Kensuke's Log: January 1, 2015
Well, another year has started, and it opens with an incident of Angel Syndrome in Cairo-2. It was in one of the slums, from what I've been able to glean. Reported casualties were in the hundreds before the Egyptian government put a moratorium on all news coverage. Don't even want to imagine how many Ghosts will spawn from an attack like that.
I sometimes wonder just how bad it's going to get. Tokyo-3's a pretty well-run ship, given NERV's presence here. The Anti-Terror Task Force agents that are stationed here also seem to be a cut above the norm. Makes me wonder if NERV has a secret weapon that they're working on, that justifies all the government money being poured into it. Not that I would know anything about that. I mean
*a significant chunk of text on the journal page features eraser marks and heavy pencil scratches, rendering it illegible*
I guess rambling won't do me any good! I'm just gonna keep working on my project. Once it's done, I'll be able to make a difference. I'll be able to be a hero!
I bet mom would be proud of me.
I know she would.
*certain doodles are erased and crossed out*
xxxx
/Room 1, 2nd Floor, Izanami Dorms, Hakone Academy/
Rei Ayanami stood within her dorm room alone; this was not unusual, for she had no roommates.
She had never had any, during the entirety of her academic career. But that was fine with her; roommates were unnecessary, relative to the weight of her duty.
However, there were times where...no. Wishing would accomplish nothing, and she had learned her lessons about what active interference would do; she had her role to play, and nothing more. How everything would pan out was left to the whims of fate.
As she prepared to enter the cognitive world, her NERV issue cell phone buzzed. She quietly read the message, resisting the urge to curse.
PATTERN BLUE DETECTED
PRELIMINARY LOCATION: HAKONE-KINTOKI STATION
Back there again? To strike again so soon was unusual...unless it was related to the prior attack. That was a likely possibility...after all, no one had the senses of an Evangelion-user. Perhaps I will see what was left of the creature that Ikari fought. But the timing was highly inconvenient; somehow and some way, Shinji Ikari was somewhere within the Metaverse. Given his relative inexperience, being in there alone was intolerable...and if he was not alone, then clearly he was with someone unscrupulous or lacking in sense. Who to aid first? Ikari may be able to provide me backup...but that would be time wasted, when I could be tracking the source of the Pattern Blue. The A.T. agents could adequately deal with any Acolytes, and she would still be around to deal with any Ghosts...but the cause of it all might not wait around for long. This is an opportunity I can't waste...
"You look like you're in a bit of a pickle."
Rei's eyes narrowed; she turned on her heels, glaring at the creature sitting on her bed. "...why are you here, Pen-Pen?"
The penguin in question stared at her with inquisitive green eyes, the claws on his right flipper actually tapping against the sheets of her bed as though they were fingers. "Just thought I'd be a good sport, that's all. I know what you WANT to do, and I know what you HAVE to do...I could easily help you accomplish both...for a price." The penguin leaned forward, penning her down with his mysterious stare. "How about a deal? I help you out, and you'll owe me a favor in the future...sounds fair, right?"
Rei frowned, as she weighed her options...but time was of the essence. "Very well."
"See, it's so much easier when we can be friendly, don't you agree?" The penguin loosed an audible "wark" to signify his pleasure.
xxxx
/Kensuke's Apartment, the Metaverse/
"Okay, so let's recap!" Kensuke Aida pointed dramatically at Shinji Ikari. "You've got yourself a Persona. Which means you're in a prime position to help me find my own Shadow!"
Shinji, busy inspecting his gloves, suddenly blinked. "...wait, I am?"
"But of course! It's why I selected you to assist me in this momentous endeavor!"
"Momentous?"
"See, finding one's Shadow is kind of a big deal. If I'm gonna get a Persona of my own, I have to find my Shadow Self, experience a journey of self-discovery, accept it, and BAM! You've got a recipe for amateur heroism!"
Shinji blinked. "...how?"
Aida wrapped an arm around his shoulders, redirecting him towards the missing wall of his cognitive apartment. "See that big giant sphere over there?" he asked, pointing towards the floating colossus bearing the Anti-Terror Task Force's logo. "That right there is the Tokyo-3 Cognitive Protection Center. What do ya think is in there?"
"...um, I'm not sure."
"Really?"
"...really."
"Huh. Guess they haven't explained it to you. Mandatory municipal civics lesson for us when we were first-years. Bet they'll get to it eventually." Aida readjusted his glasses, adopting an explanatory tone. "So! Suffice to say, most of the city's populace have their Shadows cooped up in there, for protection basically. Lessens the likelihood of nefarious ne'er-do-wells doing something to their cognitive selves. Tokyo-3 was sort of the proof of concept, and it's been duplicated in some manner in a lot of other places..."
