"Rei!"

Asuka jumped up from her desk and ran towards the classroom door. Her favourite blue-haired girl had just appeared there. Then she stopped, suddenly becoming aware how many pairs of eyes were resting on her. She stopped at the door, cleared her throat, and asked in a level voice, "Are you alright?"

"I'm exhausted," Rei answered bluntly and monotonously. "Dr Akagi's medical tests were longer and more intensive than anticipated. I spent the night in the Geofront."

Asuka furrowed her brows. And why would you even still trust that bitch with your health? The last two times Rei had returned from Akagi she had been a living zombie, and Akagi's plan during the Leliel fight had made it amply clear the doctor cared little for Rei's well-being. And now again Rei had spent most of Sunday and half of Monday morning in the Geofront. What's up with that? All those medical check-ups, and they all take that long...

Rei entered the classroom. "Good morning," she greeted the class in a voice so quiet that it was more of a formality… but even so it was something she had never done before the Leliel fight. Then she turned her head towards Asuka again. "I'm glad to see you and Shinji again."

Asuka allowed herself a smile at that, if one faint enough that only Rei could see it. It was good that their little trio was back together. Shinji had already been all mopey walking to school, and also on Sunday… but then, he had good reason to. Today was a special day for him. He could really use whatever comfort and distraction Rei's presence could provide him.

The boy had slowly followed Asuka and now spoke up from behind her, "Come, there's still time to eat, Rei."

"You still made a lunch box for me?" Rei asked. It was just the faintest hint of emotion, but she sounded surprised.

"If I hadn't and you still had appeared, I would have felt bad," Shinji explained.

Just like him… But these days, Asuka found that endearing, rather than weak.

"I had not expected that," Rei simply stated, and then walked rather quickly over to Shinji's desk. He and Asuka grinned at each other and then followed her.

Shinji got the lunchbox out of his schoolbag and let Rei have his seat. Her movements were still somewhat mechanical, but her eyes were fixated on the box, and she opened it surprisingly quickly. And while she wasn't one for gorging herself, her mouth never remained empty for long.

Shinji looked at her with some satisfaction, obviously proud of his work. And it was good to see him take pride in something. Asuka grabbed a chair and sat herself down at Shinji's desk as well. Her eyes wandered over the class.

She laughed. "I wonder how long that will last."

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked.

Asuka nodded towards a corner of the room. Touji, Hikari and Kensuke were all sitting there, eating together. "I'm just wondering how long it will take for our Toy Soldier to be a fifth wheel."

"Toy… oh," Shinji voiced. "I suppose you're right. Touji and Horaki might soon want to eat together alone."

And whom will we exclude then? That question made Asuka feel uncomfortable and she looked down at the desk. Me, maybe? Though truth be told she would also feel bad to have Shinji excluded, or Rei.

"Ah, I see you could still make it to school, Rei," a voice approaching the desk spoke up. "I'm glad about that. I was already worried about what might have happened to you."

Asuka sighed exasperatedly, turned around and looked up to Kaworu's face. He was smiling broadly. It was a genuinely warm smile, but Asuka still didn't like how it was focused on Rei. And she definitely didn't like the look of quiet curiosity and interest Rei returned. Not that it stopped the blue-haired girl from eating; she continued to pick from her lunch box while looking directly at Kaworu.

Finally, she found enough time between bites to reply, "I underwent a medical check-up."

Kaworu nodded. "I know what that's like. We have similarities, you and I."

That made Rei stop short. She even stopped eating for a moment. "I see," she finally stated and resumed.

Kaworu smiled at her again and then turned to Shinji. "I heard something interesting about you, Shinji. You seem to appreciate music, and that style they call 'classical music' in particular."

"Uh, that's right," Shinji confirmed. He seemed a bit self-conscious about that fact.

"Mana told me," Kaworu stated and then waved the girl over.

Oh, um Himmels Willen…

With small, rapid steps Mana came over. She looked very cautious in doing so. And of course she giggled when she arrived. "Oh, that's true. Shinji told me he likes Bach."

