentative half-step forward. It was all Asuka could do not to step back.

How, she wanted to ask, but suddenly her tongue seemed to stick in her throat. Before she even realized what she was doing, she nodded.

Rei took another step forward, and put her right hand flat on Asuka's chest, directly over the solar plexus. Asuka could feel the warmth through the thin fabric of her pyjamas.

She used to be so cold…

Rei's hand moved, just a little, and something happened - it was a sensation just beyond perception, like a sound phasing out of the audible range. And the pain faded - not quickly, not completely, but the knife-like agony began to dull down to a lingering ache.

"How did… what did you do?"

"Field resonance." Rei stepped back over to the sink, opening the pill bottles.

"What is that supposed to - wait. Hold that thought. Weren't you supposed to have stopped those medications?"

"I have stopped those of my medications which were harmful to my health," Rei answered, then leaned down to drink from the tap before swallowing the two tablets. "… Meloxicam is a non-opioid painkiller that suppresses inflammation around my uplink implants. LCL injections and rare mineral supplementation are to forestall or reverse a unique, but potentially deadly, autoimmune condition called Nephilim Syndrome."

Rei didn't blink or move as she made the explanation. Asuka had thought she'd gotten used to Rei's oddities - but now, under the stark florescent white of the bathroom lightbulb, the scarlet eyes and ashen skin seemed more alien then ever before.

I didn't see, did I? I didn't want to see. Unnatural hair, unnatural eyes, unnatural behavior, exotic medications… the angel Matarael even spoke to her differently!

"You aren't human, are you?"

As soon as she said it, Asuka wished she could take the words back. Rei tilted her head just a little, and a subtle sadness softened her eyes, and a new pain cut through Asuka at the sight.

"I am a human," Rei replied, barely above a whisper. "And… I am not."

"Explain." Asuka told herself her voice wasn't shaking.

"I was created as an experiment by Gehirn - potentially an attempt to prototype an evangelion, but my initial purpose is unknown. I was one of the last projects that Doctor Yui Ikari worked on, and most of her documentation has been destroyed." For once, Rei blinked. "My genetic donor was Yui Ikari herself, and my stem cell donor was the Angel Lilith, mother of Earth."

"And instead of growing into an evangelion, you're… this."

"Just so."

"Half angel, half human?"

"Just so. Not unlike an evangelion in that way." Rei sat down on the toilet seat and lifted her left leg, rolling up the pyjamas. "Unfortunately, I was not scrapped in my infancy. After Dr. Ikari's… passing, the Commander saw fit to finish my development for his own purposes."

His own purposes, Asuka noted. "Unfortunately?"

"I- yes."

"It's unfortunate that you lived?"

Rei's eyes widened, and she looked away quickly.

"I do not… I did not value my own life highly," she replied after a moment. "Until you ordered me to."

Hazy, frantic memories of their rushed first deployment flooded back to Asuka. She'd thought it no more than throwaway comment in the heat of the moment, but it seemed to have meant much more than that to Rei.

That scheisse twists a kid's brain, growing up with a death wish. And she didn't have an adoptive sister to pull her out of it.

"I spent my early years waiting for death. Anticipating it. He told me he would allow me to die, and then twice went back on his word." Rei picked up the syringe, fidgeting with the packaging instead of tearing it open. "Then you - my immediate superior - ordered me not to die."

"I wasn't your commanding officer then, I -"

"But I thought you were, then, remember?"

Asuka fell quiet again.

"And I have since grown to value life. To reach for happiness by my own volition." Finally, Rei seemed to collect herself, opening the syringe and reaching for the bottle of LCL. "I learned this from you. So, thank you."

"… Anytime." Asuka frowned, looking away. Well, this is already as weird as it gets. The girl I was sort-of-maybe-a-little-bit crushing on is actually a half-angel abomination of a science experiment. And she's thanking me for… what, showing her a better way to live? Accidentally?

Rei patiently filled the syringe with 2ml of fluorescent orange fluid, then switched out the tip for a narrower needle. A moment later, she made the injection, swiftly and without hesitation. She didn't make any noise, but Asuka didn't miss a slight twitch of her hands.

See, she still feels pain. Asuka resisted the urge to shake her head. She knew that. She'd seen Rei suffer much worse than a shallow puncture from a narrow needle.

Rei withdrew the empty syringe, discarding it into the red biohazard bin. It left a tiny mark, no bigger than an insect bite, but after a moment a small bead of blood began to collect at the site.