"...is your Shadow up there?" Shinji suddenly felt less sure about this 'momentous endeavor'.
His bespectacled roommate actually laughed. "Of course not! Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered coming here."
"...how do you know it's not there?"
Kensuke Aida grinned; it was the smile of a kid who couldn't wait to let you in on a secret. "Because the A.T. Task Force always informs you if your Shadow has been taken under their protection. By mail, as a matter of courtesy, and to serve as an official notice. Makes things simpler from a legal standpoint...however much of a legal standpoint there is in the cognitive world. It's all kinda touch-and-go as we go along...like real life, I guess."
"And you know this, because...?"
"Because my dad was served a notice when his own Shadow became a tenant of the Cognitive Protection Center...and I've never gotten one." Aida's grin stretched even more, even as he fidgeted in place from sheer energetic glee and nervous tension. "Which logically means that my Shadow hasn't been found yet."
"...and...how are we going to find it?"
"By good old-fashioned exploration, naturally!"
"...ah." I'm not sure what I was expecting.
"Well, let's get going! Time's a-wasting!"
xxxx
/Hakone-Kintoki Station, Tokyo-3/
Rei Ayanami stared quietly at the police officers that had set up a cordon around the train station, over two blocks away in every direction. A few hazmat-clad bodies laid cold and still, reduced to macabre ornaments; another one was still standing, twitching wildly and madly. This one was bound within a triad of chains, courtesy of three plainclothes A.T. agents. The only reason they were able to even keep him bound at all was due to the efforts of their fellows in the cognitive world.
She closed her eyes...
xxxx
A brief sensation, a brief vision, of the other side. Eight A.T. agents - bearing their uniform cognitive wardrobes, but each with their own distinctive features - had surrounded a hulking monster. Misato Katsuragi was one of them.
The monster was a Shadow, empowered by something otherworldly, bearing an avian mask over his face. Each movement caused the cognitive world to ripple around him; however, the efforts of the A.T. agents and their Personas were mitigating the collateral damage, even as they slowly whittled away at the corrupted Shadow.
But her senses turned towards the event horizon that had surrounded Hakone-Kintoki Station.
There was a gap. Small, and trifling...but a gap, nonetheless.
xxxx
...and came to a decision. They can handle the Acolyte without me. There is a more pressing target. She calmly stepped around the three A.T. agents that had bound the Acolyte in reality; they ignored her, for she was a known quantity in this city. Stepping towards the train station with determination, she aligned her own A.T. Field with the cognitive patterns of her mind, slowly yet surely synchronizing them...then, in the blink of an eye, she was in a world of grayscale.
Not quite the physical. Not quite the metaphysical. Not quite the cognitive. It overlapped all of them, to some degree; she had it on good authority that those witnessed her claimed that her very presence became as static, fading in and out instead of disappearing entirely as those who entered the Metaverse would.
Thus - her whole form blossoming with blue fire, clothing giving way to a white bodysuit that fit her like a glove - was Ayanami able to step through the cognitive event horizon that had surrounded the train station, delving into the gap betwixt thought and nonthought.
The alien geometries that awaited her on the other hand were unusual and jarring, but not unexpected: the innards of the void had the consistency of turbulent water, obedient to currents that held no sense of consistency or continuity. A trace glow of orange and red dominated, highlighting the creature that sat at the heart of this place. "...you have been gravely wounded, Angel."
The creature in question blinked curiously at her; the terror that Shinji Ikari had faced not three days ago had been gouged out along the torso, reflecting a near-fatal strike against the soul. The fringes of the scar were flickering wildly, as spiritual and mental flesh tried to mend itself back together.
"Ikari's ascendance must have been unexpected; such damage would render you unable to flee...so deep, that you had no choice but to attack again, to try and restore your corpus."
The avian mask seemed to leer at her, as the voice of one drowning finally spoke. "Thou knowest much, childe of Lilith."
Ayanami held her right hand out, flexing her fingers. "I shall finish what Ikari started."
"Thou shall not triumph. Thy fate hast been decreed."
"...perhaps," she acknowledged. "And yet I shall persist nonetheless." Then, without hesitation, she plunged her hand into her own womb. The pain was familiar, and expected, and thus she did not flinch.