"Ah," Kaworu voiced as if that provided a great insight. "So you value skill, Shinji?"

"Well… that's kinda the point, isn't it?" Shinji asked. "People are appreciated because they're good at something."

Kaworu furrowed his brows. "There are many reasons to appreciate people." For some reason that made Mana… smirk. Such a non-cutesy facial expression looked odd on her. "If you just look at skill and achievement, you aren't interacting with them, only their work. It's like shying away from people, and only dealing with them indirectly."

"Uh… but… we are talking about people's works," Shinji argued. Despite his initial hesitation, he sounded surprisingly insistent now. "About what Bach and the others composed. Their lasting achievements."

"But doesn't that make music a bit too sterile?" Kaworu argued. "Music is people trying to circumvent the barriers of their heart by using a powerful non-verbal medium. People can never fully relate to one another; there is only so much one can say. But they can try to pour their essence into sound and poetry. It's still a doomed endeavour, but a grand one."

"Sounds like angry metal and punk would be just the right sort of music for you then," Asuka commented dismissively.

"Perhaps," Kaworu allowed. "I'm sure many of those songs display genuine emotion. But I myself like classical music as well. However, Bach seems a bit sterile, and Mozart too artificial. Myself, I prefer Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann or Wagner."

Asuka scoffed. "Wagner? Antisemitic idiot."

Kaworu shrugged. "Whatever his attitudes were, if factually correct or not, what matters is if they were genuine."

You can't be serious! Asuka was aghast at such a stance. "Some attitudes should just be shut up!"

Kaworu seemed to accept that opinion without any rancor and instead turned to Shinji. "What do you think about that?"

"Ah well… I've never listened to Wagner…" Shinj stammered. "But… isn't that how people go through life? Hiding their bad sides, only showing their good ones… That seems natural to me."

"Hm, but is it good?" Kaworu asked. "In everyday life, people hide their true selves. But music should allow them to at least pierce a hole in the barrier of their heart."

"People are alone," Rei spoke up in almost a whisper. "That means they need comfort, not the truth."

Now everyone was looking at her. It was rare enough that Rei spoke up in the first place, but now she sounded… well, she sounded a lot like Kaworu, actually. It was a side Asuka hadn't really seen in her before.

Kaworu smiled faintly. It looked almost sad. "Of course you would stress hope."

Nobody really knew how to react to that. Kaworu and Rei seemed to be having a conversation of their own, one nobody else understood. So a deafening silence ensued.

Finally, Shinji broke it. "Well… ah… most of the composers you've mentioned came later than what people consider classical music, didn't they, Kaworu? I'm afraid I don't know much about them."

"We could listen to them together," Kaworu suggested. "I'm sure Mana would like that as well."

Grr… what is Paleface McGreyhair aiming at now? Asuka didn't like this one bit. Had Kaworu become Mana's agent now? Shinji, however, just nodded. "One of these days. But… not today." Suddenly he became silent and glum. Asuka looked at him in sympathy. Yeah… not today.

"I see," Kaworu simply stated. "I'll ask again another day then." Shinji nodded again, entirely silently this time.

After some hesitation, he and Mana walked away again. To Asuka's surprise, they walked over to Hikari's desk. Kensuke got up and tagged along with them. Huh. Well, he was probably looking for an excuse to leave the two alone…

Three years. It's been three years.

It had been so easy to just ignore this day coming up. With angel attack after angel attack, with everything that had happened to Rei, with just being around Rei and Asuka all the time… the truth was, Shinji hadn't wanted to remember this day coming up. But this had become completely untenable over the weekend. He had already been a nervous wreck the day before, on Sunday, and to make matters worse both he and Asuka had been worried about Rei.

And now, he was here, at that gigantic graveyard spanning the hills near Tokyo-3. Thousands or ten thousands of graves from Second Impact and its aftermath.

