This time, Asuka awoke on her own futon. She and Rei had slept in the same room for one last time; theoretically they had been free to sleep wherever, but the victory party had dragged on quite a bit, and afterwards both had been too tired to drag futons around in the apartment. Asuka in particular had been too tired to feel awkward.
She felt stiff. Maybe there was something to having a live pillo... No! I won't give Misato any more ammunition! Groggily she looked over to Rei's futon. It was gone. Asuka sat up straight and looked around the room. No, there it was... in a corner, rolled up. What?
She quickly got to her feet and went into the kitchen. Nobody was there. She also looked in the bathroom and the two unused rooms, and did not find any blue-haired, red-eyed girls there. Where has she gone?
A glum unease was spreading within Asuka. It was clear this apartment had only been their temporary residence, for the duration of the training. But Rei's own apartment was a filthy concrete box in a slum. Is she so quick to return there?
She searched for her mobile phone, the only source for the time. Just before 7:00... She hastily sprang into action and put on her clothes. She managed to catch up to Misato just as the Operations Director was walking down the stairs of the apartment bloc.
After hearing her yelling, Misato waited up for her. "Asuka, why the hurry?"
"Rei hasn't gone over to your apartment, has she?" Asuka asked.
Misato furrowed her brows and got going again. "No. She isn't in your apartment anymore? Well, not that it really is your apartment anymore..."
Asuka scoffed. "Which is exactly the problem. Verflucht. I bet she's back to that hovel of a... hrrrng."
Misato chuckled. "Why, Asuka, dear, are you..."
"Oh can it!" Asuka interrupted her. "You really do have a one track mind."
"That's because you and Shinji make it too easy for me," Misato told her, amused. "I could never have the same fun with Rei."
"It's your definition of fun that's the problem!" Asuka insisted.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll discover soon enough where the fun in that is," Misato promised.
That had the intended effect on Asuka. The German girl even knew Misato had intended the effect, and yet... "You're the most indecent person I've ever met!" she declared and stormed off. Behind her, she could hear Misato chuckle.
Asuka still felt pissed off when she entered the train that would take her to the city outskirts where Rei lived. She was not quite sure herself where she stood in regards to the blue-haired girl. But that did not matter right now. Either way, she had to get her out of that dump of an apartment. She wondered why Rei had even returned there. Sure, the apartment they had used for the training program was meant to be temporary, but if Asuka's only alternative was a concrete box in the slums, she would cling to that temporary measure as long as possible.
The neighbourhood was indeed still as dirty and miserable as in Asuka's memory. The demolition work for the day had already started, so a loud, repetitive noise filled the air. Asuka wondered how anyone could live here, let alone an EVA pilot. Let alone a fourteen year old girl on her own. That... that was just not right.
Asuka's face was a constant mask of disgust as she went up the stairs of Rei's high-rise bloc. The elevators were still not working and Asuka doubted they ever would again. All that dirt, dust and grime on the ground, the stairs, even the walls... she felt unclean just moving through it. For a split second, she hesitated in front of Rei's door. The bell would still not work, and she was unsure if knocking would have any effect. However, she dearly wanted to avoid the embarrassment of the last time she had been here.
She pounded loudly on the door and yelled: "Rei? Rei, are you there? It's me, Asuka. Rei! Open the door, Rei!" When there was no reaction, Asuka repeated the action. Finally she shouted: "Rei? Rei, I'm coming in! If you're unclothed... please yell!"
Asuka swung the door open forcefully. There would be no half-measures with her. With hands balled into fists she stomped through the corridor/kitchen towards the bedroom. She found Rei there. The blue-haired girl was lying on the bed, belly down, her chin resting on the still dirty pillow. She was wearing a plaid shirt and short jeans, as Asuka noted with some triumph. Her legs were long and... Jaja, is gut. [1]
Foregoing any greeting, Asuka shouted: "What are you doing here?"
