Rei stopped for only half a second. Most people wouldn't even have noticed any hesitation. The Commander might have, or maybe Shinji. Then she entered the class room and spoke.
"Good morning."
It was barely above a whisper, and yet it still felt very strange to her: Addressing people. Showing initiative. But it was a form of creating bonds: People reacted to her, heads turned in silent surprise.
Rei had always craved connections with people, after her life had been utterly devoid of that. In all the years in which she hadn't been allowed to leave that room far beneath the Geofront, there had only been the Commander. His visits had been rare rays of light in a life of greyness. But even upon entering the school, nothing had really changed. There had been much commotion when she had first come to this class over a year ago, but she had found herself lost, cast adrift in a sea she didn't know how to navigate. She couldn't speak up, couldn't respond to people speaking to her, couldn't take part in the life of the people around her.
So very soon, her classmates had started ignoring her. She was seeing all the people around her, but piloting EVA remained her only bond to the world. And now, maybe her renewed effort would fail. But ever since she had first met Shinji, and ever since she had stopped taking her meds, piloting wasn't enough anymore. She wanted those bonds in her day to day life – she wanted people to regard her, interact with her.
Those were very confusing feelings for her, and just whispering "good morning" had been difficult.
Routine took over, and she just walked towards her desk without even thinking about it. She had never thought much about any of her actions; unreflecting rote had always been the norm for her. It was safer not to think; thinking meant realizing how much she lacked and what she was.
But then she stopped and turned right around, walking instead up to Asuka's desk. The European pilot was already there. She leaned her chair back against the wall so that it only stood on two legs anymore, and was looking down on the gaming device in her hands.
"Hello," Rei greeted her. She was a fellow pilot, after all.
"Hrm," Asuka merely grunted in reply.
For some seconds, Rei remained silent. She had no idea what to do now. Eventually, she defaulted to aping what she had seen other people do. That strategy had worked with Shinji, after all. "How are you?"
Asuka didn't look up from the Wonderswan. "What do you want, First?"
"I don't know," Rei answered truthfully. She didn't quite know what she had thought would happen when she had started the talk.
"Then leave me alone," Asuka told her grumpily, still not looking at her.
Rei did just that. Without saying another word, she simply turned on the spot and walked to her desk now. It used to be that with her mind not focusing on any particular matter anymore, time would just wash by her. But without Ritsuko's meds, that was no longer the case. She had no choice but to recognize the world around her: How some people were still looking at her with curiosity, how Shinji still wasn't there, how Kensuke walked up to Asuka. The redhead laid the Wonderswan on the desk and smirked at him, an expression to which the boy answered with a sort of tolerant smile.
The two seemed to talk for quite a while. It made Rei wish Shinji would finally come. It seemed she just couldn't find a connection with anybody e…
"Ah! Kitten!"
Rei turned her head around. Somehow, Mari was standing right next to her, with the biggest grin on her face. Rei just kept looking right at her.
She shrugged. "Since I decided Shinji is the puppy, you get to be the other cute baby pet. Don't worry, he'll be here shortly." Then she laughed. "Oh, you're just being too obvious. Say, what are you even doing when he isn't around?"
Rei just kept looking at her. There just was nothing to answer. Most her day to day activities consisted of reading, but only school material and technical manuals, and waiting.
"Look, clearly you need something else to occupy your time," Mari continued. "And I have just the thing for you!" And without further ado, she just dropped a carrying bag onto Rei's desk. Rei peered inside… to find small booklets there. "Manga!" Mari exclaimed. "All kinds of it. Magical girl, slice of life, isekai and so on. Okay, the mecha ones are probably a bit redundant, I admit."
Rei looked at the bag again, then back to Mari. "Manga?"
"Surely you have heard of it!" Mari insisted. Rei nodded. "See! It's something to do when you're alone. Though you really should get going on Shinji, lest another girl snatches him away." Rei looked at her puzzled. "Hey, he's a looker! I think even some of the boys wouldn't say no to him."
"No to what?" Rei asked.
That finally stopped Mari's enthusiasm. She blinked. "Uh… ah… do I have to tell you the story of the birds and the bees?" she muttered. When Rei still didn't understand, she just laughed. "Ah well. Just read some of the manga. They should give you a good overview."
