Shinji lay on his futon, his head resting on his hand, his eyes unclosed and looking up at the ceiling. There were plugs in his ears. He was feeling content, and that made him feel guilty.
That huge angel, larger than all the previous ones together, had attacked the day before – and today there had been school as if nothing had happened. If Shinji were still an active pilot, he would have had to deal with classmates, with gossip and talk all around him, with Touji's single-minded interest in the girls' body parts and with the girls' mindless giggling – and all that a mere day after having faced death, after having suffered agony.
As it was, he still had been surrounded by gossips, talk, Touji's antics and girly giggling, but that was okay. With his mind no longer occupied by the previous day's battle, by the trauma and pain and terror, he could even begin to enjoy listening to Touji contemplating which girl had the biggest pair of breasts. Those things were so far removed from worrying about EVAs and angels and life and death battles, and it felt good to be able to only concentrate on them. He felt like he was no longer weighed down in his life.
However, that was exactly the problem. He had that luxury now. Meanwhile, for Rei, Asuka and Mari, things were as bad as they always had been for him. They still were forced deal with the insane reality of having to return to class a day after a battle where they could have died, of having to behave as if this all were completely normal. He was happy to have escaped that fate, but now the three girls were alone with it, and that realization burdened him with guilt.
The next song began to play on his tape. He sighed and turned around on his side, facing away from the door. His sleeping area was still nothing more than a barely cleared part of the room, just a futon surrounded on all sides by paperboard boxes. He wondered when sleep would come.
There was a soft swooping sound behind him. And the next moment he felt something warm pressed against his back… another back.
And he realized to whom it belonged. "A… Asuka…"
"Don't turn around," she told him in a quiet, yet grave and dark voice. "Just let me lay here and be quiet."
Shinji gulped and said nothing. He had no idea what the redhead was doing here, in his room, on his futon. Part of him mentally scoffed about it – she already had gotten his former room, already had cast him out to here. And yet she also stole his space here? But that was the smaller part. He didn't really hold any resentment against her personally, after all. She was just as caught in the situation as him. Mostly he was just confused.
"Why did you pilot, Shinji?" The voice was still dark, almost hoarse. Shinji doubted any other girl in his class would let herself be caught talking like that.
He was surprised. That question seemed to come out of the blue. "Uh…" Why does she want to know that? But then, she was in fact caught in the situation same as him: Caught in the whole NERV business with EVAs and angels, and just like him a ward of Misato's. So he answered, "Truth be told, I never really knew. People just expected me to pilot, and so I did. But even when I did what they wanted, they never spoke positively about it. I agreed to it and yet I had to make efforts just to not get scolded. That's all I could expect there."
"Just like in Germany…"Asuka whispered.
"And so I quit," Shinji continued. "I mean, I know why NERV exists, but… I just couldn't… In the three fights I was in… I got my head smashed in, I got whipped all over, I got my chest pierced through, I got boiled alive… and that all for… for…"
Asuka scoffed. "Yeah. Not everyone is cut out for this. I am."
Shinji quieted down again. He nearly would have turned around now, but he remembered what she had said. So the two just lay back to back and talked. "And why… and why do you pilot?"
"Because that's what I am," Asuka answered. "An EVA pilot. Not everybody could do it. I can."
"It… it makes you special?" Shinji asked.
"Yes," Asuka answered with conviction. But after some seconds she continued with less certainty, "But here..." She trailed off.
"Here?" Shinji inquired after some moments.
"How did you deal with it?" Asuka asked.
Again, Shinji was confused. "Deal… deal with what?"
"When you piloted," Asuka sort-of-explained. "You fought those angels and then… people…"
Now it dawned on Shinji what she meant. It was the very thing that had kept him awake. In a resentful voice, he whispered. "Nobody cares."
"Yes. That," Asuka confirmed. "It's not like people praised or thanked me in Germany. Misato just expected I'd do my training and all that. But that was just training, after all. Years of training, so I can fight angels now."