Rei had so far not even reacted to her appearance. Now she turned her head towards her. "On account of last day's battle, we have been given the day off. I have nothing to do."
"Jaja, I know," Asuka dismissed that. I could have slept in, not having school, but nooo... "But why are you here?"
"This is my designated apartment," Rei answered.
"It's a dump!" Asuka exclaimed. "Why haven't you stayed in the apartment we've used?" Before Rei could answer, Asuka pushed on: "I know it was only temporary, but why were you in such a hurry to return here?"
Slowly, Rei got up into a sitting position. "The training program was over. This is my designated apartment."
"Hrrrrnnng." Asuka got frustrated. "To hell with your training program and your designations. Is that what you want? To be back here?"
"I do not know," Rei admitted.
"How can you not know?" Asuka exclaimed. Gott im Himmel, what has that Ikari guy done to her?
"Because it is an irrelevant issue," Rei explained. "I am here because this is my designated apartment, the place where I live outside the training program, which is now over."
Asuka threw her arms into the air in further frustration. "Well, that can be changed. At the moment, that apartment is still reserved for NERV use, so you might as well be there. It's closer to school and... gah! Just look around! Just listen to the noise outside! This here is no appropriate place for a pig, let alone an EVA pilot!"
"NERV disagreed," Rei pointed out.
"NERV kann mich mal,[2]" Asuka muttered. "Look. Do you really think you'll run into trouble if you stay in that other apartment for a while?"
"No," Rei answered.
"Then why not use that apartment?" Asuka demanded to know.
"Because this is my designated..."
"ARGH!" Asuka shouted. "Is that designation that important? Why?"
Asuka crossed her arms and waited for Rei to answer, tapping her foot. Finally, the blue-haired girl answered: "I do not know. It could be for NERV."
"Unsinn," Asuka scoffed. "Look, everything you do here you can do there as well – better, even!"
For a long time, neither girl said something. Asuka was just about to launch another verbal offensive, when Rei stood up. "Why do you care so much which apartment I use?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Asuka exclaimed. "Is it somehow offensive to you if I do?"
"No," Rei answered calmly. And after a pause: "Not at all."
"Uh, right," Asuka hastily replied, trying not to think about what that could mean. "The thing is, I'm still looking for a permanent residence in Tokyo-3. The plan was that I stay with Kaji. We've already picked an apartment, in fact. Or maybe they would have sent me to live with Misato again. Ugh. But if we two stayed together in that apartment, near Misato, maybe we could get away with having it to ourselves!"
"Is that the reason you are so insistent?" Rei asked.
Asuka shrugged and showed her smuggest face, dismissing all seriousness to the situation with a hand wave. "I might finally get to live without direct adult supervision. Bad enough I went to college and didn't have that."
"I see," Rei just stated. Her view lost focus. Her facial expression was always monotone, but after one week of living with her day and night, hour for hour, Asuka could see some subtleties. And right now, Rei looked... hurt. Alone.
It was like hurting a frightened kitten. Even Asuka could not go that far.
"Andwellitsalso..." Asuka mumbled. She growled. "Look, alright. I also don't want you to live here. Happy?"
Rei focused on her again. "Why?"
"Because you deserve something better!" Asuka exclaimed. "It's as easy as that. Nobody should live in this dirthole, and... well... you especially not. I mean... you did help to save the entire world two times already now, didn't you? So, see? You deserve something better!"
Again, there was a long lasting silence. Finally, Rei answered: "It is irrelevant where I live. But that means..."
It sounded like Rei would concede, but that was not enough for Asuka. Forcefully, she interrupted her: "No! No, no, no! It's not irrelevant! It's your life! You need to give more meaning to it!"
Silence, again. But not as long this time. "You think I can do that by moving out of here?"
"It would be a start, at least!" Asuka insisted.
And once again, exactly as Asuka had expected, silence. Finally, Rei answered: "Then I will try this. We will return to the apartment we used for the training." And she got going, leaving Asuka behind in the room.