That reassured Rei somewhat. Then again… She has an odd gleam in her eyes. And she was grinning in almost vicious way. Rei wondered what was up with that.
Asuka wanted to go home. It was bad enough how the local NERV branch had just returned to routine business after the angel attack, how her life again consisted of going to school, going to synch-tests, hearing orders, but she supposed that was at least simply part of being a pilot. Another part of that was going home after those tests, though. But no, Misato had told them to wait in the ready lounge, and that was pissing the redhead off. How did the Lieutenant Colonel dare steal her free time? So she sat in one of the armchairs, sunken deep into its cushions, playing on the Wonderswan and occasionally emitting angry grumbles.
"Ridiculous," she finally muttered through clenched teeth. "What the hell are we sitting here for?"
And if things weren't annoying enough, now Rei spoke up. The monotony in the blue-haired girl's voice could drive Asuka up the walls. "Lieutenant Colonel Katsuragi ordered us..."
"Yes I know!" Asuka exploded at her fellow pilot, jumping up from the armchair and looking her right in the face. "You don't need to tell me again! But I guess for you that's all just fine and dandy, isn't it? You'll just follow every order without complaining!"
"Yes," Rei merely answered, holding Asuka's gaze with an unmoved face.
"No matter what they do," Asuka continued in a dark voice.
A uncomfortable feeling cropped up inside the redhead. A feeling of being caged, of being powerless, of just being expected to follow orders and to shut up. Just like… just like… She snarled and shook those old memories off. That was years in the past.
But she really had it to here with Rei's attitude. She felt mocked by it. Back at home they had all told her that the training and her role would be worth it in the end, because it would make her special. She was an elite mecha pilot, after all. But Rei… Rei just went along with everything. She didn't even claim a special status. She was just a tool that went along with everything.
"Hah," Asuka scoffed. "Useless."
"Oh," Rei said softly, and then looked down. Hah!
"Uh, A-Asuka…" The redheard swirled her head around and now looked angrily at Shinji, who had spoken up. The boy visibly gulped. "I… ah I think you should leave Rei alone. It's not her fault we're stuck waiting here."
Asuka kept glaring at him. As usual, Shinji had just no clue at all. But she supposed that wasn't his fault. He was just somebody they had picked off the street and were giving no respect to, either. So finally, she jerked her head around defiantly, crossed her arms and said, "Okay, fiiine." She sat down again to resume her Wonderswan session.
Goddamn puppy boy. Why is he so close to Rei anyway? It's not like she has any sort of personality at all. But if it made him happy, she'd leave her alone, even though that was a bit absurd. Soon, her anger was more focused on Misato again, anyway. How can she simply make us wait here? With what justification? It's not like an angel will break through just because we stay here…
She glanced over the edge of her Wonderswan when she heard the door to the ready room being opened. It wasn't Misato entering, though, but Mari. Asuka groaned.
"So, uh, Katsuragi said to come here?" she asked. It made Asuka look up from her gaming device again: The girl with the long twin tails sounded untypically subdued. "I hope I'm not too late."
Rei just shook her head, but Asuka commented aggressively, "Where have you been anyway?"
Mari had positively vanished after the synch-test. Not that Asuka had really minded that, exactly. As usual during synch-tests, Mari had been completely out of control – she had talked, hummed, even shouted. It made concentration during the tests nearly impossible.
The girl tried a weak smile. "I didn't feel so well." And sounding somewhat like her usual upbeat self again, "Didn't want to depress anybody with that, so I stuck to myself."
"Do that more often," Asuka muttered and focused on her Wonderswan again.
That caused Mari to laugh. Oh god, she is back to her old self. "Does the Princess no longer require my leal service, m'lady?"
Asuka stopped. Then paused the Wonderswan. Then looked up. "Please never say that again."
Before Mari could respond, the door was swung open again. This time, Misato entered, a big grin on her face. She was followed by Kaji, who was simply rolling his eyes. The officer stopped when she saw Mari. "Ah, there you are. I was already wondering." Then she turned her attention to the other pilots. "Good news, everyone!"
Asuka groaned, both at Misato's demeanour and at Shinji and Rei looking attentively at the Operations Director.