"Oh," Shinji voiced. So it has to be even more disappointing for her. When, after a few seconds, Asuka still hadn't continued, he spoke up quietly, "And they just take that for granted. They take all of us for granted. You, me, Makinami, Ayanami…"
It was liberating to be able to talk about that. To speak about this topic with someone who had suffered the same, someone who agreed with him. Is that what it's like for most people? Maybe Asuka was just a flatmate, but at that moment he felt a deeper connection: As if they weren't just randomly in the same apartment, the same household.
However, there was no reaction from her. Shinji already thought she might have fallen asleep, but finally she did say something. Her voice was hard. "I'm still an EVA pilot. That's still who I am. Someone better. But it's…" She sounded frustrated.
"Disappointing?" Shinji offered.
"Yeah," Asuka confirmed.
Trying to find anything positive he could tell her in this situation, Shinji said, "Well, you… you did well today, I think. In school, I mean. I know how it is to fight and then the next day…"
"As if we were just normal kids," Asuka whispered.
Shinji's answer was full of resentment. "Normal kids who have to fight monsters and don't get anything in return."
"This sucks," Asuka stated.
The ensuing silence now stretched over minutes. Both teenagers just lay there, united in solidary misery. It was not the worst feeling in the world… though Shinji still caught himself wondering now and then how odd it was to lay back to back with a girl, both of them in sleepwear.
Finally, there was rustling sound. Shinji could feel how his back was laid free again. Asuka had risen from the futon.
"This talk… it never happened," she said in a hard voice.
Even now, Shinji still didn't turn around. "Uh… okay. I won't tell anyone."
"It never happened," Asuka repeated. Then she left the room.
Only half an hour later did Shinji turn on his back again, looking at the ceiling once more. What was that? Asuka had felt so alien when she had first arrived. Someone who enjoys piloting. But apparently it wasn't for the piloting itself. And now, now she seemed like someone who was surprisingly similar to him.
She wants the same as I do.
A faint smile crossed over his face. He was falling asleep. What… what a strange household. The NERV officer and her two wards. Asuka… my thorny older foster sister….
Closer… closer… closer…
Asuka grinned viciously. She had him!
And shoot!
On the arcade screen in front of her, a graphical avatar was shown to disperse into thousands pieces.
"Ah crap!"
Asuka's grin got wider. That had come from the arcade cabinet at the other side from hers. For a moment, she could ignore the pain that began to resurface in her still bandaged hands, now that the adrenaline rush was over. She looked around the corner to see bespectacled face surrounded by unruly light brown hair staring back at her. Kensuke looked dismayed.
"Another round?" Asuka asked.
Kensuke breathed out, let his head hang low and then shook it. "I'm all out of coins, and also all out of energy." He got up from his seat and walked up to Asuka's cabinet. "Man, you're insatiable. And that despite…" He looked at her bandaged hands.
Asuka just shrugged. When she had first arrived again at the arcade this week, Kensuke had protested, saying she was at a disadvantage and he wouldn't want her to hurt herself even further. He hadn't managed to ask where she had gotten the injury from at all, but then there had been a whole lot stuttering involved.
"It sucks, but…" That was an understatement. Even now, days after the battle, the injury hadn't fully healed. And everyone did their best to just ignore the bandages, pretend they weren't there. She shrugged again. The truth was, at least going here gave her something to do, and it was more entertaining than the Wonderswan. She stood up from her own seat. "So you're calling it?"
"Ah… Yeahhhh," Kensuke replied. "I think I have enough of you owning me."
Asuka's natural facial expression was one of disinterest or maybe even contempt, but now she couldn't quite prevent a smirk breaking through it. "Giving up?"
Now it was Kensuke's turn to shrug, and he managed to do so in a fairly non-chalant and collected manner. He looked pathetically scrawny in his boring school uniform. Actually, she had never seen him in any other clothes. Somehow he managed to pull this style off, though, being all legere and with lots of tolerant smiles. "You've gotten quite good at this, Shikinami."
Asuka just scoffed, but that damn smirk was still there. She had gone to the arcade every day this week, and met Kensuke there. It was… well, it was fun, actually. It did beat playing alone on the Wonderswan. Which was a strange new experience for her: She had never needed people for anything. She had always relied on just herself in the EVA training and her studies, and her free time had always been spent alone. She just couldn't connect to other people.
