(((Strangely, the notion came up in the reviews that a new clone has been activated. This is not the case at all. This is still Rei II. When she said "I'm not her", she was not referring to previous incarnations. Just to clear that up. What happened to Rei, and why EVA-00 and EVA-01 were unavailable, should be clear by the end of the chapter.)))
Unsurprisingly, Rei quickly tired after her simple dinner. Her condition seemed to actually improve; she now sat much straighter and wasn't liable to fall out of her chair any minute now. But it was clear she could hardly keep her eyes open anymore. Maybe she could have walked back on her own now, but Asuka and Shinji didn't want to take any chances. Or maybe it was the reverse: They did want to use the chance to walk Rei back to her and Asuka's apartment. With Rei's arms draped over their shoulders, the three walked very close to each other, almost cheek to cheek.
Asuka and Shinji almost carried their exhausted friend all the way back to her room, where she was gently let down on her futon. By that point, Rei seemed to already be half asleep, something which Asuka secretly found to be the cutest thing ever. Mostly, she was glad that the blue-haired girl was apparently feeling better, good enough at least to sleep soundly. She and Shinji looked at each other kinda awkwardly.
"Well, ah, I... I should..." Shinji began.
"Yeah. I understand," Asuka replied.
Shinji didn't move, though. It was plain that what he really would have liked to do was stay. Not leave Rei alone, even if she would soon be safe in the land of dreams. And wouldn't that be something? To have both Rei and Shinji here... maybe even close together, so that Asuka and him could take care of Rei... that was a nice thought indeed.
Asuka had already once slept in Rei's arms, if purely by accident. For a brief moment she wondered how it would feel to sleep in the arms of two people. No, of those two people.
But of course, this was an impossible thought. Shinji couldn't simply stay. Even Misato, disorganized as she usually was at home, would notice, and chances were she would protest that arrangement. Not that Shinji would ever have the chutzpah to not ask for permission from his guardian in the first place... technically now also Asuka's guardian again, but she herself wouldn't care about such details. Or at least, not as much as him.
"Thank you for your help," Asuka whispered, very softly.
"Ah... but... thank you for taking care of Ayanami!" Shinji insisted.
Asuka half-grinned. "Nah, that's something I do gladly." And so do you.
"Uh... right," Shinji answered. "Well, uh..."
"Go before Misato storms in here and wakes Rei up again," Asuka told him.
That got Shinji to faintly grin as well. The two went to the apartment entrance, where Shinji put on his shoes again. As he stood up again, Asuka laid a hand on his shoulder. There was much she could say, but...
...instead she left it at, "I'm sure Rei will feel better tomorrow."
Shinji nodded, then hesitated. He put a hand on hers, stroked it with his thumb... and then seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly left the apartment.
Asuka grinned. That was so him. Though, to be fair, not that she'd tell him that, but she felt pretty much the same confusion as he apparently did. She could have shown more initiative as well, after all.
Verflucht. What will I do now?
Well, for now, she returned to Rei's room, to take one last glance to see if the blue-haired girl was alright. She found Rei moving unrestfully, and apparently awake
"...Asuka," Rei whispered.
Slowly, Asuka walked over to her futon. "I'm here."
"I'm... I'm not..." Rei mumbled.
"You're what?" Asuka asked.
Rei remained silent for a long time. Asuka just waited. "...tired," she finally replied.
"Then sleep," Asuka told her softly. Rei nodded, and she turned to leave the room.
When she had reached the door, Rei stated: "You could stay here."
Asuka froze and tensed. Staying here would probably mean sharing a futon with Rei, and while she had done so before... and while, truth be told, she wouldn't exactly mind... openly stating that wish would be another thing altogether. It would be admitting everything to Rei, and worse, to herself. Asuka wasn't sure if she was ready to do so yet. And what about Shinji?
...no, she was definitely not ready.
"I know," she answered softly, closed the door behind her and walked to her own room.
