Sokila was not alone, this time.
"So...you desire to see your Guest in the real world?"
A young woman with thick silver hair in a straight bob cut style was speaking to her.
"Well, at this particular moment in time, your key is in an unusual form...a cassette...tape? Duct tape? Ducklings? Something like that..."
Out of her tiny blue hat, she withdrew a metal key, also bearing a velvety blue color.
"...but I'm not using mine right now, so feel free to borrow it~"
Sokila held it solemnly.
"...will it work...?"
The woman giggled.
"If your Guest has the power...then I don't see why not...unless he doesn't like you."
Sokila gasped with outrage and a little bit of uncertain disbelief.
"Nuh-uh! He loves me! I'm sure of it!"
The woman smiled, before turning around. Was she looking at him?
"Then he'd best not keep you waiting."
The faint haze of blue began to brighten-
xxxx
/Friday: July 3, 2015/
/Courtyards, Hakone Academy/
Shinji Ikari yawned, feeling a little out of sorts from the lingering feeling of DOOM that had been hanging over him since awakening that morning. I wonder what that's all about...
As he slowly walked along, he couldn't help but notice a general distance between himself and the other students in his grade; given that this was his first appearance during school hours since the end of Monday's classes, he could only imagine what the rumors were. I wonder...should I be worrying about it? He couldn't control rumors. He...he just, couldn't. If I can't control it...if it's something I can't change...then do I really need to care about it?
Peer pressure screamed yes, you fool! The 'Shinji' that exists in their minds must look like a freak! A social reject! No one will like you!
A memory of him standing over a defeated Mana Kirishima seemed all too real compared to such frantic hypotheticals.
But he really, really wanted to pay attention to the peer pressure...
His Other arched an eyebrow.
"Compared to the hatred you've sworn to endure...what does it matter?"
The Beast laughed and jeered.
...but he would try to ignore it. Or, at the very least, see if there was a way he could make an improvement because of it.
"Ikari-san?"
Shinji blinked at the familiar voice; he glanced to his left, seeing Mayumi Yamagishi walking up towards him. "Yamagishi-san...good morning."
"Ah. Yes." The girl readjusted her glasses before adding, "um...have you been okay?"
"...I'm managing," he honestly said.
"Oh. Well, you don't have to divulge if you don't want to...I'm sure you're not supposed to disclose stuff to civilians anyway..."
Maybe this was where he would put his resolve to the test? "Maybe...maybe I'll tell you after school, at the Literature Club?"
Judging by her befuddled look, she hadn't expected such an answer. "...are you allowed to?"
"To an extent." Maybe I should double-check with Aida-san about what I'm allowed to tell people what I do...
"Oh. Um...sure. I mean, yes. I...I look forward to it," she finished with an uncertain smile.
And so they continued onward to face the day.
xxxx
As it turned out, there were limits on what Shinji Ikari could tell civilians.
(During lunch, his question had prompted Kensuke Aida to pale. "Wait. Why do you want to talk to them?" Smelling blood in the water, he cheekily asked, "got your sights on giiiiiiiirl~?" A light thwap on the back of Kensuke's head from the Class Representative stopped his teasing in its tracks.)
As it also turned out, answering 'yes' had been a mistake.
("Hah! I knew it! Trying to make bank off of your rep, eh?" Ignoring Toji's pointed comment of 'What rep?', Kensuke promptly proceeded to lay out all the ways he could get close to the line without going over it and potentially getting on the hook for fines and/or prison time. Trying to tell the boy that it wasn't about romance or anything like that failed to dissuade him.)
In like manner, letting slip the fact that he had in fact exchanged contact information with said girl had also been a mistake.
("...not even a month since you got here. You move fast," said Toji, begrudgingly impressed. This time, he got thwacked by the Class Rep...even though the latter quietly looked at him with an odd, almost suspicious look in her eyes.)
Protests about his innocence had been ignored. Why is it so hard to believe I can just be friends with a girl?
His Other chuckled.
"There's a part of you that knows."
The Beast hushed him.
"I look forward to when you become aware."
Still, he found himself entering the Literature Club that afternoon with a sense of purpose.
It was slightly put off course by the sight of the club members actually writing papers. "...did...did I miss something...?"
"Oh." Mayumi Yamagishi looked up from the desk she was occupying, long hair forming messy curtains on the lacquered wood. "Um...it's pretty much the only thing that Aoba-sensei requires from the Literature Club: a paper right before finals that summarizes what we've read, what we've learned...stuff like that."