With Kensuke, that was surprisingly easy. She liked video games, and he liked video games. It was all very simple: No school gossip, no talk about the newest TV series or whatever, none of this emotion or understanding nonsense. Just virtually beating the crap out of each other.
Asuka would still say people, as a whole, were not worth any effort, but some of them here were apparently quite alright. Kensuke sure was, and Shinji… well, he was Shinji. Not cut out for piloting, but still a good guy, for all the good that did one in this world. And while both could stand to get a bit more physical exercise, especially Kensuke, they were still easy enough on the eye.
Not that she would show any of that. Her voice still sounded bored and dismissive when she asked, "Did you expect anything else?"
Now that smirk was on Kensuke's face. "Of course not. You… ah… you even managed to save the city from the largest angel yet!" Asuka just kept looking at him. What has that to do with anything? He shrugged. "But I gotta say, it's fun playing with you. Just having a good gaming partner, you know? Heh. Who would've thought a girl… well… uh, I mean… I and a girl… ah…"
Asuka raised an eyebrow. On the other hand, boys will be boys, I guess. Pathetic. "Let's just stop there, alright?"
"Ah… ah… right," Kensuke managed to stutter out. "Uh, listen. I'm quite hungry. How about we go somewhere to eat?"
Asuka emitted a sound somewhere between a scoff and an aggressive sigh. "I can't just go out to eat every time it's Misato's turn to cook."
"Hey, how about that: I'll invite you. I'll pay," Kensuke offered. Now Asuka just looked at him flatly. Seriously? Is he asking me out? "I mean… uh… we heard about your victory over the angel. A dinner for the saviour of Tokyo-3?"
"Yeahhh, right," Asuka answered. "That's the ticket. Well, if you're offering, why not."
"I… I really mean it, Shikinami," Kensuke insisted. "You deserve…"
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Asuka dismissed it. She was still annoyed that Kensuke would bring such couple-y stuff into it all, but she wouldn't say no to a free meal. She began heading for the arcade's exit. She heard Kensuke sighing behind her, before he followed her.
The arcade hall filled up the lowest three levels of a highrise building smack in the middle of downtown. Exiting it, one entered one of the busiest intersections of Tokyo-3. The sidewalk was packed with people, walking so dense that Asuka could barely see the street behind all those grey and black suits of the salary men and women. She could hear it, though, a constant cacophony of engine hums that even managed to blend out the usually omnipresent chirping of the cicadas.
Above her were several neon-lights. Hardly notable in the bright light of the day, they gave the whole bloc a distinctly retro look at night. Having been built from the ground up, Tokyo-3's planners had allowed themselves many such architectonical games and references. Having been born way after the neon age, it didn't really mean anything to Asuka, but she supposed the signs did fit well with the arcade hall.
"So, where to?" she asked Kensuke once he had caught up to her in front of the building. She had to raise her voice to even just make herself heard.
Once again, Kensuke shrugged. "I know a place. Come along."
Asuka felt a bit dismayed as she followed the boy. Her having to walk behind somebody else made her feel restless. She hated having to rely on anybody else, and if only for directions, and she disliked even more that she had to do so publicly – that she was following that boy in plain sight of the world, as if she were dependent on him. With slightly lowered head she glanced left and right at the people rushing past her. Some of them looked back. Asuka hated that: Here in Japan, her red hair simply made her stick out, and she hated the attention that generated. Her bandages only added to that, and she was now again acutely aware of them.
Meanwhile, all the Japanese folks look like drones. Same black hair, same business clothes or school uniforms, same expressionless faces. Part of her wished she could as easily submerge in and become part of the anonymous crowd, with nobody paying attention to her. However, she was too proud to colour her hair or walk around in her school uniform. She was not a drone after all, and she also wasn't a school student – or at least, that wasn't her primary identity.
Her hands hurt.