With a vigor driven by the need to survive, the Angel got to its feet, fragments of its very being leaking out into the unreal water around them.
"Unleash thy despair..." murmured Ayanami as she withdrew her hand from her abdomen, holding a blazing orb of blue. "...Zerogoki."
From that orb erupted an orange cyclops, a titan born of sorrow and willpower; the void quivered, as her Evangelion clashed with the wounded Angel.
xxxx
Within the Metaverse, the Acolyte's Shadow suddenly began to quiver, hissing and vibrating with sudden seizures.
"The hell?" murmured Misato Katsuragi, letting Tokoyo stand protectively in front of her, both swords crossed to block a potential attack. "Be careful everyone, this is new!"
"Look!" yelled another A.T. agent, his Persona - a walking skeleton that was also on fire - preparing to unleash an Agilao. "The face!"
The face in question - that helm of bone, fashioned in the crude manner of a featureless noh mask, with a long and thin beak - was sizzling, burning with blue fire. The Acolyte's Shadow howled not out of pain, but existential agony; the mask then began sinking into the head of the Shadow.
CRACK!
Shattering glass, or the breaking of bone; the sounds overlapped, as the Acolyte's Shadow dissolved into strands of black and red and orange.
xxxx
Within the real world, the Acolyte gurgled, and suddenly went limp, dead.
An A.T. agent sighed with relief. "Looks like they beat it," he said, unaware of the bizarre ending of their comrades' cognitive battle.
xxxx
Misato blinked. "That...that's new."
"Uh, Katsuragi?" asked another woman, her Persona - a winged, two-faced fairy - dropping glitter with every flap of her wings. "The dead zone's dissolving."
What?! She turned with unabashed shock towards the cognitive double of Hakone-Kintoki Station, as did the rest of her colleagues; true enough, the cognitive void that had encompassed the train station for the past few days was wavering and fading away. The remnants of the station were ruined, almost swept away - as though the majority of the station had been atomized, an idea forcefully wiped down to its base axioms - and yet it was accessible. Traversable.
At its center were two flickering figures, standing on the threshold of different worlds: visible as through a glass darkly, not truly present in their fullness. However, one could still tell that it was Rei Ayanami and her Evangelion...and then they both vanished.
...guess I'll need to get an explanation during the debrief, mused Misato, briefly resisting the urge to check her phone; she had never gotten a response from Shinji about the alert. He was supposed to be here on standby. Strictly to observe, but not participate; the kid was still too green. Where the hell is he?
xxxx
Within the real world, at Hakone-Kintoki Station, Rei Ayanami's body once more manifested in its fullness, as mind and spirit withdrew. The sensation of destroying the Angel was...stark. She would have to provide a detailed report.
And yet, she could not help but think back to her 'deal'. I hope that Pen-Pen will keep up his end of our bargain.
xxxx
Elsewhere, within the Metaverse, an Incubus yelped with agony. "OW!" yelped the demonic-looking Archetype, rubbing his head angrily. "Who hits someone with a shovel?!"
"I asked for you to please leave us alone," reminded Shinji, trying his damnedest to not look at the Incubus's...most distinctive feature. "I will bring out Hamlet."
"...you're just jealous of my magnificently majestic member," groused the well-endowed thoughtbeast, flying away.
Shinji sighed, rubbing his head wearily. People's thoughts can be so...weird. I wonder if I have any Archetypes running around? "At least the Archetypes are beginning to leave us alone..." He hadn't even had to call out his Persona for the last few encounters!
"...starting to get a bad feeling."
Shinji turned towards Kensuke Aida, who was looking rather sullen. "How come?"
"Because we've scoured my entire apartment building from top to bottom, and we haven't found any hint of my Shadow!"
"...do you know it's going to be here?"
"Given how much time my thoughts have spent marinating this particular place, I would've thought..." The bespectacled boy frowned, kneading the bridge of his nose. "...maybe I'm operating on a faulty assumption again. It wouldn't be at the dorm, would it...?"
Shinji frowned, looking around with a measure of tentative unease; they were now standing outside of the apartment building, standing in a courtyard between a cluster of the high-rise structures. Myriad toy blocks and supersized Sentai figures dominated the tiny park in the courtyard, a possible reflection of the childish thoughts that often congregated there. "...are we going to walk back to the Academy? For that matter, how are we going to get out of the Metaverse?" Now that the overall strangeness of the day had become slightly more mundane, he was able to think of more practical matters. Like getting out of here.
"Well, we could always find the nearest A.T. agent. But if you're referring to an option that wouldn't land us in a whole heap of trouble...I'm up for suggestions."