The last time he had been here, the last time he had seen his father before coming to Tokyo-3, had been three years ago. He had run away back then and not returned since then. But now that he was living in Tokyo-3, he had no excuse for not coming, to not visit his mother's grave on her day of death.

He didn't want to run away again. But maybe he was just running away from the shame he would have felt if he hadn't come. Maybe he was just more afraid of that than coming here, instead of coming here of his own will.

Yui Ikari's tombstone was polished so well one could see reflections in it. Shinji was squatting in front of it, having laid down a bouquet of flowers there, and he could see the the legs of another person reflected on the tombstone. A person standing behind him, the person who made his being here so terrifying: His father.

"She isn't even here, is she?" Shinji muttered.

His father remained silent. How can I even visit Mother's grave together with him, now that I remember how she died? His father had never mentioned a single word of that to him.

"She..." Something made Shinji hesitate. He doubted it would get him anything to tell his father that he knew how his mother had died. And he was afraid… afraid of confronting his father. It was easier to remain quiet.

"This grave is just a decoration," Gendo finally confirmed. "There is no corpse."

Shinji stood up, but didn't turn around to face his father. "You never told me how she died."

"It wasn't necessary for you to know," Gendo answered. "Death comes in many forms. What is important is what we remember… and what we don't."

Not necessary for me to know? His father had him pilot the very machine in which his mother had died, and that was not important to know? Shinji tightened his hands into fists. And it's easy for him to speak about remembering…

"I never got that choice," he muttered sullenly. "I can't even remember her face."

"People survive by forgetting," Gendo stated. "There are only some things a person should never forget. Yui showed me them. This place confirms what she taught me."

"You threw away all pictures of her, didn't you?" Shinji accused him sadly.

"I keep everything in my heart," Gendo answered. "That is enough."

Now Shinji turned around. He wanted to look up at his father's face, but he didn't manage to. He turned his head away sideways. "And what about my heart? I would have liked to not forget my mother's face."

Gendo remained silent. Shinji remained standing in front of him and looking away. A light breeze whistled over the hills of the graveyard, but otherwise the afternoon heat was nearly unbearable. Nobody spoke. Nothing made a sound.

After what felt like an eternity, and might well have been several minutes in objective reality, the silence was interrupted by the sounds of a NERV helicopter descending onto an open area in the graveyard, kicking up dust into all directions.

"My time is up," Gendo told Shinji. "I'm leaving now."

Of course you would. Shinji felt disappointed. His father was just leaving him here. He had found at least some courage to confront him, and his father now just turned around and left. He felt helpless and impotent as well: There was nothing he could do about this situation. He couldn't make his father reply to him.

Shinji watched his father move towards the frankly gigantic helicopter. A small two-person copter would have found more space to land, but this one… Shinji blinked. He saw a familiar blue mop of hair at one of the copter's windows. Rei… She stood up and vanished from the window.

Shinji looked down on the ground and made a grimace. So here he was, at the grave of his mother, after a confrontation with his father, and whom was Rei with? His father. He knew she had a close connection with the Commander, and he knew he hardly could stake any claim on her, and yet he still felt dis…

"Is something the matter, Rei?"

Shinji looked up. Rei had just stepped out of the helicopter.

"I wanted to see if the Third Child is doing okay," she told Gendo.

"There are no problems with him," the Commander stated.

Rei nodded. "I wish to accompany him home."

"We have an appointment," Gendo reminded her.

"I'll be there," Rei simply told him.

Gendo hesitated. "Is the well-being of the Third Child important to you?"

"Yes," Rei merely answered.

"I see," Gendo commented. Now it was him and Rei who just remained standing there, looking at each other, without moving or speaking. Finally, Gendo turned around and entered the helicopter, leaving Rei behind.

Seemingly entirely unperturbed by its lift-off, as if surrounded by an aura of serenity that mere mundane forces like wind could never hope to disturb, Rei slowly walked up to Shinji, not once looking back at the helicopter.