Misato and Shinji had just finished breakfast when the telephone rang. Shinji felt a bit tired and lethargic. He hadn't gotten much sleep this night; he had been far too worried about Ayanami. It had felt really bad to lie in his bed alone, unable to do anything. If he had been over at the Soryu/Ayanami apartment, he maybe could have provided some comfort to Ayanami. But then, of course he would have liked to hold Ayanami. Or be close to Asuka. Instead, he had been all alone in his room, worried and confused. Of course this didn't exactly make for a restful night.
"It's for you," Misato announced. "Some 'Mana Kirishima'."
Kirishima? Huh. "A classmate of mine," Shinji explained and took the phone. "Hello?"
"Hello, Mana Kirishima here. Is that you, Ikari?"
"Ah, yes," Shinji confirmed.
"I'm really sorry to bother you," Kirishima apologized. "I hope I'm not disturbing you. Just end the call if that's the case."
"Nono, it's fine," Shinji reassured her. Mostly he was curious as to why Kirishima was calling him.
"This may sound strange, but... I have spent the entire week so far doing nothing," Kirishima explained. "I'm bored out of my mind. And since there are only three other classmates left behind here in the city, I thought I could call you about it. So that maybe we can do something together."
"Ah... Ayanami isn't feeling so well," Shinji answered. "And Asuka is taking care of her, sort of. And I should as well..."
"Ohhh, I understand," Kirishima reassured him. "Still, it's a bit of a pity. I thought I could use the free time to get myself acquainted with the city, but turns out I have no idea about it. I wanted to ask you if you could give me a little tour of it."
"A tour..." Shinji echoed.
"I mean, you don't have to, but I'd reeeaaally appreciate it," Kirishima trilled.
"Ah well," Shinji muttered unsurely. "I suppose... I could do it... maybe..."
"Really?" Kirishima asked. "That would be really cute of you." She giggled.
Shinji sighed. After having spent so much time with Asuka and Ayanami, the 'cute schoolgirl giggle' really didn't do much for him anymore. Neither of his fellow pilots were the type to do it, and that made them appear more... real, in a way. More authentic and honest. Besides, he had nothing against stereotypically cute girls, but they just couldn't compare to Ayanami's silent determination or Asuka's fiery strength.
Still... he wasn't the type who could just say no. And he could kinda understand her. He had felt lost upon getting to the city as well. Granted, he had had to deal with more at that time than Kirishima now, but still, there was no reason for her go through the same problems if he could help.
"Alright," he relented. "Let's, uh, do this."
"Wonderful!" Kirishima exclaimed. "You're a really nice boy, Ikari. Have people told you that?"
Even if she was no Asuka or Ayanami, that still made Shinji stutter. "Ah... ah well... you know... oh."
Kirishima giggled. "When and where shall we meet then?"
"Uh... at the city mall?" Shinji suggested. That was an easy place to find, even for someone new in town. "Say, at two?"
"I'll be there!" Kirishima promised. "And thank you again, Ikari. You're really cute!" She giggled again and ended the call.
Shinji sighed. Well, that's a thing. He was kinda uncomfortable with it. He really should be there for Ayanami. He still intended to go over and see how she was doing, but it appeared he would have to spend the rest of the day away from her.
When he rang at the door of the Soryu/Ayanami appartment, it was Asuka who opened for him. Her shoulders were slumped and she looked grumpy.
"Hello," she just said,... grabbed his collar and dragged him inside.
"Uh... hello," Shinji answered, once inside. He peered from the entrance into the kitchen and saw Ayanami sitting completely motionlessly at the kitchen table, gazing into nothingness, her hands around a mug of tea.
"Ah, hello, Ayanami," he continued as he removed his shoes.
She turned her head towards him very slowly...and then simply nodded. This didn't look good.
"Are you feeling better?" Shinji asked as he entered the kitchen.
"Yes," Rei simply answered monotonously.
Slightly despairing, Shinji looked at Asuka.
"She doesn't seem to suffer pain anymore, at least," the redhead explained. She sounded anguished. "That's something at least, I guess." She rubbed her eyes and Shinji now understood why she looked so dishevelled. She probably hadn't gotten much sleep for the same reasons as him.