When something finally broke through her grumbling, it was a smell – a delicious aroma of grilled meat. It came from a small building at the street wedged between highrises. Kensuke entered it, and Asuka followed him. By the looks of it, it seemed to be a ramen shop with extra grill, or an izakaya pub without alcohol – something in between. A diner, with a long counter to sit at. With some effort, Asuka read the kanji on the big sign above the counter. The prices seemed reasonable.
So that's your big 'thanks', Kensuke? Yeah right. But it did smell delicious…
Daylight from opened front windows filled the diner. There was an archaic jukebox in a corner, a counter facing the staff area and one facing away from it. Most guests seemed to be older male youths. Asuka had seen some of them in the arcade hall before, while others looked like college students. Even so, at this time of the day, there was still plenty of space at the counters. Which was good, because Asuka would have absolutely refused to sit elbow to elbow with strangers, or be surrounded by peopleon all sides. Kensuke was fun, maybe, but people were still exhausting.
So even though she and him of course sat next to each other, she made sure that enough space remained between them. Kensuke got himself some ramen dish with meat, but that was too bland for Asuka, especially after having experienced all those smells from the grill. She took yakitori, skewered chicken. It wasn't anything fancy, but as she took her first bites she had to admit it tasted really good: The meat was light, but flavourful and the salty-sweet sauce fit perfectly to it.
"I know it probably isn't up to your standards," Kensuke said apologetically. When she just raised an eyebrow at that, he explained himself, "I mean… you as an elite pilot, you're probably used to far better stuff."
Asuka gulped the food in her mouth down to scoff at that. "You haven't had to endure Misato in the kitchen. I'd volunteer to take over her turns as well, but that would mean letting her get away with her sloppiness."
Kensuke furrowed his brows at that, but then smirked. "So life must be more normal for you pilots than I had imagined. I mean, Shinji, I knew he just kinda fell into that whole role, and didn't… didn't even…" He suddenly stopped. For some minutes there was an awkward silence. Asuka tended to her chicken. The air was filled with background noise from other people's conversations. Finally, Kensuke spoke up again: "By the way, I got some records from the fight. Your flying manoeuvre was really impressive."
Oh. Asuka was kinda annoyed with herself with how much that simple sentence was affecting her, so she just shrugged her shoulders and took up a skewer again. "I've gotten much training in aerial manoeuvres. Since I was six."
"Ah… six?" Kensuke echoed.
"Well, just simulators at that point," Asuka continued. "They shoved me out of an airplane at age nine first."
"Ah…" Kensuke simply voiced. He had bent over a little to scoop up more noodles but now just stopped and looked sideways at Asuka. "That's…"
Asuka took another bite and waited for him to say something, but when nothing came she just shrugged. "It's really safe inside an EVA. A little fall won't really damage it, so it's just a matter of reducing the synch ratio to soften the impact a bit."
"Reduce?" Kensuke asked. "Not cut it?"
She looked at him oddly. "Nothing is learned if you don't feel the impact at all." Kensuke seemed to want to say something again, breathing in as if to speak, but she scoffed over that. "Of course, there was that one time where those idiots didn't even manage the reduction, let alone a cut. That was the day before my tenth birthday as well. Assholes."
"Uh… right," Kensuke answered. "Ah. Well. I guess that training paid off in the end." He sounded a bit awkward. He continued eating, but now at a much less enthusiastic pace. "Good thing you showed an interest in that."
"Eventually," Asuka answered.
"Eventually?" Kensuke echoed.
"Before, they simply made me do it," Asuka told him. She grinned lopsidedly. "I didn't want to get grounded after all."
"Grounded," Kensuke now echoed, then shook his head. "So they just made you do that? That doesn't quite seem right."
"They needed a pilot, didn't they?" Asuka argued, while biting off some meat directly from the skewer. "And little kids, well, they aren't really disciplined. So you need to make them do stuff."
"Even piloting…?" Kensuke muttered, but it sounded more directed to himself. From the corner of her eye Asuka could see that he balled his hand into a fist. Finally, he spoke up again, "I mean, that isn't how you should get pilots. Make people pilot. Shouldn't they…" He trailed off.