Well, that was quick in the end. "Uh... don't you need to pack?" Asuka called after her.
Rei stopped for a moment to answer: "Nearly all my belongings are still over there. I had planned to get them here over the course of the day, but that is now unnecessary." Then she started walking again.
"Fortunately so," Asuka grumbled and then followed her.
On the train, by chance, the two ended up on opposite benches. When there were not people standing between them, Asuka kept looking over to Rei. What was she doing? Misato's teasing was immature and unreasonable, but it still made her uncomfortable. Did she like Rei? Well, despite her weirdness, the blue-haired girl had many likeable qualities, so yes. Did she like-like Rei? Or more to the point... girls? That was a strange thought. After all, Asuka was changing regularly together with her female classmates, and had never noticed anything. Besides, there was Kaji. Asuka was pretty sure she found him attractive, and he was a guy.
Maybe she just... liked Rei. She also liked Shinji. Both were weird, but all in all, good. Comrades in battle. Considerate. And Shinji understood. That was worth a lot. So maybe it was just that: Sympathy. Maybe. Then again, why did she find... okay, yes, she admitted it to herself: She did find Rei attractive. It was understandable with Shinji: He fell short in comparison to Kaji, but maybe in ten years or so he would have caught up. He was male, at least. So... Hrrrm.
Asuka glanced again over to Rei. Even surrounded by people to all sides she appeared serene, as if standing above such earthly matters. It was... yes, she was easy on the eyes that way. But did that mean anything? It was obviously nonsense to go crazy over Rei when Asuka did not even know where she stood in regards to... girls in general. I may need to test this.
Silently, she left the train and accompanied Rei back to the apartment. She realized she was glad Rei had agreed to come back.
Tokyo-3 had been built on a small plain north of Lake Ashi, surrounded on all other sides by mountains. To the east was a massif that separated it from old Hakone, consisting of Mt Daiga directly between the two towns, and further south, bordering Lake Ashi, its three larger brothers, Mt Hakone, Mt Kami and Mt Komega. The valley between Mt Daiga, Mt Hakone and Mt Kami was known as Owakudani, the 'Great Boiling Valley', famed for its volcanic hot springs. The springs were still open and an important tourist spot accessible via the Hakone Ropeway, which these days, with Tokyo-3 at the other side from Hakone, was much more frequently used than before Third Impact.
However, the hot springs covered only a small part of that dip between the mountains. The entire northern part, the slope leading up to Mt Daiga, was a military area. Before Second Impact, the Pola Museum of Arts had been located here on a cliff on that slope. Now, the U.N. had built a military base there on several levels, still named Pola and housing the 22nd Armoured Division of its Standing Forces. Most infantry bases of UNSF and JSSDF lay outside the mountain ring surrounding Tokyo-3, but mountains were not exactly favourable terrain for tanks, and so the UN's 22nd Armoured Division and the JSSDF's 4th Armoured Division were kept close to the city.
Since 2005, the U.N. had been headquartered in Tokyo-2 [3]. Officially, the reason was the devastation of New York City in general and Manhattan in particular in the Second Impact Floods. Misato had long suspected that to be a pretext, though. Even if NYC could not serve as headquarters anymore, chances were the U.N. would have moved to Geneva then, like its old predecessor, the League of Nations, or maybe Vienna. Both cities already housed many U.N. agencies. Instead it chose Tokyo-2. Misato suspected the reason was to have a pretext to have a large part of its standing forces stationed in Japan. NERV was a U.N. agency, so the organization had to know about the coming angel attacks.
As a result, Tokyo-3 was now surrounded by military bases on all sides, as befitting to a fortress city. The UNSF's 4th Army and the JSSDF's 7th Army kept no less than five divisions and five independent brigades in the region between themselves. The 7th Army had its headquarters at Gotenba Military base; further bases were at Okanayamo, Shimizukan, Mizunodeguchi and Odawarajo. Meanwhile, the 4th Army was in fact headquartered at the sprawling Pola military base. Misato suspected that was why the meeting had been scheduled there: Not only was it the nearest military base to Tokyo-3, it also was neutral ground between JSSDF and NERV. And it was mainly the JSSDF who wanted to see her – who wanted to have a piece of her for NERV's so-called 'failures' during Israfel's attack.