"...I was hoping you would have some."
"Hey, I'm not the one with a Persona!"
"You know more about the Metaverse than I do."
Kensuke Aida balked. "W-W-Well...!" He at least had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed. "I know I was operating on incorrect information...but you can't blame me, right?"
Shinji kind of wanted to. "You're the one who literally dragged me here," he murmured under his breath.
"Sounds like you kiddos are looking for a way out?"
The new voice prompted Shinji and Kensuke to look around; it sounded less hollow than the voices of the Shadows, less shallow...and yet it sounded rather close. "Hello?" he called out, gingerly feeling for the connection he had with his Persona, and man was it weird to think about how quickly he had gotten used to that. "Who...who said that?"
"A concerned stranger...but someone who could definitely be a friend."
Aida frowned. "Sounds incredibly suspicious."
"You're the tykes who decided to stomp around the Metaverse without a care in the world. Accessing this place without MAGI authorization? Tsk tsk...how naughty."
Where is it coming from? Shinji slowly looked side to side and down and up and...wait. On the very tip of a heroic statue's spear: a tiny figure, about the size of a child. Some of the features were avian...why was he feeling a sense of deja vu? "...who are you?" he called out.
The tiny creature chirped, "Naughty children normally get punished, but I'm here to be a teacher. A guide, if you will..." He leapt down from the statue...
FWOOSH!
...and erupted in blue fire before he landed, swelling up many times his original size. What stood in his place as the fire faded...
"What..." muttered Shinji, eyes wide.
"...the crap?!" yelped Kensuke.
...well, it certainly wasn't tiny. A hefty man-bird thing, clad in a purple tuxedo and white dress shirt, stood tall at seven feet; and man-bird - or was it bird-man? - was an accurate descriptor, for a penguin's beak covered most of his face, from the nose to the chin. The green eyes, however, were most certainly human, and seemed to blaze with passion and masculine fortitude. And...he had a red mohawk? A mohawk! And uh oh Shinji couldn't think anymore because the stranger began to talk. "...and it falls to someone like me to teach you little chickadees how to fly!" he boasted (gods, where had the baritone voice come from?!), gesticulating and posing bombastically with each word. "Mere boys, that's what you are! But if you follow my wise counsel..." He slammed his fists together, flexing so hard that it seemed like his chest was going to burst out of his uniform. "...then I shall teach you how to be MEN."
The bird-man's mohawk then twinkled, with visual and audible stars.
"...um...Aida-san?"
"Yeah?"
"I think we've been in the Metaverse for too long."
"...me too."
The tuxedo-clad bird-man huffed, facing them head on and now Shinji could see that the sides of his beak actually had a curly crimson mustache growing out of its sides and the bird-man was talking again. "You look like quite the pair of rapscallions. What brings you into the Metaverse by yourselves?"
Shinji impulsively answered, "Aida-san brought me here to find his Shadow."
"IKARI!" yelped Kensuke, sounding betrayed.
"What? We were."
"We have no idea who this guy is! If he's an Archetype, he's not one I've ever read about before...and if he's a Persona, then there's someone watching us that hasn't made themselves known-"
"Hah! The mind that would have me as a Persona would be impossibly magnificent."
Kensuke's eyebrow twitched, continuing, "-and if he's an actual person, then their self-image is...weird."
"A rude fellow, aren't you? Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"
The bespectacled boy actually recoiled at the comment. "You...you-!"
"Um," interrupted Shinji, raising his hand to try and curtail the sudden hostility that Aida was showing, "who...who are you...?"
The bird-man chortled, and why were their sparkles emanating from his head?! "My boy, you can call me Mister P. And right now, I'm here to simply satisfy a gentleman's agreement with a young maiden. But trust me; if you're going to keep making these sorts of jaunts into the cognitive realms without permission...you're going to need adult supervision." His eyes were actually twinkling. "And you'll find no better adult than me."
Shinji and Kensuke blinked, bewildered by...Mister P's...behavior.
Mister P laughed. "You'll understand, in due time. Now then..." He vanished in a flicker.
TAP!
Sudden pressure to the neck, and hey everything was going dark...
xxxx
...and then Shinji Ikari was awakening, nostrils assaulted by the smell of vehicle exhaust and human traffic. What the...? He slowly sat up, looking around with confusion; Kensuke was sitting beside him on a bench - still asleep? Unconscious? Knocked out? - in a rather familiar bus station. This is the closest terminal to Hakone Academy. He had just left from here to Aida's apartment earlier this afternoon...hadn't he?