...ah. "Do...do I have to-?"
"Oh! Um...no. Given your recent arrival, I think I can get Aoba-sensei to waive your paper...plus, well, there's all the stuff you do...out of school."
And there was what he wanted to talk about. (But not before he stopped his mental freakout, because thank the gods he didn't want to think about more school work on top of everything else!) "About that...do you mind if we talk about something?"
"...about what?" slowly replied the club president.
"It's about...my extracurricular stuff."
"...oh. That. Um...you honestly don't have to."
"What if I want to?" he asked. If Yamagishi-san truly didn't want to know any more, then he would back off.
The girl's cheeks lightly flushed. "...are you sure?"
He nodded wordlessly. I have to know. Would he be able to tell other people about who he was? Would he be able to handle rejection, if that's what it came to?
xxxx
Another time.
A place that wasn't anywhere, yet it was also everywhere.
"You betrayed me! You-!"
xxxx
Yamagishi quietly nodded, standing up and announcing to the other club members to continue with their papers; she motioned for him to follow her, which he did.
They eventually ended up on the rooftop, glowing a pleasant orange under the light of a setting sun.
"...I...I really don't want to impose," said Mayumi. "I just...I guess I worry? I hear all sorts of rumors, and some of them are kind of...outlandish."
"Like what?"
"I'd...rather not say. It's the truth that matters...right?" The bespectacled girl turned around, leaning against the safety fence. "Rumors are always changing...rumors are a fact of life, in schools...so I try not to let what they say bother me. But that's beside the point...isn't it?" Yamagishi looked quizzically at him. "...why do you really want to tell me?"
"...why?"
"Yes," she said, sounding strangely serious for someone who had been so timidly polite. "Is it about...trying to impress me? Or something along those lines?"
Shinji blinked from the odd swerve. "...no. Not at all."
"Are...are you sure? Giving a girl your number...it gives people ideas," she muttered. "And now you want to tell me about your secret job? It comes off as a very uninspired trope..."
Shinji blushed with embarrassment. "I...I wasn't thinking about that at the time. I'm sorry!"
Mayumi didn't look like she believed him. Not quite, at any rate. "...it just seems odd, is all. You don't act like the few high-schoolers who are known to be members of the A.T. Task Force...they like to brag without saying anything that can get them in trouble. They think it makes them look cool...as though anything about fighting in another world is something to make light of..." She sighed, fiddling with the tips of her hair. "Sorry. I'm not making any sense, am I?"
Shinji shook his head. "I'm...kind of confused, actually."
The girl muttered something to herself that he couldn't quite make out. "...I don't know. I guess...I wanted to hear about it from someone who...wouldn't embellish anything. Who wouldn't talk about it without trying to puff themselves up. Because it's so strange, you know? You can read all sorts of books about it...you can imagine it...but hearing someone talk honestly about it...it just feels different. And to have someone like that within the Literature Club? It felt a little like fate...or destiny." She loosed a nervous life. "Well, I'd like to think that, but that's...a little cheesy..."
...well, I certainly don't want to embellish. That would defeat the whole point of why he was doing this. "I...can't go into any specific details. But I can talk broadly as best as I can."
"...why do you want to tell me? It can't be just because I asked," she softly insisted.
Shinji felt his right hand subconsciously clench. "Because...because I want to be a better person." He looked down at his hand, and imagined a shovel within its grip. "And there's a part of me within that world...that I don't like about myself..."
Whatever she had expected, it apparently wasn't that.
And so he began to speak in broad strokes about what he did within the Metaverse, working alongside A.T. Agents or by himself: fighting and negotiating with Archetypes, being diplomatic with Shadows, seeing strange landscapes and odd mental manifestations. The way he presented it was almost like a story, bereft of concrete reality...but with just enough presence to signify the underlying truth of it all. He spoke about the fact that not everything went well, about how there were times he failed.
"...when you speak of losses, you do so in a way that makes you seem credible..." murmured Mayumi, a hand around her chin. "...I'm not sure though...nothing seems too odd...or dangerous...or scary..."
Shinji sighed. "I'm...getting there."
"...if it were made into a book, what would the message be?" The girl sat down, crossing her arms over her knees. Even though Shinji - standing, leaning against the safety fence - now loomed over her, she kept her gaze fixed upon the lengthening shadows, cast by a sun falling ever closer towards the horizon. "What would it have to say? What would people come to understand about it? Would its meaning be important?" Adjusting her glasses, the girl looked up at him with a sober expression. "You're...not at all what I expected, Ikari-san."