During the entire drive to Pola Base, Hyuga looked less than thrilled with the prospect. Misato could understand him. He had come along as her second in command, but officially he just was a simple Lieutenant. But even a glum Hyuga was still a better companion than the third NERV officer in the car: Major Yosuke Matsuno, leader of Section 2. NERV's intelligence and security section was the next best to something military NERV had besides Misato's own Section 1, Operation, so he had had been sent along. There was nothing special about his appearance. He was a little more hard of face than most, but apart from that he was the very model of an average middle-aged Japanese man, and that was unnerving in some way, as was his insistence on not moving a single millimetre during the entire drive.
There was a single blue and silver flag of the U.N. flying high over the base. The UNSF were not big on flags, for fairly obvious reasons: They were not a national army and hence could not rely on any national identity. Among the JSSDF the U.N. forces had a reputation of being subdued and eccentric – though by far not as weird as NERV and its people, of course.
Pola was a busy military base. Cramping an entire armoured division, plus Army HQ, into such a relatively small area, spread out over several height levels, was no mean feat. Surrounded on all sides by UNSF personnel, Misato almost felt like an intruder in the clearly marked NERV car. Said car took a while until it reached the centre of the base: The reconfigured and repurposed former museum. Leaving the car, Misato frowned slightly when she noticed other cars nearby, cars marked as belonging to the JSSDF. She looked down: Her red uniform jacket was straight, and so was her red beret. Normally she did not give a damn about that, but here, on 'foreign' ground, she had to be a proper representative of NERV.
Even though Major Matsuno outranked her, it was she who led the trio into the building, with him and Hyuga slightly behind her. She was the Operations Director. It was she who had been called here to answer to the accusations, it was her responsibility and her show. Matsuno, like Hyuga, was only along for the ride so as to present a proper NERV 'delegation', and he certainly kept to that script.
A UNSF adjutant led the trio through the building. A lieutenant – so even the adjutant attending to them had the same rank as the lowest-ranking member in the delegation. This is ridiculous. It became even more ridiculous when the NERV officers entered the conference room where they were expected. Generals' stars could be seen on every shoulder. Two Generals, three Lieutenant Generals, four Major Generals. Five generals from the JSSDF, four from the UNSF, and four of them female. And reporting to them, Misato Katsuragi, officially designated only 'Captain' by NERV, nevermind that she coordinated three machines that were virtual weapons of mass destruction.
The conference room had a sort of arena feeling: Three rows, separated by a corridor, in a semi-circle around an open area. Inside that area was a table with three chairs, behind that a large screen. The NERV officers walked through the corridor, JSSDF generals to their right, UNSF generals to their left, and took the seats at the table.
A wiry man of greying hair from the JSSDF side of the seating rows stood up. Misato had read his dossier: General Ichiro Yoshida, commander of the 7th Army. Among his subordinates, the 3rd Infantry Division, the 4th Armoured Division and the 32nd Brigade were represented. The 16th Infantry Division was at best attached to the 7th Army, too busy with its task to guard the flooded Kanto plain to really support Tokyo-3, while 13th and 29th Brigades were maybe too unimportant. As for the 41st Brigade with their off-limits military base in the Ashikagara District, Misato did not even know what they were doing; most of that was classified.
"Captain Katsuragi, we have invited you here to... explain NERV's role in the recent incident," Yoshida started. Misato just nodded. Yoshida pointed at the screen behind her. She turned around to see footage from the first fight against Israfel. "Why did your vaunted Evangelions fail to stop the enemy?"
Misato turned back to her audience. In a calm and measured voice she answered: "The enemy was successfully defeated by Evangelion Units 01 and 02 in the second sortie."