He sat down at the table and smiled nervously at Ayanami. That got at least a reaction insofar that she was now looking straight at him, though her facial expression still didn't change. So he ended up speaking exclusively with Asuka, or rather, only she responded. Both of them now and then also said something to Rei, or only smiled at her, but there was no real reaction. Though Shinji had to admit, seeing Asuka smile at Rei was something precious. Sure, he wished she would smile at him like that as well, but... he just wanted her to smile, and he wanted Rei to be taken care of. It was really nice to see Asuka caring for Rei. Though it really didn't help with his problem of feeling close to both girls.
"Normally I'd say it's time for another angel attack again," Asuka commented, "but right now..." She looked at Rei. "Yeah, let's hope for a few more days."
"As if we had any influence on that," Shinji muttered. "If we had, I'd make them never come again.
"That's what we're there for," Asuka reminded him. "We can't just stop the angels by wishing for it. We have to fight them. We specifically have to fight them."
Shinji winced. It was true, but he didn't like to be reminded of that fact.
"Ikari doesn't," Ayanami said flatly. She still didn't look at either of them directly.
"Huh?" Asuka voiced in surprise.
"I can pilot EVA-01," Ayanami explained. "That was the original plan. Rei Ayanami in EVA-01, and Asuka Soryu in EVA-02. Having three EVAs operational goes beyond the original plan." She rattled it off like just a list of facts.
"Really?" Asuka asked. "Aren't they building two new Evangelions in America at the moment? I think I heard something like that." Nobody answered. Shinji knew nothing about that. Asuka sighed. "Well, anyway. Shinji..."
"Hm?" he answered.
"If you don't want to fight, I can cover for you," she told him.
Shinji shook his head. "We need three active Evangelions. If NERV had had one fewer unit against Israfel, the angel would've won. Besides..." He looked at Ayanami. "I... promised I would protect her. I can't let you two go into battle with less backup than possible."
Asuka scoffed. She remained quiet for a while. Then she said, surprisingly softly, "That's a really sucky situation for you."
Shinji just nodded.
There was a long-drawn silence. Finally, Shinji looked at his phone and said, "Ah... I'm sorry, but I must go now. That new girl, Mana Kirishima, has talked me into giving her a tour of the city."
"Mana?" Asuka echoed. "That... hrmpf. So she just calls you, tells you to show her the city, and you just say yes?"
"Uh... kinda?" Shinji admitted.
Asuka's head began to slightly tremble. Shinji could guess what would come now. "Seriously? You simply let that walking stereotype trample all over you? You can't be serious! What's wrong with you?"
"I mean... she isn't wrong," Shinji defended herself lamely. "She's stuck here in Tokyo-3 just as we are. So I imagine she's indeed pretty bored. And she's new, so she needs to learn where's what in the city."
"Well... maybe," Asuka conceded. "But not by you. At... at least not when Rei is not feeling well! Right, that's it! You need to stay here and help take care of Rei, not go out with that harlot!"
"Uh...hm," Shinji voiced. Asuka did have a point there, but... "But I already told her I'd show up."
"Well, then cancel!" Asuka demanded.
"That wouldn't be very polite," Shinji mumbled.
"Who cares?" Asuka argued. "I'm not allowing you to let that Flittchen sink her claws into you!"
"Allow?" Shinji echoed. At first it was just a mutter again. "Allow?" Now it was more forceful. "You're not the Operations Director. You can't allow or disallow me anything."
"I'm not trying to... geez!" Asuka exclaimed. "I'm trying to do you a favour, idiot! It's for your own good! And besides, this isn't about me! It's about Rei! Just look at her!"
Shinji did. The blue-haired girl still sat there motionlessly and without focus on anything. That did worry Shinji.
"I'll be back in time for dinner!" he defended himself.
"Not good enough!" Asuka decided.
Shinji stood up. "It's not really your place to tell me, now is it?"
"Apparently, someone has to!" Asuka retorted.
This whole conversation really annoyed Shinji. He admired Asuka for her fire and her strength. Maybe even more than that. But it was undeniable that sometimes she could be intolerable. And he had just about had it. So he did what he usually did in such situations – walk away. Wordlessly, he turned around.
"Don't you dare leave on me... on us now!" Asuka shouted.