"Rei..." Shinji muttered. He didn't know what to make of this. Was insanely glad about her presence, but too surprised to act on it.

"Are you… alright?" she asked.

"I'm..." Shinji began, but then looked down. His voice became dark. "No, I'm not." This was Rei. The one person he had always been able to be honest with. "I'm… Why does my father do this? Cut me off entirely from the memory of my mother?"

He saw something flash across Rei's usually blank face, but Shinji couldn't say what it could mean. "I don't know."

Shinji scoffed sadly. "I'd have thought that if anyone knew, it would be you. You seem to know my father pretty well."

"I don't," Rei merely said.

That surprised Shinji. "But… he's been your guardian for ten years..."

"He never showed me his personality," Rei explained. "I didn't know anyone well before you arrived."

"...oh..." Shinji voiced. He felt a bit bad now for having misjudged her. She had chosen to come with him instead of his father, and she seemed to be closer to him in comparison as well. That was… touching, actually.

Rei took some more steps forwards. Shinji's eyes widened slightly when she stood only some centrimetres apart from him. She looked at him intensely, but didn't say anything for a long time. Finally, she managed to say, "I'm sorry."

"Ah… what for?" Shinji asked. He had been physically closer than that to Rei before, and he felt weirdly comfortable even with such minimal distance between them, but this still came as a surprise.

"I should say something to help you," Rei stated. "I don't know how to help you with the memory of your mother. But I know it's important to you."

"Ah… it's alright..." Shinji stuttered.

Rei shook her head. "No. It isn't. But if I can't help you with having good memories… maybe I can help you with having good times?"

Shinji smiled faintly, touched once again. That was so Rei. She had maybe learned to articulate herself better, but she had always tried her best. And had always been there for him. "I think… I think you always do."

Was there a slight amount of red on Rei's cheeks? Huh. That was surprising, coming from her. "You should go home. I'll accompany you."

Shinji nodded and started moving, Rei always keeping to his side. To both sides of them were endless chains of graves, one tombstone after the next. Some, very few, had flowers in front of them. Apart from that, there was no decoration at all, not even pathways, just dirt and some grass. It truly was a place of death. And it was good to have Rei here. He didn't know in what condition he would have been in by now if she hadn't.

She took his hand.

Shinji missed a step, but caught himself relatively quickly. Heat shot into his face, but he smiled. It was good.

For hours now a dark cloud of tension, disappointment, feeling powerless and longing for a half dead memory had hung over his head. Now, it was slowly being driven away. Shinji began feeling content. It wasn't a directed sentiment. He didn't think about anything in particular. It was just nice to know that Rei cared about him, that she tried to put this into words, that she held his hand.

So, when the two left the graveyard and entered the lonely road leading to it, Shinji even had a sad smile on his face – still feeling melancholic about being cut off from the memory of his mother, but also feeling hopeful. He sighed and began walking the street towards the nearest train station… only to stop again after some steps. Somebody was walking up to him and Rei. Somebody with red hair.

Both sides came to a stop in front of each other. Shinji looked in surprise at Asuka. She looked in surprise at Rei, then at Rei's hand holding Shinji's.

"What are you..." both began. Then Asuka laughed and continued. "Rei. Didn't expect to find you here."

"I came with the crew that picked up Commander Ikari," the blue-haired girl explained. "I decided I'd rather accompany Shinji home."

Asuka laughed again, one of her sharp and vicious laughs. "Choosing Shinji over Mr Pedobeard? Yeah, not a difficult choice."

Shinji allowed himself to grin, even if it was lopsided. Asuka's familiar utter lack of respect for anyone was a refreshing change from the silent and rigid atmosphere of the graveyard. He thought he should protest how she addressed his father, but he couldn't really bring himself to do so.

Asuka looked at the interlocked hands again and grinned just as lopsided as Shinji. "Though I think he can walk on his own."

Shinji was about to loose the hold, but Rei just strengthened her grip. "He seemed to need support."

"Yeaaahh," Asuka drawled. "I can understand that."