Did I dream all of that? A sudden vibration occurred, in his pants pocket. Slowly pulling out his NERV-issue phone, Shinji noticed that he had a bunch of new messages, mostly from Misato-san. First, an automated one from NERV:
NERV: PATTERN BLUE DETECTED. PRELIMINARY LOCATION: HAKONE-KINTOKI STATION.
...what? Then he turned to a bunch of messages from Katsuragi:
MK: Hey Shinji-kun, follow Ayanami-kun to Hakone-Kintoki Station!
MK: We've got an Angel Syndrome incident in progress!
MK: Time to get your feet wet. :D
MK: Let me know ASAP when you're on your way!
Then, another one cam about five minutes later.
MK: respond
Then, three minutes later.
MK: RESPOND
...um...
Five minutes later.
MK: I swear, if you've gotten yourself kidnapped, you're in so much trouble! (-A-)
Shinji blinked, because, he technically had been kidnapped...hadn't he?
MK: about to face the Acolyte, we're gonna have a serious talk later 3:|
Shinji paled, briefly feeling a spike of frustration with Kensuke's impromptu 'Metaverse abduction'. Was I still receiving messages in the Metaverse? Did I not feel them at all? A question for later...though, it was very possible he had been too distracted to think at the time...if he had even been to the Metaverse at all.
Then, over an hour later:
MK: talked with Ayanami after the battle, said she didn't see you
MK: if you don't respond soon, i'ma issue a bulletin saying that you were kidnapped
MK: if you weren't kidnapped, respond NOW
Gulping, Shinji impulsively typed out a response.
SI: sorry I'm okay
Moments later, his phone started ringing. She's calling me. With fear and trembling, he slowly pressed the 'answer' button. "Um...hello?"
"Explain." Misato Katsuragi's tone was no-nonsense.
Shinji resisted the urge to flee in terror as he looked around, still not quite sure how much of the past afternoon had actually happened. "I...fell asleep at a bus terminal with Kensuke Aida...?"
Silence. Then, a stern, "that was a bad lie and you should feel bad." He audibly winced, eliciting another response. "Ayanami-kun told me that you were in the Metaverse. How?"
"...um...I don't know, to be honest." So he had been in the cognitive world; that hadn't just been a bad fever dream. "I think I went through a television set...?"
"...we'll debrief tomorrow. And we'll make sure to emphasize the importance of proper communication."
"I'm sorry." He really was!
There was a tired sigh from the other end. "...I was worried, you know?"
"...I'm sorry."
"We'll talk about it tomorrow. Get some sleep; your Wednesday's gonna be a long one." And then she hung up.
Shinji looked at his phone, feeling somewhat dejected and conflicted. Not having anything better to do, he kept reading his messages...and saw only a few from Ayanami, sent during the long time gap after Misato's Acolyte message.
RA: I have sent someone to retrieve you.
RA: I advise caution.
RA: We will talk soon.
And that was that. Someone to retrieve me...? The phone buzzed again, indicating a new text. He then turned to the last of his new messages, sent from an unknown number, with no contact information at all. Who...?
?: Hey there, kid.
?: Next time you see the red-eyed blunette, tell her I kept up my end of the deal, and that I'm looking forward to my favor.
?: In the meantime, I have so much to teach you, it's not even funny.
?: Au revoir~
Shinji stared at the messages, trying to tie several things together. Could it be...? It was possible; he typed out a response.
SI: is this mr. p?
Moments letter, his phone returned an automated message.
ERROR: INVALID NUMBER.
Shinji stared dumbly at his phone, trying to process the message; long enough, apparently, for Aida to wake up. "Man...talk about a weird dream..." The boy blinked, slowly taking in their surroundings. "...Ikari-san."
"Yes?"
"...did all of that happen...?"
"...I think so, yes."
"...huh." Aida readjusted his glasses, pulling out his phone and looking at the time. "...I think we should get back to the dorm."
"...yeah..." Sleep sounded very good right now.
xxxx
All throughout that day, eyes had watched Tokyo-3 from afar.
Mental meanderings and physical perils and spiritual strife had been witnessed.
Slowly, the eyes began to withdraw...
xxxx
/Room 23, 2nd Floor, Izanagi Dorms, Hakone Academy/
Kaworu Nagisa opened his eyes. He had apparently fallen asleep at his desk again, in the midst of homework.