"At the cost of a mountain," a man sitting next to Yoshida, a relatively young Lieutenant General, muttered.
"Given the enormous amounts of financial resources the NERV budget eats up, we're wondering why it even took a second sortie," Yoshida pushed the issue. "Not to mention the enormous damages to infrastructure the two battles caused." He operated a remote.
Misato did not turn around again. She could guess what the screen showed. "General, as you're surely well aware, angel attacks do not follow a recognizable pattern. Every angel so far observed had a different set of powers. We had no way of knowing that the angel designated Israfel would react to the engagement in the manner it did. There is literally nobody on Earth who could have foreseen that. Neither in NERV... nor in the military."
This caused angry murmuring on both sides of the corridor.
A female JSSDF Major General stood up. "The difference is that the military, even at the... heightened levels of activity since Second Impact, does not enjoy the same sort of budget NERV does." She sat down again.
Yoshida nodded. "For such a premium price, we should be able to expect premium services."
"You get them, General," Misato insisted. "The fact remains that only Evangelions can successfully erode enemy AT Fields. Without that, the angels are virtually invincible."
A black man from the UNSF stood up now. General Alex Winston, commander of the 4th Army, UNSF. He smiled and his voice was in stark contrast to the conversation so far: Soft, polite, without any of the military sharpness that so far had dominated. Heavily accented, too. "A technology NERV has so far declined to share with anyone else, including other branches of the U.N.. It does seem strange to me that you want to justify your special status based on a condition you yourself actively maintain."
Misato hoped and prayed her short briefing by Ritsuko was enough to deal with that kind of questions. Outwards, she showed no emotion, though now she did stand up to address the general. "There is no AT Field technology. The ability to build up AT Fields is an integral part of Evangelion technology. NERV and its predecessor organizations have worked on Evangelion technology for over a decade already, and even for us building and maintaining Evangelions is difficult. That task is what NERV was founded for, so that all resources for Evangelions can be focused there. That is the most efficient approach. Besides, even if we tried to spread the technology now, we could hardly expect results within the timeframe of continued angel attacks."
The same JSSDF Lieutenant General who had heckled her before spoke up again now, without standing up: "But then, of course the NERV representative would say that."
Misato stared at him with narrowed eyes. "With all due respect, what is that supposed to mean?"
General Winston took over explaining in his soft and friendly voice: "Please, Captain. It is no secret – and no shame! – that you would represent your organization's interests here. The matter of the fact is... please, don't take this the wrong way, Captain. But your organization has been under a lot of scrutiny for obvious reasons. And the pattern we have detected is concerning. In every angel fight since the first one, NERV has demanded absolute authority. And it has justified enormous budgets with these angel fights. Frankly, the impression many of us are getting is that NERV simply does not want to allow other institutions access to its honey pot."
Misato paused to find a good formulation for her answer. "So, General, are you implying NERV deliberately bars other agencies from the fights? To hog all the glory and gain all the money? You think that is a deliberate NERV policy?"
A lazy smile appeared on Winston's face. "Isn't it?"
Misato turned her gaze to Yoshida. "Is that the JSSDF's fear as well, General?"
"There have been concerns," Yoshida replied stiffly.
Misato nodded, and reached into her jacket's pocket. There she had deposited her secret weapon. She held it tightly in her hand as she answered: "What I say may appear as mere NERV propaganda to you. But believe me, we take over fighting the angels out of pure necessity. If we could, we would leave that entirely to the military. If I could, I most certainly would." She put her 'secret weapon' on the table. It was an audio recording device. "This is an audio record from the fight against the angel dubbed Ramiel. Pilots Ikari and Soryu had just been hit with high energy beams, a beam which set the LCL, the liquid they were in, to near boiling temperatures."
A grim expression of determination appeared on her face as she hit play. Shinji's haunting, desperate, long screams filled the room, as did Asuka's shorter bouts. Misato heard movement behind her; either Hyuga or Matsuno seemed to have sprung up from their chair.