Silence followed that statement. Rei and Shinji were still holding hands, while Asuka looked a bit awkward. As if she constantly were about to say something, but didn't. Finally, Rei spoke up, "And why are you here?"

Asuka shrugged. "I've seen Shinji fret the whole day. I figured… well, I didn't want to leave him here alone. Couldn't have known he was already in good hands."

"You came… to look after me?" Shinji asked.

"Yeahhh," Asuka confirmed. "And you better not forget that!"

Shinji's lips trembled, as if they didn't know whether to smile or to cry. Two. Two! Two people who both cared about him. That was… that was… He shook his head, a gesture the girls didn't understand. That was just something that had never happened for as long as his memory went back.

"Thank you," he whispered to Asuka. He turned his head to Rei. "And thank you, Rei."

"No need to thank me," Rei told him.

"Hah. Don't make him take you for granted," Asuka advised. "Come on, let's go." She put herself on the side of Shinji opposite of Rei. After a short hesitation, she put her hand on the shoulder opposite to her. So when the three began walking, Shinji held Rei's hand at one side, while from the other side, Asuka's arm was warmly coiled around his neck.

Two people… Of course that had gone on for a while now. They both care about me. And I care about both of them. And they… also care about each other. Rei had even suggested to Asuka that they should also still kiss. They all cared about another. We all… love each other? It was difficult not to consider this while walking this way. It was clear, in any case, that the three were some sort of… thing.

And that was a thought frightening in its hopefulness. It was everything Shinji could ever want, besides maybe an end to the angel attacks, but that meant there was so much he could screw up here. So much that could literally fall from his grasp. The thought almost made him panic…

...but then he realized it would be foolish to run away from this. There was nothing really expected of him, after all. Things were good as they were, and he could just wait and see how they would develop from here. He was content with the way things were going.

"Maybe… it's a nice afternoon. Maybe we can walk home?" he suggested… softly, hesitantly, almost feeling bad about this very transparent suggestion.

However, Rei just nodded. And Asuka answered, "Walking into the sunset? I suppose that's something everyone should do at least once in their life."

"Our efforts were successful. She passed all the tests."

Gendo sat at his desk in his usual pose and didn't even look at the person he was talking to. As so often, Fuyutsuki was standing behind him.

"She did," the former professor confirmed. "We can consider her operational."

Gendo grunted. "The old men certainly had us invest enough resources in that foolish project. She's the only success. But now we will use her."

"One out of two dozen," Fuyutsuki whispered.

Gendo didn't regard that comment. Fuyutsuki could get sentimental at times, but at the end of the day, he would do what needed to be done. As for himself, Gendo only had one goal, and he would pursue it no matter what. Sentimentalities like guilt had no place in this.

He was so close to success. All pieces were in place. Now, he just had to make sure they didn't stray from the path. Of course he had never expected that people would just perfectly behave like he wanted them to. There were so many things to keep under observation. Ritsuko, now that he had been forced to throw her to the old men. Inspector Kaji, whom he still intended to use, but who might stumble upon things he was not supposed to uncover. And Rei.

He had been surprised by Rei's actions the previous day. He wouldn't have thought Rei to show such concern for a fellow pilot. Maybe he had evaluated the connections between the pilots wrongly. After all, going through battles together could in fact create such bonds of solidarity. And with Rei's soul united once more, she would be more susceptible to such influences. But so quickly?

It was another development to keep an eye on. So far, there was absolutely nothing suggesting that Rei's conditioning would break. For over ten years, Gendo had made very sure that the artificial girl knew nothing else but her purpose – that she would have nothing else in her life but her purpose. That she would leap at that purpose because it was the only thing that would provide her stimulation and contact with other people at all. He had been very rigorous in ensuring such a treatment of her, so now he trusted that conditioning to hold.