"...is that a bad thing?"
"...I'm honestly not sure." She paused for a moment. "What reason made you pick me instead of any of your roommates? Or someone who's in your class?"
"...um..."
"...well?"
"...you...kind of asked? And, well...you have nothing to do with any of it." It wasn't that long ago that he had been just like her, in that respect. Now, he was starting to forget what life was like without being able to manifest an Evangelion, or a Persona, or the ability to enter the world born of cognition. "You're...normal, I guess?"
That answer elicited a pained smile from the girl. "That's...rather flattering for you to say." She didn't add anything to that.
At that moment, Shinji's phone vibrated several times in quick succession. Looking at Mayumi, the girl said, "it might be something important."
And so he took out his phone and opened up the text app.
M. Katsuragi: ok
M. Katsuragi: so
M. Katsuragi: it turns out
M. Katsuragi: that things with kirishima got complicated
M. Katsuragi: just my luck X-|
M. Katsuragi: gonna need some backup
M. Katsuragi: of the emotional variety
M. Katsuragi: maybe the physical one too
M. Katsuragi: i'll be picking you up in about twenty minutes
M. Katsuragi: at the front of the Academy's courtyards
M. Katsuragi: don't be late
M. Katsuragi: like, seriously
"...um...I think I'm being called?"
Mayumi calmly nodded. "...then you'd best get to it, right?"
"...I guess we'll finish this later."
"It's fine. You don't have to," said Mayumi, an awkward smile on her face. "So long as you enjoy the Literature Club...then it's doing its part."
"But-"
"Ikari-san...it's okay. I just wanted to sate my curiosity...so thank you for indulging me." She bowed slightly, rising to her feet; brushing at the back of her skirt, the club president began walking away."
Shinji didn't know what to say as the club president departed, leaving only an uncertain tension in the air, one that would not be able to be resolved. Yamagishi-san...what's on your mind? The girl apparently had some rather complicated thoughts and opinions about what he did (or at least, his telling of what he did), but that frankly wasn't any of his business. At least this day can't get any more awkward, he quietly thought to himself.
xxxx
/Twenty Minutes Later/
As it turned out, things could get more awkward.
All it involved was sitting in the back seat of Misato Katsuragi's Alpine Renault, with Mana Kirishima sitting next to the opposite window. The look in her eyes was one of utter suspicion, slight disbelief, and a little bit of fear.
Shinji wanted to loose a frustrated scream, but wisely decided against it.
There was no talking on the way to Misato Katsuragi's apartment; not from Shinji, not from Mana, not even from the woman herself. The sheer amount of Awkward filled the car like city smog.
Glancing at the girl, he noticed that she was now wearing a similar uniform as the vast majority of NERV's employees: a beige, high-collar dress uniform with orange trimming along the shoulders, a thin belt around the waist, and a slim skirt with white leggings; it was far more professional and clean outfit than the bodysuit she had previously been wearing. It was like looking at two entirely different people. However, her melancholy expression was enough to dissuade him from trying to talk to her.
Eventually, they arrived at an apartment complex near the northern edge of the city, at the foothills of Mount Ashigara; the woman quietly motioned for them to follow, leading them up to the eleventh floor, just one shy of the top floor.
Walking into the apartment, Shinji noted the stacks of automobile, motorcycle, and firearm magazines by the sofa; the elaborate beer can stacks which evoked the image of a radio tower on a kitchen sideboard; the bookshelf by the TV set with various knick-knacks, souvenirs, and photos on the top shelf. The entire place seemed...unchanged, from when he had last been here nearly a month ago. The only difference was that, on the green couch, a penguin was...tossing a ball up and down...while watching a financial advice show by some guy called Tanaka?
"...what...is that?" murmured Kirishima.
"Oh, that's my pet penguin. His name's Pen-Pen."
"...you have a pet penguin?" asked Shinji.
"...wait, did you not meet him the last time you were?" remarked Misato, blinking with confusion. A distant expression came to her face. "...oh yeah, he slept in late that day...the lazy bum."
("This'll be our little secret.")
Shinji frowned, feeling an odd tickling in the back of his head. Was there...something he was supposed to remember? Or had dreamed about...?
"So. I'm going to go take a shower. Pen-Pen, go ahead and order delivery! Shinji-kun, Mana-chan...you two make nice."