See, she still bleeds red blood, human blood…

Rei covered the puncture with the isopropanol pad, then pressed down with her fingers to be sure the bleeding stopped. She looked up, then, and a subtle frown flickered across her face.

"Would you please pass me a band-aid, Asuka?"

Asuka started, broken out of her thoughts by the quiet voice. She wordlessly picked up the box of band-aids, passing it over to Rei, who peeled and applied the dressing with practiced ease.

Then it was over. Rei discarded the waste paper and plastic, rolled down the leg of her pyjamas, and stood up, gingerly testing the limb. It was a little stiffer than usual, but Rei's posture was always stiff. She looked as normal as she ever had…

Except now I know she's one of them. A freaky alien, complete with freaky alien magic…

Asuka found her eyes narrowing again, trying to remember exactly how Rei had done her 'field resonance' trick earlier. Asuka hadn't been paying enough attention, too captivated by Rei's closeness.

"I am sorry, my presence must unsettle you. I will leave." Rei made for the door.

She stopped, however, when Asuka turned and caught her wrist. She looked back quizzically, and Asuka let go just as quickly.

"Show me…" Asuka swallowed, fighting down anxiety. "Show me that thing again."

" 'That thing'?"

"Your AT field."

Rei looked down at herself, giving a momentary impression of confusion. Then she put her hands together in front of her chest, and drew them apart -

- and a shimmering orange hexagon, no more than a few inches across, appeared between them. Moments later, it flickered, then vanished with a soft popping sound.

Orange, not blue. Blue is hostile, dangerous. Orange is friendly, safe. Asuka had cast the same orange light from Moloch's own fingertips many times before.

Before she quite knew what she was doing, Asuka reached out and pulled Rei into a tight hug. The shorter pilot squeaked, but didn't pull away.

"I - I do not understand," Rei mumbled, her voice slightly muffled by Asuka's shoulder. "You seemed afraid of me… you were afraid of me."

"I'll get over it."

"But - but you should hate me -"

"Hate you?" Asuka scoffed. "Rei, you're my closest friend and my best pilot. I could never hate you, certainly not just because - because you're a bit weirder than I thought. I'll - I'll get over it. For you. You're worth it."

Rei pulled back slightly, then, looking Asuka in the eye.

Fuck, fuck, what a time to start babbling! Asuka was sure a blush was spreading across her face. She always gets me like this, all flustered and struggling to think -

"Asuka, may I kiss you?"

Asuka's racing thoughts ground to a halt. Years of calcified trauma wanted to scream no, never, but Asuka was very tired, and Rei's embrace was warm, and - well, when had those maladaptive coping mechanisms ever done anything good for her, really?

"Y-yeah-"

She barely finished the word before Rei was reaching up, pulling Asuka down and leaning up to meet her lips.

It was, in the moment, anticlimactic. Rei's lips were soft and her teeth were hard and her nose definitely bumped Asuka's pretty hard. Nothing at all like a transcendent explosion of sensory and emotional experience like something out of a cheap romance paperback; not that Asuka had read many between her engineering textbooks and pilot manuals. It was very clear that neither of the two had any real experience kissing.

And yet - Rei's eyes were wide and bright, her lips flushed and smiling; and it was all Asuka could do not to lean in and kiss her again.

Practice makes perfect, right? If the first was worth repeating, maybe the second or third or tenth time will be even better.

"You should sleep." Rei had leaned forward again, curling into Asuka's arms and ducking her head under her chin. "You are very tired."

Asuka chuckled a little, but a bubble of the previous anxiety floated to the surface. "And you aren't?" Does she even really need sleep?

"I am tired." Rei's voice was very quiet, barely audible even in the stillness of the night. "But you are, too. When you woke up, your heart was racing. Now it is slowing, albeit still elevated."

"You could… hear my heartbeat?"

"I can hear the heartbeat of all living things." Rei's shoulders tensed - very slightly, but enough for Asuka to notice. "…Only recently, have I paid special attention to one in particular."

That's both endearing and creepy. Actually, wait, nearly everything about Rei is both endearing and creepy. Yeah, this is pretty in-character.

"Well, um, thanks." Reluctantly, Asuka lowered her arms and stepped back from Rei, immediately missing the smaller girl's warmth. "You - we - we'll talk more about, um, this. Later. Right?"

"I would… like that, I think."

"Right. Yeah. Well, uh… goodnight."

"Goodnight, Asuka."

X-X-X

And it only took me

checks notes

two novels' worth and change of wordcount to get there. Nice.