Misato pointed to the rank insignia on her shoulders. "I got promoted! It's Colonel Katsuragi now!"
"So it is in fact Colonel Buxom now!" Mari exclaimed.
"Ah… con… congratulations, Misato," Shinji added in his shy way.
Rei, meanwhile, just stood at his side and looked at the newly minted Colonel. And Asuka couldn't care less. She was just happy Misato and Kaji weren't shouting at each other, as had happened that one time he had visited her appartment. Why's that guy here, anyway?
"I think this needs to be celebrated, don't you think?" Misato told them. "We all deserve a bit of fun, and this is a perfect opportunity!"
Asuka gripped the Wonderswan harder. Ah. This is a perfect opportunity for celebration? THIS? She worked her mouth, but remained silent. Confirmed in her belief that people around her all sucked, she just focused on the game.
"So how about I treat you to something nice?" Misato suggested. "Let's go out to eat something together."
That made Asuka look up again. "Somewhere nice? And you're paying?" If it would get Asuka a nice meal for free, then at least all this waiting would have had a purpose.
Misato rolled her eyes but was still smiling. "Yes, Asuka, I'm paying."
The redhead jumped up from the armchair again. "Right. Let's go then."
This earned her some surprised looks; apparently people hadn't counted on such a quite reaction. Only Mari looked somewhat awkward.
"Ah… I don't think I'll come along," she declared. "I'm happy for you and all, big girl, but I'm still not feeling all too well… I think I'll just… you know… go home." And with that, she had already slipped past Misato and Kaji and was walking out of the door.
"Wait!" Misato shouted after her, into the corridor outside, but Mari was already gone. The colonel shook her head and then looked into the room again. "What's with her?"
Asuka shrugged. "Haven't you noticed? She's always like that after synch-tests. Either aggressive as hell, or awkward and avoiding everybody." Misato and Kaji exchanged a meaningful look, but Asuka didn't really care. "So, are we going now?"
They took the quickest way out of the Geofront, which still consisted of a confusing series of elevators, ridiculously oversized escalators and yet even more elevators before they reached the top level and its glittering entrance hall. There was a stark contrast between its light and shining interior design and the obvious signs of heightened security, like the card checkpoint and the armed security people standing guard. However, it hadn't been much different in Germany, so Asuka was used to that. It was just that in Germany, where they didn't have a gargantuan subterranean base for their use, everything had been at a much smaller scale.
Outside there was a small park, which meant the usual cacophony of the cicadas, which seemed to never end in Tokyo-3, was at a crescendo peak here. Sun shone from high above and dipped everything in a bright light and a gentle warmth. Coming to a land of permanent summer was like a holiday trip sometimes.
"You know, I haven't had a good steak in months," Asuka began talking. "Certainly not since coming here to Japan. You people here eat too much fish and too many vegetables, you know that. Hm, a good steak, medium-rare..."
After all, that would only be appropriate for what she had done, wouldn't it? So she was looking forward to something like that.
Kaji muttered something, though Asuka couldn't hear what, which caused Misato to break out in a giggle, as if almost against her will. Asuka sighed, but then just ignored that immature behaviour. It all didn't matter as long as she would get a good meal, preferably steak.
"Well, I don't know about that, Kaji," Asuka heard Misato laugh as the group walked along the pavement. Traffic was light in these streets, and only now and then did a car drive by. "You're really incorrigible. Just be happy that things have taken a turn for the good! All problems seem to be solved now."
Asuka furrowed her brows. It had to look like that for Misato, yes, but…
"Well, I… I'm glad you got your promotion, Misato," Shinji spoke up with some hesitation, naive fool that he was.
Asuka turned her head to see Misato's reaction and saw her shrugging her shoulders. "The Commander commended me for my plan employed against the last angel. He thought I had handled myself well. How did he put it… I handled command authority as becoming of a Colonel. Or something like that."
Asuka picked up on that. "So I got you a promotion?"
That made Misato stop for a moment. "Ah… I suppose so… you, Rei and Mari."
"So…" For a moment Asuka had wanted to say 'I', but as much she disliked Rei and Mari, they unfortunately were all in this together. "...we are the reason things turned out okay? Hm. I hope you take us out somewhere good then."
Misato sighed and smiled tolerantly. "Yes, Asuka."