Shinji put on his shoes.
"Shinji Ikari!" Asuka shouted. "You will stop doing this right now! You'll stay here!"
Shinji walked out of the door.
Shinji had never been to Tokyo-3's largest public library, or any other. It just never had occurred to him. Though now that he thought of it, maybe he should go there. He liked history, even in the droning, boring form presented by their teacher, just because it helped him escape reality. How much better suited would history books be? Or fiction books? It was almost strange even that he wasn't reading, that he was only relying on his SDAT player. Even so, he knew where the library was, so it was one point of interest he was showing to Kirishima. They even took a quick look inside.
"They have CDs and LPs inside," Kirishima giggled as they went outside again. "How old-fashioned."
"That's how I've listened to music most of my life," Shinji defended the old-fashioned sound carriers. "Some people need some time to adapt to digital music."
"But it makes things sooo much easier," Kirishima claimed. "Even my uncle uses it now. Say, what kinda music do you listen to?"
Shinji shrugged. Then he realized he kinda had to answer something. "Classical, mostly," he muttered, and was preparing for the inevitable mockery.
"Ah," Kirishima replied. "I listen to that now and then. Mostly because that's all my uncle has in his collection. It's... different. Artful. Harmonious." Shinji turned his head at her with widened eyes. He hadn't expected that. "So, who's your favourite composer?"
"Ah..." Once again Shinji had been caught off-guard. And even though Kirishima had admitted to liking classical music, he feared sounding too pretentious if he answered. Still, he had to reply somehow. "Well... there's a great variety..."
"But surely you could name some names!" Kirishima insisted and giggled.
"Well... there are some who are just more... artful, as you say, than others," Shinji replied, and suddenly sounded very serious. This was a topic he could speak about with some expertise. "Bach, for example. He was a technical master composer."
Kirishima nodded. "He was. But he's a bit too bombastic for my tastes. I like Mozart... he's so light and unburdened." She began humming. Shinji recognized it: The first movement of Mozart's symphony no. 40.
Shinji smiled. Now that was a new experience. Someone with whom he could actually talk about his taste in music. He thought Mozart a bit too light at times, too playful. It just didn't really mesh with him. But as he watched Kirishima humming and walking a step so light she was almost jumping, he supposed it fit to her. Even if she didn't exactly hit every note...
"That was the last point on my list," he told her. "The library. So I guess..."
"Thank you!" Kirishima interrupted him. "That was a very informative tour. I feel kinda bad about having taken up so much of your time."
"Ah... it's no big deal," Shinji answered unsurely.
"There's an ice cream parlour over there," Kirishima pointed out. "Let's have some ice cream!" She giggled. "I'll even invite you to it. I know it isn't exactly the right way around, but you've been sooo helpful to me..."
Shinji shrugged helplessly. There was no way he could win against the whirlwind liveliness of the brunette, and besides, he still had time.
The two teenagers took their ice cones and retreated to a nearby small park, where they sat on the only bench there.
"Well, I sure feel more secure in Tokyo-3 now," Kirishima stated. "Not as lost, now that I know where everything is." Shinji just nodded, unsure what to say. "I guess it was difficult for you as well when you c... ah, stupid me. But for you it was even more difficult, wasn't it? You came to pilot those mechas."
Shinji stopped licking his ice cream. That was not really... "That isn't really how it was," he found himself saying. "I came because my father told me. In as many words. I only learned here that he only called me to send me out into life and death battles."
"Oh," Kirishima voiced quietly. And after a while: "You didn't know what your father was doing?"
"Only that it was important work," Shinji explained. "And that it was in some important, high ranking agency of some sort. Never any of the details. I hadn't seen him in ten years. Never even gotten a letter from him in that time."
"Oh," Kirishima voiced again. "Then... seeing that mecha... and hearing what you were supposed to do... it must have been a shock."
"You can say that," Shinji muttered... angrily, as he noticed. Anger was building up inside him as he retold the story.
"Then it's quite laudable of you that you still did it," Kirishima commented. "Doing what your father told you. Going out and fighting."