Still, maybe it had been a mistake to allow Rei to move in with the Second Child. It had been necessary to enrol Rei in school. An EVA pilot would have a certain public presence, if only in certain Internet forums and conspiracy theorist hangouts. Questions would have been asked if Rei hadn't been just an ordinary schoolgirl. But even then, Gendo had made sure that Rei would be kept in a state of mild sensory deprivation, placing her far away from all classmates in a rundown apartment.

Unfortunately, Captain Katsuragi's plan to defeat Israfel had toppled this state of affairs, and both she and Inspector Kaji had moved very fast to make that state of affairs permanent after the angel had been defeated. Protesting too much would have drawn suspicion. In this as well, Gendo trusted Rei's conditioning. Drawing suspicion wouldn't have been worth the risk. He still thought so, and he still saw no reason for immediate concerns… but he would keep the situation under watch.

As for Captain Katsuragi herself, she was another element that needed supervision. Her close connection with Inspector Kaji meant that she potentially wasn't as stable an asset anymore as she had used to be, and her argument with Ritsuko during the Leliel mission, and the ensuing alienation between the two women, could lead to the Captain beginning to distrust NERV leadership as a whole. That wasn't something Gendo could just let stand.

In fact, that was the reason why a few minutes after Gendo's and Fuyutsuki's short conversation, Katsuragi entered the office and saluted sharply.

"Sir, you wanted to see me?"

Fuyutsuki took over addressing her. "Captain Katsuragi. The Commander and I have reviewed your actions during the latest battle. We understand there has been some conflict with Dr Akagi and the pilots."

"Sir," Katsuragi answered, keeping her voice perfectly under control. "Dr Akagi and I disagreed about her plan to salvage EVA-01. The pilots learned of that plan and refused to comply."

"Isn't maintaining discipline in the pilot corps part of your job, Captain?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"It is, sir," Katsuragi confirmed.

"Then please explain the breakdown in discipline," Fuyutsuki ordered her.

"Sir, under the plan, the pilots would have been accessory to an action that would most likely have led to the demise of the First Child – one of their own," Katsuragi explained. "Given the bonds between them, bonds necessary for a military unit to function coherently, that was unacceptable to them. I do not think any sort of disciplinary measure or motivational approach could have swayed them."

"What about your own estimation of Dr Akagi's plan?" Gendo spoke up now.

"I disagreed heavily with it, sir, but would have carried it out," Katsuragi answered.

"But your failure to keep the pilots in line speaks against you, Captain," Fuyutsuki commented.

"Yes, sir," Katsuragi replied.

"Captain Katsuragi," Gendo addressed her, finally raising his head over his hands to look directly at her. "You are well aware of NERV's significance. You know that the angels threaten all of humanity. That is why sometimes drastic measures have to be taken."

"Yes, sir," Katsuragi confirmed.

"And what's more, you know what those measures are aimed at," Gendo continued.

This made Katsuragi hesitate for a moment before she answered. "Protecting humanity, sir."

"Killing the angels," Gendo corrected her. "You have seen their power. So even NERV sometimes has to resort to such methods. But only NERV can kill and defeat angels. The government in Tokyo-2 can't. The JSSDF can't. The UN Conventional Forces can't. That is why NERV is necessary." And that is what you have signed up for…

"True, sir," Katsuragi answered.

"So far, you have been exemplary at that job," Gendo told her.

"We have also reviewed the battle against the angel dubbed Bardiel," Fuyutsuki spoke up again. "In retrospective analysis, it is clear that your tactical acumen was sorelymissed in that battle. Furthermore, despite the problems in the fight against the angel dubbed Leliel, you showed your ability to organize an anti-angel operation without direct supervision."

Gendo stood up. "Therefore, the Vice Commander and I have decided to promote you. You have shown the competence and independent action required of a Major within NERV's command structure."

Katsuragi hid her surprise well, but it was still audible. "Sir… thank you, sir."

Gendo opened one of the desk drawers, and took out a box barely larger than two fingers. He put it on the desk, far away from him. "The promotion has been registered as of today. You're already cleared to wear your new insignia, Major Katsuragi."