"Shouldn't they what?" Asuka asked him. She sounded almost amused. It was incredible how naive Kensuke seemed to be. "There's maybe two or three dozens kids alive in the world who can pilot EVAs, and NERV will find only a fraction of them. Of course they'll make us pilot."
"Make people pilot…" Kensuke muttered now. Asuka had no idea what was up with him. He didn't even touch his noodles anymore.
She looked at him curiously. "Yes…?"
He just shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe I just have no clue about it all. But… It just seems wrong that you couldn't decide for yourself. You should have had that freedom."
Asuka turned her head around in a jerky motion. "How else would kids piloting mechas work?"
She didn't know why or how, but that comment had affected her. Kensuke was now looking away as well. Decide for myself…? she pondered while looking at her hands. Of course children couldn't, and the path that had been chosen for her made her part of an elite. That counted for something. She had never even thought there could have been alternatives to that. She still didn't think so, but…
He does. And that felt somewhat strange to her.
Shinji felt silly. He stood here in front of a door in the most run-down part of Tokyo-3, with a backpack overflowing with stuff and a bucket of paint in his hand, and with a penguin of all things at his side. My life. Is. Strange.
Though at least now it was strange in a good way, not strange in a "what are those alien giants which try to kill me" or in a "what is that thing in my head from the EVA" sort of way anymore. By now, he kind of had to admit to himself that going to meet Rei was always a good thing, no matter the that was maybe a bit creepy, but he figured that was alright. He just had to keep himself under control. Rei had already helped him with so much, it wouldn't do to burden her further.
But he couldn't help but smile a bit when the door opened and he saw Rei behind it. As always, she was wearing a school uniform, and as always, she looked right at it him with her piercing red eyes, and there was no real discernible expression on her face… but it was Rei. Those sharply cut facial features were lovely, those red eyes and the pale skin were intriguing, and most of all, she always had this aura of serenity and security about her.
He caught himself. He had thought a bit too much about that spotless skin recently as was, and what he had already felt of it. Her hand, her… Ehem. "Ah… hello, Ayanami."
"Hello, Ikari," she simply replied in her usual monotonous way. She made no mention of the ill-fitting old clothes, the bucket of paint or the flightless Antarctic bird.
"Well, ah… sorry, but uh…" Shinji began. Rei simply titlted her head, which only made him sweat even more. "Well, this is Pen-Pen. Misato's warmwater penguin. He… he insisted on coming along." He breathed in to explain the story, how a penguin could have insisted on anyth...
"Understood," Rei merely said, and then stepped aside to let them in.
Pen-Pen immediately entered with a loud "Wark!". Shinji did a surprised double take before following him. Well, I guess if you have naturally blue hair nothing will surprise you easily anymore…
The three came to a halt in Rei's bedroom. Shinji allowed himself a faint smile: The curtains were open, and natural light was coming it. Though in a way this only served to make the barren room appear even starker. The bed, unmade, was the only thing inside that looked in any way of form 'soft'. It made Shinji shudder to imagine sleeping here, living here. Well, that's what we'll fix, step by step.
There was an awkward silence… or at least, awkward for him. The three just stood in the room, without motion, looking at each other. Shinji got the feeling that Rei could remain like this for hours. She didn't need to speak in order to feel comfortable; she just looked Shinji right in the eyes. Meanwhile, his gaze shifted between her, Pen-Pen and the paint bucket in his hand, always back and forth.
He liked Rei, but communicating with her or trying to do things together with her wasn't always easy. It was worth it, though: She was nice and never hostile… and that was all Shinji was asking for. He could deal with a little weirdness.
Suddenly, Pen-Pen got in motion, waddled up to Rei, and wrapped his wings around her legs in a hug. "Wark!" The girl blinked.
Shinji smiled at the scene. Rei looked down at the penguin, tilted her head, slowly raised her hand, and seemed generally confused as what to do now. "Wark!" Finally, carefully, almost hesitantly, Rei laid her hand on Pen-Pen's head. "Wark!" It sounded content.
This broke the ice. "Ah… I've brought everything along, Ayanami," Shinji told her. "Shall we begin?"