Shinji whirled his head around to her. Was that laudable? Following his father's wishes... demands, really. Most people would say so, but... Asuka never would, for example. And even Ayanami – she clearly believed in whatever his father was doing, but she would never expect that Shinji should do likewise only because Gendo Ikari was his father. She would like him to also believe in him and hence follow him, but that was something different. Both pilots were quiet different from society that way... or really, in most ways.
And Shinji realized he appreciated that about them. Kirishima, though...
"I guess," he muttered unenthusiastically as he turned his head back again.
Kirishima seemed to sense she had committed a faux-pas. More hesitantly than before she continued, "And you won in the end! Apparently despite grave inexperience." Shinji remembered Sachiel mauling his head. Well, EVA-01's head, technically, but he had felt it – strike after strike after strike. Some victory that had been. When he remained silent, Kirishima added even more unsurely, "You... you saved the city. Everyone should be grateful to you!"
People should, yeah. It was maybe a selfish thought, but also a logical one. He had saved them after all, hadn't he? But mostly Shinji wished that this could all just be over soon.
"It sure doesn't look like they are, though," he answered.
"I... I can be grateful," Kirishima offered. "I am!"
Shinji smiled weakly. "Thanks. You're... you're a good person as well, Kirishima."
She giggled. "Call me Mana."
Shinji was surprised and kinda embarrassed. "Uh... are you sure that's appropriate?"
"After you've spent so much time on me? Sure," Kirishima... Mana opined.
"Ah... alright then... Mana," Shinji confirmed.
"There you go!" Mana told him and giggled. "Hm. You know what I miss here?"
"What's that?" Shinji asked.
"Before we moved here, my Uncle and I were living at the outskirts of the city," Mana explained to him. "There was a small forest nearby." She giggled. "It was perfect to play hide and seek in. Or if you just wanted to be alone. Nobody could find you. But here... everything's so open. Even the parks are all open, well trimmed... tame. I haven't seen any underpasses or dark corners, either. No secluded places."
"Huh... I guess... that's true," Shinji agreed.
When he had run away from Misato, he just had stuck to hiding in plain sight. Moving with the masses. Sleeping in an all-night cinema, walking through the streets, and finally leaving the city area altogether. But now that he thought of it, Tokyo-3 really didn't have many dark corners. At least, outside the slum where Ayanami used to live in. It sorta made sense: It wasn't a grown city, but a city planned from the ground up. With proper planning, such things could be avoided. Which made the existence of those slums kinda weird, actually.
Mana giggled again. "I know. Let's go into that library again." She hopped up from the bench.
Both had finished their ice cream cones, so that was a possibility, but... "Why?" Shinji asked.
"Nobody's there," Mana explained. "That's a sort of secluded place then, isn't it?" Again, giggling.
Shinji didn't quite see the logical connection, but if Mana wanted to go... "Sure, why not," he relented and got up.
The library indeed appeared to be completely empty. Masses and masses of shelves, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, formed almost ominous corridors to walk through. There had to be thousands and tens of thousands of books here, but not a single Yen spent on decoration. And after the two had passed some of those corridors, far away from any window, it was almost easy to forget that there was a world outside of shelves and books.
Mana stopped and giggled. It sounded more... awkward this time?
"So..." she began. "I think... I think we're alone now."
Shinji looked around. "Uh... yeah. I don't think there's anyone else at all on this level."
Mana giggled. "Exactly. And uh... yeah, this is a secluded place. Just what I wanted!"
Shinji began to become slightly nervous. "Wanted for what exactly?"
Slowly, Mana moved closer to him, until her upper body nearly pressed against his. "To show you my gratitude." Her face moved closer to his.
Shinji took an instinctive step back. "Ah... ah... Mana! You can't mean..."
Mana smiled. "And why not? You're a cute boy. A hero. And I want to show you how much I really appreciate you." She closed up to him again.
"Well... well, it's just..." Shinji began to sweat. Mana was a nice girl, sure, and he did appreciate her and what she was telling him, but... He had been wrong. She was showing him kindness. The same kindness Ayanami and Asuka had shown him. No, more even. And yet, he didn't feel the same for her as he felt for them.