Misato did not regard that incident. Instead, she spoke firmly to her audience. "These are fourteen year old children screaming. Keep in mind they feel everything their Evangelions feel. They just felt their ribcage being ripped open by a burning hot beam. Fourteen year old children that we sent out into life and death battles." Now she began to raise her voice: "Do you think we like to do this? Do you think we would do this if there were any alternative to it? I would jump at the chance to spare our kids that fate! Only they can pilot Evangelions, and only Evangelions can generate AT Fields... but that isn't something we celebrate. Why should we celebrate this?"
She played the recording again.
General Winston looked... contrite. He had sat down again, and hung his head low. The rest of the UNSF delegation looked vaguely depressed, one female Major General even outright shocked. Meanwhile, the JSSDF delegation, being Japanese, was much harder to read.
"Enough already with the theatricals," Yoshida, who had remained standing the entire time, bellowed. The recording ended on its own before Misato could accommodate the request. From behind her she heard Matsuno hiss: "That's a NERV internal matter!"
It was, but right now Misato did not give a damn. Fuyutsuki might disapprove, dragging the shameful... well, not secrets exactly, but the shameful internal details of NERV into the open, but Misato was pretty sure it would have an effect. And Commander Ikari only cared for results, so Misato felt relatively safe.
"You have demonstrated your personal stance quite well, Captain Katsuragi," Yoshida told her sharply. "But I remain unconvinced that it is representative of NERV as a whole. You might want to avoid your pilots suffering, but your Vice Commander Fuyutsuki seems to think otherwise." He looked over to the UN delegation. "I understand he only approached the conventional forces last minute with his request for a N2 mine drop, and sounded very... reluctant about it."
Winston nodded. He sounded more subdued than earlier. "That's true. It seemed like he really disliked giving us any role in the battle at all."
Misato suppressed a growl. She had always held great respect for the Vice Commander, who was meticulous, always polite, and unfailingly fair in his judgements. But right now he seemed like a living fossil to her. Still, she could not publicly complain about a superior officer.
"Isn't what matters that Vice Commander Fuyutsuki did in fact request the mine drop?" Misato argued. "His personal feelings will not affect his professionalism or that of NERV as a whole. And you have my word... my personal word... that we and I in particular will do everything to spare my pilots unnecessary pain. You want the glory? As long as you find a way to keep fourteen year old kids out of the firing line, I will give you all the glory you want. I don't need it."
"Does that mean NERV will in the future be more open to cooperation with the conventional forces?" a Lieutenant General from the UNSF side inquired.
Misato nodded towards him. "I will make sure of it. And I have authority over NERV's military operations."
"I know many people in Tokyo-2 who will be glad to hear that," Yoshida commented. "I think that was all, Captain Katsuragi." And without taking further note of her, he left the room, followed by his delegation.
"I hope for a better cooperation in the future," Winston said, and then left as well, followed by his people.
The NERV officers were the last ones to leave the room. On the way back to their car, Matsuno hissed: "Was that really necessary?"
"It worked, didn't it?" Misato argued. Of course, to her that had been more than just strategy. It had been conviction. But Matsuno did not need to know that.
"You made a lot of promises I'm not sure you'll be able to keep," Matsuno accused her.
Misato stopped and turned to him. "You may outrank me, Major, but you don't have any authority over me. Worry about your own section. Maybe then it won't take three days to find a kid who has never left Tokyo-3. Meanwhile, I'll take care of my section."
It took some time until Matsuno resumed following her outside.
Misato was greeted by a surprise outside; the JSSDF Lieutenant General who had heckled her was waiting at the NERV car.
"Captain Katsuragi? Lieutenant General Nobuteru Kokuta, 3rd Infantry Division, JSSDF," he introduced himself. "I just... I wanted to tell you if there is anything the 3rd can do to help you, please don't hesitate to ask."