The girl looked up again and nodded.
It was Saturday now. For the entire past week, Shinji had prepared for this idea. In fact, he guessed he had begun to kind of annoy Misato with it. However, painting a room was a bit of a big deal if you had never actually done it before. Even now, Shinji was not quite sure if he had everything required, if he could do it, if he wouldn't screw up… It had been quite an effort to look everything up on the internet, ask Misato (not that she was a great help in matters of housekeeping), ask for money from her, buy everything…
Maybe for adults it was all so easy and trivial, but the whole ordeal with piloting and fighting angels had made Shinji become acutely aware how he wasn't one. He guessed that for pretty much all of his classmates, this would have been a big thing. So normally, he would already have given up. After all, it was just good policy to avoid trouble and hardship if one can. He genuinely believed so; as he saw it, that was how people managed to go through life. So he wouldn't have bothered if this had been just for him.
But it was for Rei. And that had made him very motivated.
There was so much he had to repay her for. She was piloting for his sake. She had helped him at the aquarium. She was putting up with him. She was piloting for his sake. That was nothing he could ever repay her for, but if there was a chance, any chance, to be of use to her, he would take it. For once, he had a reason to not run away.
"Maybe you should change into some old clothes you don't need anymore," Shinji told Rei. He himself was wearing old jeans trousers with half a dozen small holes in them and mostly washed out shirt.
"I have several school uniforms," Rei informed him. "They are all equally disposable to me." She began tucking at her uniform. "But I can change into…"
"On second thought," Shinji intervened, and was suddenly reminded what had happened the first time he had been here. "Yeah, on second thought I think this works as is." He chuckled awkwardly. He really didn't want a repeat of that embarrassing scene. Or did he? Part of him was mentally kicking himself.
Shinji and Rei both got working. This wasn't really something where he could show her how it's done, seeing as he didn't really know himself. In fact, barely some minutes into it, he began sweating, unsure if he was doing it right. Am I laying on the paint too thick? Am I reaching every corner? Oh gods, and it will be her who will have to live with it… He pushed on, though. He had been through considerably worse than insecurities about painting, after all.
Meanwhile, Rei did not seem to have any such troubles. She just took the roller, dipped it in paint, and run it up and down the wall, over and over again. It looked all very regular, in fact very mechanical. Shinji caught himself having stopped working for almost a minute, just watching Rei working. It was almost meditative.
For quite some while, the two teenagers stood at the walls of the room, and just let their rollers go up and down the wall. Shinji smiled faintly. It was a silent solidarity, a quiet contentedness. Even Pen-Pen had his job. He waddled all along the walls with a brush in his right wing and made sure the paint reached all the way to the floor. His movements were a bit more erratic than Rei's.
"Wark!" he exclaimed, while raising his wings.
Shinji sighed but kept his smile. It was a good thing the bed had been moved to the opposite side of the room, and that the whole floor had been covered in old newspaper pages. And it was nice to watch Pen-Pen having fun with the paint.
Shinji got lost in his work, the mechanical movements of the roller for a while. He was content to not think about anything, to just work almost mindlessly. This was suddenly interrupted when he felt two arms slinging themselves around his torso from behind, and shortly after he could feel a warm body pressing against his back.
"Ah… ah… Ayana… ah… Rei!" Shinji stuttered. He held his arms rigidly in the air. The roller fell from his right hand onto the newspaper pages on the ground. "What… what are you doing, Ay…Ay… Rei, what are you doing?"
"I have seen people doing this," Rei explained from behind him, in her usual soft-spoken voice. "I have never done this. I wanted to try it."
"Oh," was all that Shinji managed to answer.
"It feels nice," Rei declared. OHH. Shiji had to admit it did feel nice, but… He gulped. His body was entirely stiff.
"T… try it?" he echoed.
"I wanted to try it with you," Rei almost whispered. "And you seemed safe."
Upon hearing that, Shinji's body relaxed. Safe. Indeed. This was Rei. He had nothing to fear. And surely, there was no problem with a bit of hugging, right? He liked Rei, and she, well, she seemed to find him acceptable, at least. So why not hug? It was Rei. It was safe. It was good.