Mana giggled. "Are you afraid, Shinji Ikari? Afraid of a little kiss?"
"That's not it at all!" Shinji protested. He looked straight at her. She was attractive alright. And he was a fourteen year old boy. The prospect of kissing an attractive girl really wasn't so bad.
"Then let's kiss!" Mana prompted him with a short giggle.
"Uh... well... I suppose... I suppose we could," Shinji finally agreed.
Both leaned their heads forwards. Shinji was nervous. Nervous and excited. This would be his first kiss. And yet, this felt all wrong. He wanted to kiss, sure. Wanted to kiss attractive girls, yes. But he hadn't really thought of Mana that way, even though she was attractive.
Their lips touched.
Shinji jolted backwards.
"I... I'm sorry," he stammered.
Mana looked disappointed. No, almost fearful now. Regretful and... despairing? There was an awkward silence.
Shinji, overwhelmed with the situation, simply turned and ran outside.
Shinji felt horrible. After that disaster in the library, he hadn't returned straight home but instead wandered the streets aimlessly, trying to clear his head. That's what he was always doing, after all: walking away. He should have confronted Mana about what she had done. Or maybe he should have returned straight to Asuka and Ayanami, apologized to them and told Asuka she was right. But he had done none of those things.
He wasn't even properly running away. He was a failure at that as well, as his stint at the train station had shown. How many times had it been now, that he was just aimlessly wandering the streets? He was disgusted by his weak nature, but he couldn't do anything about it. He simply walked on.
Finally, he came back to the apartment bloc where they all lived. He looked at his phone. Not yet half past six. Still time to make dinner. He should probably inform Asuka and Ayanami about that.
It was Asuka who opened the door. She looked angry.
"What do you want?" she asked curtly.
"Uh... just tell you that I'll make dinner n..."
"Don't bother!" Asuka interrupted him. "Rei and I have ordered something."
"Oh," Shinji simply answered.
"Now go run back to your little harlot," Asuka snarled at him. "It seems I can take care of Rei without you."
"She isn't..." Shinji began to protest and then realized that this sounded like him defending Mana. Which wasn't his intention; he just wanted to deny any link to her.
Asuka just laughed bitterly.
"It really isn't your place to tell me whom I can hang out with anyway!" Shinji shot at her. He was getting kinda desperate. He knew Asuka had a point. And yet, she was so overbearing...
"Sure. If you want to leave your friends alone when they need help, that's entirely your call," Asuka argued venomously. "Now leave us alone!"
She began to close the door, but Shinji still managed to ask, "How's Ayanami?"
Asuka stopped mid-movement. For a while, she remained silent. Then she answered, "Better." A pause. "No thanks to you."
"Is that it, Asuka?" Shinji almost shouted now. "You want to lay all the blame on me?"
Asuka opened the door fully again. "I will blame you for simply running off with a bad author's idea of a Japanese schoolgirl."
"I... I did return a bit late, but..." Shinji began to defend himself.
"That you went at all is the problem!" Asuka shouted at him.
"Why?" Shinji asked desperately. "Do you want to control my entire free time?"
"You don't get it, Shinji, do you?" Asuka asked with poison in her voice... and slammed the door.
Shinji balled his hands into fists. An expression of sheer anger distorted his face. But he didn't do anything. He could have demanded to see Ayanami. If Asuka wanted nothing to do with him anymore, fine. But she couldn't just separate him from Ayanami. But he didn't really feel... worthy to see her. Not after what had happened. He didn't think he would actually be able to help Ayanami right now. Probably, seeing her would just be another burden on her.
With slumped shoulders he returned to his own apartment. Misato was away; she would spend this and the next night in Tokyo-2. NERV had a secondary facility there, apparently, and some task or other made her stay there for the moment. So all that was left to do for Shinji was feeding Pen-Pen.
Rei wasn't good at picking up emotional cues at the best of times, and right now her thought processes were still slow and difficult. But even she, even now, could feel the tension inside the car. Ryoji Kaji, Asuka's former guardian and now UN Inspector to NERV, was driving the two girls and Ikari to the airport, so they could meet their class, which was returning from Okinawa. Normally, Captain Katsuragi would have done this, but she was occupied elsewhere. Due to Mr Kaji's personal relationship with the Captain, he had taken over the job.