Asuka had to give the Japanese credit for one thing, at least: They were excellent city planners. Tokyo-3 had been planned and built from scratch, and it showed. The streets formed an orderly grid, there were rarely any traffic jams, and the pavement was broad and welcoming. There even were small trees planted at the side of it. And the buildings to the other side were laid out quite cleverly, with just the right amount of little stores to catch one's interest. And of course, restaurants.
"You look like the proverbial cat that ate the canary," Kaji told Misato.
The new Colonel scoffed. "And why shouldn't I? All your worries, they were completely unfounded. Everything is going just fine, isn't it?"
Kaji worked his mouth, looked over the pilots and then sighed. "Yeah. It seems it is."
Asuka could merely roll her eyes at that. But whatever. She was actually nearly humming. Hm. Steak steak steak…
In fact, the group soon reached a restaurant that looked like a steak house. Asuka ran up to it, to look at the menu showcase next to the door.
"Oh! Look at that! Quite the menu. Hmm..."
Misato had caught up to her by now. "Also quite the prices. Ah… my poor wallet…"
"I do not eat meat." Asuka jerked her head around. Rei had spoken up. What?
"I'm sure they have vegetarian stuff here as well," Asuka grumbled. Just eat the side dishes if need be.
"Yeah, but…" Misato began. It sounded a bit embarrassed. "Rei doesn't like it here, and I, uh… even with my new salary, that's a bit much..."
"Your new salary we got you," Asuka muttered.
"Asuka!" Misato sounded sterner now. "Don't make a scene. There's a nice ramen stand down the road that..."
"A ramen stand?" Asuka echoed, outraged. "That is what you offer me after that fight? Some noodles?"
Misato crossed her arms and looked at her. "I'm sorry, but I need to watch my finances. You can take the noodles or..."
"Thanks, I pass," Asuka hissed. Now she was getting more than just annoyed – she was getting angry. I get hurt, I suffer and SHE gets the promotion. And then we don't even get steaks? Fuck this then. She saw no reason to put up with people around her then. "I'll take the train home."
Kaji sighed and pinched his nose bridge. Asuka, meanwhile, simply turned and stomped off. Behind her she could hear Misato: "Asuka! Where do you think you're..." but she didn't care. What's she gonna do? Fire me?
It was only when she heard steps running behind her that she turned her head – and stopped when saw that Shinji had run up to her. She wanted to just wish him to hell with all the others, but she just… couldn't. He had understood her. Maybe just that one time, but that was more than could be said for, well, anybody else. Except maybe Kensuke.
"Asuka..." he began, and then hesitated. "Uh… you could still have… don't you want to come and eat with us?"
Really? For a long time she just stared at him. Neither side said anything.
Then she said, "No," and just turned around again.
"See you tomorrow then, I guess."
"Yeah, till then. I'm looking forwards to beating your European ass again tomorrow."
A scoff. "I'd rather not think about what you'd do with my ass."
Kensuke could only muster a weak smile as Asuka stepped into the train. Those arcade sessions with her were really fun, but now…
Asuka had seemed kind of out of it from the moment she had arrived at the arcade. She still insisted in coming later, so she would never arrive at the same time as him. That was fine by him; if that made her feel more comfortable, he had no problem with it. He just wanted to share some fun with her. But today…
She had told him about how she and Misato had argued. Children arguing with their parents, or their guardians for that matter, that happened, but it seemed there was more to it. Something was eating Asuka up. So he had tried to be friendly to her.
And then that look in her eyes when he had told her that, hey, he couldn't buy her steak, but how about some ice cream at the café? Because she had earned that, and he had told her as much. This time that message had seemed to come through, because… she had tried to hide it, of course, as she always did, but she had definitely been surprised. Almost shocked.
And then also those stories that she had told in the café. Her training as a child. The way she had been handed over from from guardian to guardian, with all of them just being focused on making a pilot out of her. Stuff like the endurance week, where she had been pushed to her limits while being deprived of sleep. Kensuke knew why pilots had to be trained to be always ready, but she had been nine at that time.
All in all, Kensuke was beginning to get worried, and he didn't know how to deal with that. He realized he wasn't just playing video games with Asuka anymore. He was becoming… well…
...concerned for her. He just wished there was anything he could do. And those feelings confused him.