He laid his hands on hers and leaned his head back against hers. As the orange late afternoon sunlight fell almost horizontally into the room, the two simply stood there, connected. Shinji's mind was entirely clear, except for a general feeling of… of closeness and of happiness. He didn't think this meant anything; it was just a moment of quiet comfort.
Finally, almost against his will, he muttered, "We should finish this, Ayanami."
And without a further comment, Rei let go him and returned to her roller. Shinji looked at her. The sudden change of pace confused him. Weird… But it didn't matter. It was Rei.
Even after they had finished painting, Rei's apartment still was a small and run-down hole in what were effectively the slums of Tokyo-3. Even so, Shinji had been strangely reluctant to leave. It wasn't that he had talked much with Rei – neither of them were the type to say much – but it had been nice to be in her company. Afterwards, Shinji had felt like being suddenly cut off from something, something he didn't really have a name for. The visit to Rei's apartment had almost made Shinji forget the rest of the world, and he had found himself very reluctant to return to that normal world.
Nonetheless, a feeling of contentment had remained, and still did even now as he stirred the vegetables in the pan. Seeing Rei's sleeping room in all white… it had really given him a feeling of achievement. He still would never be able to repay what Rei was doing for him, but maybe, just maybe, he at least wasn't completely useless in that regard.
"I thought this smelt too good for Misato's cooking." Shinji turned around upon hearing that grumpy voice. Asuka stood in the entrance to the kitchen, but was looking at the Wonderswan in her hands instead of him. The bandages had come off her hands the previous day, though Shinji knew there still were little marks to be seen in the centre of her palms. When he didn't respond, she peered over the gaming device's edge. "I thought it was her turn. That would have explained the delay."
Shinji rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that. No, it's my turn." Asuka just harrumphed and was about to turn, to go back to her room. It was a minor miracle at all to find her outside of it. "Ah… say, Asuka… did you really mean that? That my cooking smells good?"
Asuka grumbled, but then looked at him. "Better than what Misato is producing, that's for sure." Shinji smiled faintly and returned his attention to the frying pan. This probably was as good as one could get from her. After a while, she spoke up again, "How come you're so good… well, better than Misato and some other adults at it?"
Again, Shinji smiled, but then he got pensive. "Misato isn't the first adult with whom I've lived who can't really cook. My tutor was the same. So if I wanted to have proper meals…" He shrugged. "But I like it. When I cook…" He trailed off. Asuka would probably not be interested in his life stories anyway.
He hadn't looked, but apparently, Asuka had not left her position at the kitchen entrance. "Yeahh?" she drawled.
The ends of Shinji's lips curled up. "When I cook myself, I don't depend on other people's choices. I can prepare the meal just the way I like it… or I can cheer people up by making it the way they like it. I… I have control, I guess."
There was a pause. Finally, Asuka commented, "You really still are a little boy, aren't you?" Shinji suddenly felt embarrassed. I guess that did sound pathetic and overly theatrical. But while it had been in her usual grumpy voice, it hadn't sounded hostile or anything. Patronizing, maybe, but not hostile. Still, Shinji now kept his view rigidly focused on the meal in preparation in front of him now.
...until he heard the clinkering sound of plates and cutlery being moved. He turned around and did a double take. "Ah… it's my turn, Asuka. You don't need to set the table." And honestly, the thought that she would do so voluntarily, even when she didn't need to… Who are you and what have you done with Asuka?
The girl glared aggressively at him, and Shinji instinctively took a step backwards, pushing against the kitchen counter. Then she just continued. Not really knowing what this supposed to mean, so did Shinji with his job.
"...I know what you mean." Asuka sounded hesitant. "About control. I thought I'd get control when I'd come to Japan."
"It isn't how you imagined it to be?" Shinji asked softly, still with his back to her.
"Just continue frying those vegetables," Asuka told him. Once again, though, it didn't sound hostile.