Asuka and Rei sat in the back of the car, Ikari in the front. And it was clear that Asuka and Ikari did their best to never so much as look at each other. They certainly didn't talk. Rei felt a painful pang in her heart at that. She wanted them to talk to each other, laugh with each other, hug each other. Preferably with her inside that hug.
She had not expected what had happened two days ago, after she had returned home. Asuka caring for her. Asuka holding her. Asuka and Ikari holding her. Not everything had really registered with her, not in the state she had been in, but it has been so primal, so basic, so overwhelming that she hadn't needed to register details. She had been able to feel the care both had for her just fine.
Ikari had stood by her ever since he had arrived. He had entered the Evangelion, something he had never seen before, to face an angel, a deadly enemy he had never heard of before, all for her sake. He had entered deadly hot lava, without protection and without orders, just to save her. He was the first to tell her she wasn't replaceable, the first who, for some reason, liked her for her. He had listened to her afterwards, talked to her, seemed to have enjoyed her company.
Asuka had come into her life like a fiery whirlwind, completely overthrowing all certainties she had. She had told her to smile, she had broken her out of her old life, her old apartment, she had embraced her in a protective hug when she had returned from NERV. Ikari was her stable support; Asuka was passion and hope for change. And she wanted both of that; needed both of that.
Needed both Ikari and Asuka?
But she couldn't have both of them if they were so much in disagreement as they were now. It hurt her to perceive that dissonance between the two. Ideally she wanted to talk to them, hear them laugh... be hugged by them... kiss them? Both of them? That was a strange thought she had never had before. Even after she had realized what she was feeling for Ikari, that thought had never appeared. But now...
Though she would be content if she could only spend time with the two until everything would be over...
Mr Kaji's car came to a halt at a parking spot in front of the airport. Rei noticed that nobody had commented on his driving style, which was very similar to Captain Katsuragi's. Asuka and Ikari both simply remained silent, and so Mr Kaji didn't say anything, either. The four moved through the airport in silence.
Finally, they joined a larger group of parents, siblings and other family members of their classmates. There were surprisingly few women among that crowd.
Finally, the class entered the area. Most kids started running when they saw the assembled crowd. There were hugs (though mostly of girls – most boys shied away from that), loud greetings, cheerful laughter. And finally, some of the class members also noticed Rei, Asuka and Ikari. At nearly the same time, Horaki and Aida turned towards them.
"Asuka!" Horaki exclaimed. "I'm so sorry you couldn't come along. I brought you some souvenirs! And I can show you so many photos."
Asuka grinned lopsidedly. "Yeah, we can take a look at them later."
"Hey there, Shinji, Ayanami, Soryu," Aida greeted them.
Ikari looked around. "Say... do you two know where Touji is?"
Horaki and Aida looked at each other uncomfortably.
"His father already asked as well," Horaki reported and nodded to a man in the crowd: A very bullish person, wearing a jacket with a very high collar and leather gloves. "I was surprised nobody had told him. That... NERV hadn't told them. They haven't told you, either?"
"NERV?" Mr Kaji intervened into the conversation.
"Yeah," Aida answered. "Bunch of guys in NERV uniforms and with NERV IDs showed up and talked with Touji. That was... Wednesday, I think. Then, Thursday morning, Touji just leaves with them. Didn't seem like he was arrested or anything, though. But I have no idea what they talked about!"
"Hm," Mr Kaji voiced. "And nobody told his father. That might become a problem."
Asuka turned to him. "Why? Do you have any idea what happened to him?"
Touji escorted from Okinawa... new Evangelions built in America... the accident in Nevada... all classmates are...
Rei would maybe have gotten a good notion what this was about if thinking weren't still so difficult right now.
"I just think NERV is becoming too arrogant for its own good," Mr Kaji stated. "As for what happened to your classmate, well, there could be..."
He stopped when a high-pitched, utterly loud wailing sound resonated through the airport hall.
The angel alarm.