He trotted the station's stairs from the platforms down to the dusty street. Even here in Tokyo-3, small, barely used train stations always appeared somewhat unclean. Kensuke paid no heed to the setting sun. Instead he just kept his head down and focused on the ground in front of him. He walked the streets back to his home almost by instinct, too lost in thoughts.
This all felt wrong to him on a fundamental level. All his young life he had looked to mecha anime as a source of inspiration. A mecha was nothing more than a human writ large; it was the embodiment of its pilot's fighting spirit and of humanity's determination. It was supposed to be a source of heroism and valour, a force for good, and not… not…
…not this!
Kensuke felt his entire world turning upside down. It wasn't right that life had to be like that for EVA pilots. But what made it even worse, or even more complicated at least, was that Asuka was a genuinely fun person to be around, once one had gotten past her obvious thorns. That meant it wasn't just an abstract problem for Kensuke. It wasn't just that something far off wasn't like it was supposed to be, no matter how fundamental to him. It was something that directly affected a… well, a friend.
It wasn't the first time he had been concerned for a friend, of course. The Suzuharas had gone through some considerable financial troubles a few years back, so much so that it was unknown if they would be able to stay in the city. And then, of course, Shinji… but it was different now. It was funny, considering that Asuka would most likely be able to snap his spine if she wanted to, but he felt protective towards her. Protective and, and… tender. A feeling of tenderness.
And Kensuke was not so stupid as to not see where this was leading. But he just felt completely overwhelmed by Asuka's background, by what she was telling him, by the sheer wrongness of the real life mecha business. He really didn't know how to deal with it.
He passed the familiar white garden gate of his family's house without even much noticing it and sighed. He supposed he would warm up some ready-made food and then… what? Half his anime collection and half his model collection were rapidly losing its appeal. Well, he supposed he could work on some tanks. Things were more straight forward with them: You volunteered for the military and got assigned to tanks. Easy. Nothing at all like what happened with Shinji or Asuka.
The small garden with its several neatly trimmed bushes was quiet. The house itself was fairly, but not outrageously large. Its architects had tried to give it some pseudo-historical flair, by covering the wall at ground level in highly polished wood and by having a historic style roof, but this had not worked out very well. All in all, it was just a standard modern house.
Kensuke was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that the lights were on. He was only thrown out of his fugue when he heard sounds coming from the kitchen. His heart suddenly began racing. Slowly, on tip toes, he began approaching that room. Part of him felt like he was in a military infiltration mission, even though this could be so much more serious. This could be…
...he breathed out when he recognized the mumbling voice from inside the kitchen. Then he stepped around the corner.
"Dad? What are you doing?"
Hideo Aida seemed to be going through several cupboards, all of them open by now. He was a small, sometimes even frail looking man with dark grey, thinning hair and round spectacles. His face usually looked friendly but, as Kensuke often secretly thought with some amusement, also frequently a bit confused.
Hideo smiled at him. "Ah, hello there, Kensuke. I just wanted to see if we still had some spices here..." A silly smile was playing around Kensuke's lips. Why? You don't even cook. "And I take it you were in the city again?"
Kensuke shrugged and nodded. "Was in the arcade, and then out with Asuka."
"Ah yes. 'Asuka'," Hideo echoed and snickered a bit.
That actually did get a rise out of Kensuke. "I told you, she started using first names! She's just…"
Hideo smiled reassuringly. "Very European, I know."
"European," Kensuke echoed. That isn't all of it. He had no doubt regular European kids were different. "Yeah."
He turned around and trotted out of the kitchen. His father immediately followed and grabbed him at the shoulder. "Hey. Is something the matter?" When Kensuke didn't answer to that, he tried again, "What did you two do out in the city, anyway?"
Again, Kensuke shrugged. "Played at the arcade. Talked." He hesitated. "She had a rough life."
Hideo withdrew his arm and nodded. "You mentioned so before. It's getting to you."
"I won't..." Kensuke began with rising anger, but his father interrupted him.
"I don't say you should drop her," he told him. Then he smiled. "How about you invite her over for dinner?"