"That's... a kind offer," Misato told him as she approached him and the car. "But, please forgive me, but it is a bit surprising."
"It does appear I had a misleading attitude when I entered that conference," Kokuta admitted, carefully skirting the line that would have made an outright apology necessary.
"And now?" Misato asked. "What changed your mind?"
Kokuta hesitated. Then he told her: "I have three children. The two eldest, a daughter and a son, are 15 and 12, respectively. I hope you understand."
"Yes," Misato answered. It was just a whisper. "Half a year ago I wouldn't have, but now... I do."
He held out a sheet of paper to Misato. "A list of telephone numbers. Private numbers of some other high-ranking officers in the 7th Army. With some, I could only make educated guesses whether they would be sympathetic to you, but it's worth a try."
Misato took the paper. That was Kokuta's turn to abruptly turn around and walk off.
There were two reasons why Gendo Ikari resided in an absolutely giant office: It was a reminder to him, and it helped him to impress and intimidate people.
Personally, he saw no allure in having such an office. It was not a coveted status symbol or a source of pride for him. Indeed, given the rapidly nearing end of humanity in its current form, one could almost find any attachment to status symbols laughable. Gendo did not. Rather, to him, the desire for status symbols was just a facet of reality, a factor to be used in others, against others. Something he treated with the same solemn seriousness as everything else.
He himself had no such desire, though. When he was still in GEHIRN, he had often done his work on ramshackle desks in offices that were located in only half-excavated areas of the Geofront. It made no difference to him. He had only one desire and he would use every tool available to reach it. But he had learned very early on that representation and intimidation were in fact very capable tools.
And secondly, the vast office with its giant surfaces was a reminder to Gendo of what was still to be done. Kabbalistic structures were drawn on them everywhere. They showed his plans in a covert way, shrouded in enigmatic glory. They also added to the intimidation effect.
Gendo sat at his desk, his view directed into nothingness. Fuyutsuki had pulled a chair to the side of that desk. There was a shogi board on it.
"This could have ended considerably worse," Fuyutsuki stated.
Gendo grunted in agreement. "There was little information on that angel. But we managed."
"Captain Katsuragi is not handling the fallout as well as she could," Fuyutsuki pushed on. "The U.N. and national governments could use this as an opportunity to redirect funds to the conventional forces."
"Only to a degree at worst," Gendo disagreed. "The old men will make sure of that. The world needs Evangelions, and only we have them."
"We, and the old men," Fuyutsuki reminded him.
Again, Gendo grunted in agreement. "That's why the project at Matsushiro is so important. More important than what Captain Katsuragi is doing."
Fuyutsuki grinned humourlessly. "Man trying to wrestle free from the gods. The classical sin of hubris, the favoured subject of Greek tragedy." He moved a stone on the shogi board.
"They aren't gods yet," Gendo insisted, and immediately countered.
"We do our best to prevent that," Fuyutsuki agreed. "Man turned from God, and with the Fruit of Knowledge he stole from him, built his own." Again he moved a stone.
"With the tools that he found," Gendo disagreed philosophically and countered his elder on the board. "The tools we have found."
"We need to do something about that," Fuyutsuki spoke up in a completely serious voice now. "Matsushiro is not safe. We'll need it as a quarantine."
"Hm," Gendo agreed. "The Scrolls would indicate so."
"Which is why we may need to move the project away from Matsushiro," Fuyutsuki argued.
"We'll move it here," Gendo said flatly.
"We'd have to keep it in the lower sectors," Fuyutsuki answered, alarmed, "very close to..."
"The risks are smaller than the risk of remaining dependent on the old men," Gendo argued.
Fuyutsuki moved a stone and remained silent.
[1]Right, enough of that. (more or less)
[2]Lit. "Nerv can me one time", without specifying what it 'can'. A less vulgar form of "can kiss my ass", I suppose.
[3] That is canonical, as per a newspaper snippet in Episode 21