Unsurprisingly, after having taken care of the table, Asuka just went back to her room. My former room… But it was okay. Shinji thought he and Asuka had built up a pretty good relationship, all things considered. In fact, for him, it was an odd experience to have a more than just formal relationship with cohabitants. That was what it had been like with his tutor. There was also Misato, of course, but his relationship to his current guardian was a bit more complicated. With Asuka, things were much less ambiguous – and a large part of that was because they largely didn't get into each other's hair. They could talk with each other, but most of the time Asuka was in her room, and things worked out well that way. So it was okay if his former room was used for that.
When he called for dinner, it was Asuka who first appeared again, of course with the Wonderswan in her hands. It took some minutes more for Misato to appear, and she looked sleepy and disshelved.
"Sorry," she muttered as she sat down at the table. "You woke me up from a nap." Asuka just scoffed. Misato defended herself, "Yeah, yeah, I know." She grinned. "But you gotta admit, Shinji sure took his sweet time."
"Ahhh…" Shinji voiced. It was true. His little project with Rei had delayed dinner time at home almost two hours. People had been kept waiting because of him. It was embarrassing to be reminded of that.
Misato, seemingly getting gradually more awake, raised a hand. "Hey, it's alright!" She smirked at him. It looked kinda vicious. "But you've just lost all right to complain when I don't do my household tasks on time. Or sloppily. Or…"
Again, Asuka scoffed, though she didn't look up from her gaming device. "As if he would ever complain at all."
Misato sighed. "Yes. That's kinda your job. Complaining day in, day out."
Now, Asuka did put the Wonderswan down. She sounded more annoyed than usual. "I actually have reason to!"
"Oh come on!" Misato exclaimed cheerfully. "You're in Japan! Finally! I remember back in Germany you could hardly wait for it! Finally, you're getting your fights!"
Asuka just stared at her. It looked hostile. Her voice was dry. She turned her head away, looked at her hands resting on the table and answered darkly, "Yes. Yes, I do." Then she picked up the Wonderswan again.
Misato's face looked flat for a moment, but she immediately caught herself. "Don't let your meal get cold," she trilled, "Shini worked long enough on it. Isn't that right, Shinji?"
The boy shrugged his shoulders. "It's not much work for me."
"I see… And what about Rei? Was that much work?" Before Shinji could answer, Misato continued. "I just bet it was enjoyable work, though."
"Enjoyable…?" Shinji echoed, then he sighed as he realized what was to come now. Of course. He should have seen it coming.
"You, all alone with a pretty girl, under a clever pretext…" Misato laid out the scenario.
"It was no…" Shinji began, but then stopped. There was no sense to it anyway.
Misato's grin got wide and she leaned forwards. "I mean, we all know how quiet Rei is, and you know what they say. The quiet ones are the most uninhibited ones."
Now Shinji's head got red like a tomato. It wasn't so much Misato's comment; he had gotten kind of used to her teasing. But the thing was, she had no idea how right she was. Her comment made him remember the first time he had shown up in Rei's apartment.
Unfortunately for him, Misato noticed that. "Oh, it seems Rei is. I wonder how you noticed. Tell me, is she a good kisser?"
Kisser…? "Ah… ah…" Shinji stuttered. Somehow Misato had done it again. She had actually yet again managed to shock him.
"Oh leave him alone." Both Shinji and Misato turned their heads in surprise. Asuka had spoken out.
That is… unusual. Normally, Asuka kept to herself even at the dining table.
Unsurprisingly, it was Misato who caught herself first. "Oh, defending your boyfriend? I wonder what Rei would say about that."
"No," Asuka answered grumpily. "But I'm already getting sick of your jokes, and Shinji has lived here even longer. I think he has gotten enough of your nonsense."
"Is that so?" Misato asked and grinned, but then concentrated on her meal. A smile remained on her face, though.
And there was one on Shinji's as well. Someone has spoken up for my sake.
He had Rei, and would see her again tomorrow in school. He had friends in school, if admittedly not many. He liked cooking. He liked these dinners. And it seemed he did have a grumpy older foster sister.
His smile widened. It came as a surprise, but Shinji realized he was happy.