"Wh-what?" Kensuke stuttered. "I mean, it's not like that we're… you know…"
Hideo sighed. "I'll make you a deal, Kensuke. You invite her over, and I promise you it will mean absolutely nothing. No 'meeting the parents' kind of stuff, if you know what I mean. But it's clear this whole thing is bothering you. So I want to hear myself what she has to say."
"Why?" Kensuke asked.
"So I can help you better with this," Hideo told him.
"Oh," Kensuke voiced. His relationship to his father had always been good, but never particularly close. So this was unexpected. "Well, I suppose I can ask her…"
Now Hideo grinned. "From what you told me, free food will be a convincing enough argument for her. And I'll cook." He hesitated. "No, I suppose I'll have someone cook." He smiled brightly. "Well, same difference! Just ask her over one of these days."
Rei had never exactly hated all the medical check-ups. However, she had never liked them, either. She just had never cared one way or the other, just as most things in her life had always simply gone past her, without ever really touching her. Her meds had always seen to it that she was dulled like that. It had been better that way. Going through life caring about all the things she was missing out, caring about how she was treated, caring about her loneliness… that would have been crushing.
But those meds were wearing off now. She began to feel the world again. Or, more to the point, she began to care again. She had always felt when she had been pushed around roughly in a check-up, or when everyone had just treated her like a tool; it just had never mattered. Now, it began to bother her, on some level, but she had no words for it.
She was walking through the labyrinthine corridors of Terminal Dogma. The corridors were neat and well maintained, but nonetheless unusual. Illumination came from two stripes of light along the upper wall, and the corridors themselves were semi-octagonal. There were probably hundreds such corridors down here, some leading to areas nobody really knew about. Rei meanwhile just stuck strictly to her usual path.
The latest check-up had just been over, held down here in the most secret part of the NERV headquarters. And for some reason, Rei felt… annoyed. Or, no that wasn't it. Something like hurt, but that wasn't quite it, either. Ritsuko had taken a thorough look at her body, everywhere, poked with instruments everywhere. It made Rei feel like… like this made her not whole in a way. Like the perimeters of her being had been breached.
This is the meaning of the AT Field.
For ordinary humans, this had no physical effect, but it could have for her, if she wanted. However, she never thought in those veins. She was what was called Rei Ayanami, a catalyst for the Commander's plans. She would unfold her AT Field when it served his purposes, not when it was breached.
She was just the Commander's catalyst.
...Rei took the wrong turn at a crossing. It did not matter; she had the whole setup of the corridors memorized. She did not know why she had made this sudden turn. It was unlike her.
Ritsuko's test had not been the end of it today. Normally, such a checkup could also have been done at the regular medical wing of the facility, or at Ritsuko's office. Sometimes, people just walked in during those tests. In those cases, they didn't even regard Rei or her state anymore. That was also something that had never bothered her before. Being clothed or unclothed, it didn't matter. The drugs ensured that nothing mattered.
But now there was an annoyance inside her that she didn't quite understand herself, about how they never even cared about whether she might care.
After that check-up, they had just told her to go, unclothed as she was, to the next room, where already a handful of technicians had been waiting, and where she was to enter a LCL tank. And there she had remained for over two hours. Two long hours with nothing to do, with nobody talking to her, with nobody even caring how she was feeling.
Suddenly, this did bother her.
They needed her enagrams and mental routines, Rei had understood that much. She didn't know what for, and she hadn't asked; she never did. All she knew was that after two hours she was told to get out of the tank again, get dressed, and go home.
Why is this staying on my mind? She was still bothered by it. Home should have been the promise of calm and quiet, the location where she went when she had no duties. Now even that fact bothered her. I value my apartment because I'm free of my tasks there. Yet I participate in those tasks. What she wanted…
It was strange. Right now, she wished Shinji were here.
She heard the silent humming of electric transformers ahead. She knew by memory she would soon pass small hall important for the energy distribution down here. It was a soothing noise. Maybe I should come here more often. Down here, in these mazes, she wouldn't easily be found. Here, she would maybe be able to… well, to just be herself.
She stopped and blinked. There had been movement. Then she resumed her steps with determination. Nobody should be down here. She furrowed her brows as she walked around a corner… and found Mari Makinami looking up a wall. That small corridor was in fact a dead end, created only for ventilation purposes.