How interesting, he pondered, impulsively reaching for the stress ball with his right hand. Squeeze. Squeeze. Squeeze. How very interesting. Toji Suzuhara's snores were loud and grinding; the boy had worked himself to the bone with the track team, as per the usual pattern of late. Kensuke Aida and Shinji Ikari had yet to return.
Squeeze.
That name.
Squeeze.
Shinji Ikari, thought Kaworu, gazing out the room's window; it offered a tranquil view of the waning moon, about four-tenths of the way full. Less than a week until the new moon. I wonder...are you the one? He contented himself with a small smile, releasing the stress ball. I suppose we'll have to wait and see, won't we?
And so he continued his studies.
xxxx
/KiKi Ichibanya, Outskirts of Hakone Academy/
The siren call of returning to the dorms for precious slumber had been checked by something more immediate: hunger. Apparently, traversing the Metaverse could work up a surprising appetite.
Besides, Aida had insisted.
"You didn't have to," murmured Shinji, watching the waiter bring their food over.
"I said I'd pay for dinner, and I'm a man of my word."
The silver-haired waiter placed their bowls down: curry rice with pork tonkatsu for Shinji, and omelette rice topped with red curry for Kensuke. "Please enjoy," he graciously said, quickly withdrawing to help another customer.
Shinji briefly pondered the young man's features - were his eyes really the same color as his hair, and why did someone have gray hair so young? Important questions like that - before Kensuke's exclamation of "itadakmiasu!" stirred him from his musings. Saying the same, the two boys quickly tore into their respective meals without looking like they were starving.
After a few minutes of eating, Aida outright said, "Um...so, I kinda got ahead of myself, today." Shinji shot him a brief look, not trusting himself to be cordial at the moment. It helped that he was currently chewing; apparently, the bespectacled boy got the message. "You ever focus on something for so long that you lose all sense of everything around you?"
"...maybe."
"Well, when it comes to the Metaverse...that's been me. And I made so many assumptions about you that, well...it wasn't cool. And there are enough people that have made assumptions about Toji and Nagisa-kun that I should know better."
Shinji arched an eyebrow; Kaworu Nagisa he could understand, but Toji? "Assumptions about Suzuhara-san?"
"Not my story to tell, but don't let the jock appearance fool you. He's actually not a meathead. And Nagisa-kun...well, the jury's still out on him. Cause he is kinda weird. But he's been nothing but pleasant to us. And sometimes, people like to talk, and guess, and spread rumors. School life, you know?" A brief nod was the only answer he gave, which was enough for Aida to continue. "Should've known better, but I made the same mistake...and it could have cost us big. So..." With a forced calm, Kensuke Aida slightly pushed his bowl aside, and removed his glasses...
SMACK!
...and bowed as best as he could, bringing his face hard down onto the table. "Please forgive my transgressions!"
Shinji stared, rather flummoxed by the forceful apology. Their waiter walked by - hands full with a tray full of curry rice orders - and commented, "please don't harm table-kun. He's done nothing wrong," before moving on to fulfill his orders. And still the awkward silence continued.
Kensuke Aida did not rise.
It had been a full twenty seconds. Finally, Shinji forced himself to break the nervous tension, if only for the sake of his own anxiety. "...um...all is forgiven. Just...please don't kidnap me again?" That would do, right?
Aida rose, his forehead bearing a rather large red spot. "Done and done!" He put his glasses back on, a more familiar smile returning. "I will endeavor to warn you in advance before any future abductions!"
Shinji stared. That's...not what he had been hoping for.
"...that was a joke," quickly amended Aida, catching on to the fact that he had been taken seriously.
"Oh. Well...you did kind of pull me into your television."
"...a fair point!" Kensuke loosed an abashed smile, rubbing the back of his head in a manner that Shinji would have called nostalgic. "Heh...it's been a crazy day, hasn't it?"
"...yeah..."
xxxx
And all the while, on a subconscious level, in words he had no way of knowing...a familiar voice spoke, within the depths of his being:
I am thou, thou art I...
Thou hast acquired a new bond.
It shall lead thou to the truth
that parts the seas of depravity.
Take hold of the Magician Arcana,
and let it guide you
to a new Promised Land...
xxxx
"...it definitely has been," he conceded, taking another bite of his passable curry. "Hopefully tomorrow will be less crazy?"
"Life has no guarantees!"
"..."
"What?"
"Oh. Nothing..." Maybe Misato-san will be gentle?
xxxx
END OF 6/9/2015
xxxx
/gonna head back to Acts of an Old Exodus for a spell
/see you soon, and please review!