"Well, shit," Mari cursed. Then she turned around with a lazy smile on her face. "So it seems the kitten caught me."
Rei just stared at her. She was glad about Mari's company whenever the girl was around. Her manga had proven to be very entertaining and even educational. But she shouldn't be here.
"So, uh… what now?" Mari asked.
"I'll report your presence," Rei told her calmly. "This area is off-limits for non-authorized personnel."
Mari's grin turned insolent. "And you are authorized?"
"Yes," Rei simply answered.
"Special, huh?" Mari asked. Rei didn't give a reply, causing the girl to sigh. "You know, we could just pretend this didn't happen, right? Have it be our little secret!" Rei simply shook her head. Mari's voice got just a hint darker in reaction. "Well. Too bad for Shinji."
This finally did get a reaction out of Rei. She did a double take and blinked several times. Shinji…? She wasn't sure how he fit into the picture, but she didn't like the way Mari had talked. For several seconds, there was silence.
"I mean, he would still have you," Mari went on. "That's good. I'm kinda happy for you two." Happy? Rei didn't know what she was talking about. "But I still think he would be hard hit if they take me away, don't you think? And he can make such a sad, lonely puppy."
Rei considered that. There was something to that. Shinji seemed to generally be livelier in Mari's company. And with him and Kensuke basically not talking anymore… there were still Asuka and Touji, but…
Ikari has done much for me. It wouldn't be right for me to hurt him.
So without further comment, Rei just turned in the spot and continued walking along the main corridor.
Mari felt a bit guilty. But just a little.
Manipulating the kitten had been easier than it should have been by right, so easy that now it almost felt like cheating to Mari. The poor blue-haired girl seemed to have truly zero experience with personal interaction. It hadn't been a fair contest, and that bothered the new pilot of Unit 00 a bit…
...but only a bit. Playing against n00bs was not as satisfying as it could be, but it was still better than not playing at all. She liked Rei, just as she liked any good riddle, and the girl was genuinely nice, but she was sure Rei would get over this episode. After all, you win some, you lose some. That was a self-explanatory truth to Mari.
With a smirk, she let her hand run over the walls of the semi-octagonal corridors. Nobody would bother her here now anymore. She could go on exploring, like she already had with the electric transformers. That was one advantage of having quarters in the Geofront: Over short or long, all of its secrets would open up to her. It was an exciting thought.
Of course, she hadn't lied: If Section 2 found out, she would be taken away. It was very possible that nobody would ever hear of her again then. However, that didn't bother her greatly. It was like EVA fights: There would have been no thrill if there were nothing at stake. Life was a big game, and one always had to try and win – and if one lost, well… You win some, you lose some.
Anything was better than her previous life.
Right now she was living her life at the fullest. A tease in school, an EVA pilot in the afternoon, and at nights, well… there was also her other mission. Not that she really cared for NERV Europe or NERV Russia or NERV Japan, or the IPEA, or for any of the countless other UN agencies vying for power. It didn't matter who would eventually come out on top. Only the challenge mattered. The game.
She began humming. "You did what you did to me, now it's history I see..."
The title of the song made her grin smugly. She turned around a corner…
...and jumped back. The man with the un-ironed shirt, beard stubbles and cigarette in his mouth could grin just as smugly as she.
"Hello there, Mari," he greeted her.
"Ryoji Kaji, isn't it?" she remembered. He nodded. She smiled at him awkwardly. "Eheheh. Really much traffic down here today…"
She doubted she could lull him in the same way she had Rei. Adrenaline began rushing through her body, and she lowered her body stance. Fight or flight… She would either hit him right in the face and run, or just start by running. Now her grin became predatory. Let's see how good I am at that.
Kaji merely raised an eyebrow. "You seem stressed." He took the cigarette out of his mouth and blew out smoke.
"Yeah, well…" Mari began, ready to turn and run.
However, she stopped when Kaji said, "And I merely wanted to talk." She looked at him, and he grinned again. "That would be quite the twist in the story, wouldn't it be?"
Mari grinned back. "Quite the twist indeed."
It was clear he had her figured out, but it didn't matter. Talking, eh? Now Mari was really interested where that would lead. After all, she didn't really care about her employers. Only the game mattered.