Mana looked shocked while Shinji loosed a bewildered "eh?!", but not quick enough before the woman had already shut the door to the washroom behind her.
xxxx
Don't let me down, Shinji-kun, remarked Misato with a hidden frown as she began to disrobe. Let's hope you two can patch things up. With Mana being unable to summon her weapons, she was trusting Shinji to not summon his Evangelion.
(She didn't dare speak up during the car ride, because she needed to make sure how things stood between Shinji-kun and Mana-chan. The expressions she saw in her rearview mirror said plenty.)
Deep down...
( "...then trust me. Even though we haven't known each other that long...trust me when I think that Mister P means well. But it's not worth you and Ayanami-san fighting..." She was rather floored - and just a little bit touched - at how deeply Shinji bowed. Why was he going so far? "...please?" Damn it, he had no right to make her feel so crappy.)
...she believed that it wouldn't come to that.
xxxx
Shinji Ikari sat on one side of the table.
Mana Kirishima sat on the other.
Right now, Shinji was incredibly grateful for the fact that Pen-Pen was apparently ordering dinner over the phone, if only because it provided a decent distraction. "Wark...wark...wark? WARK!" A few moments of silence, before the penguin kept nodding. "Wark. Wark. Wa-wark..."
"...I feel like I should be freaking out about this," murmured Shinji, glancing over at Kirishima. "Does...it not seem weird to you?"
"...for the most part, I've been in the Metaverse for the past several years," she admitted. "I don't really know if Pen-Pen is supposed to be weird or not."
"Oh. That...makes sense." The awkwardness refused to go away.
Mana stared at him with green eyes, looking...tired. Incredibly tired. "...compared to that...all of this is odd. To me."
"...I'm sorry."
"For what?" she muttered.
"For...what happened to you." His debrief with Dr. Ritsuko Akagi and Kensuke Aida had unveiled a lot of details that he hadn't been aware of. "For...trying to kill you."
She loosed an unladylike snort. "Don't know why you're apologizing for Tokita; you had nothing to do with him kidnapping me and my brothers and sisters. As for the other bit...it was normal. Expected. In a fight to the death...one side lives, and the other one dies. I just..." Her shoulders briefly shuddered. "...never expected to be the one on the verge of death. I was the one who was supposed to be better...it was what I was made for...until I ran into you." Sighing, Kirishima rested her arms on the table, laying her head on them. "...wish I had LABRYS and AIGIS here..."
Shinji tried very hard not to slide back from the table.
Mana huffed. "Relax...if I couldn't beat you in the Metaverse when you couldn't even summon your whole Evangelion, what chance would I stand in the real world?" Her green eyes sharpened, frustration trickling in like ants on a crippled bird. "...I almost wish you'd look at me like you did in the Metaverse." He must have looked utterly befuddled, because she added, "when you were threatening to kill me...that feeling of facing death...was terrifying...but...I preferred it to the look you're giving me now."
"...what look?"
"That look of pity."
"...is that a bad thing?"
"I don't want your pity!" she growled, finally showing some of her characteristic fire from their battle. "Pity won't change anything. Pity...is for the weak..."
"...but..." Shinji glanced over at the door to the washroom, where the dulled sounds of a shower could be heard. "...isn't that why Misato-san decided to take care of you? Because she pitied you?"
That caused the girl to deflate. "I don't get her...I helped kidnap her, she spent hours teaching me how to fight...and now she wants to be my guardian."
"...but isn't that a good thing?"
"But what benefit does she get out of it?! Is it just so NERV can use me as a weapon instead of Tokita? I don't know why they wouldn't! Of COURSE they will...they will...I don't care what Niijima-san said...but...but what she said made sense..." With a frustrated yell, she slammed a hand onto the table, creating a crack in the surface. "...I don't know what to believe...Tokita sucked, but I knew my place..."
Shinji couldn't help but stare quietly as the girl grumbled and muttered into the table, going back and forth with herself. What...what can I do? What could he even do to help? From the sound of it, she didn't even want his help...
His Other shook his head.
"Will that stop you?"
The Beast snorted.
"Without the power to walk alone...solitude will devour anyone, without exception."
The Other continued.
"Remember the strength of your bonds."
...but Misato-san had asked for his help. She had stopped him from...doing something horrible. He owed her that much, at least. "...is...there anything I can do to help? You want to find your brothers, right?" Her pained screams for Musashi and Keita, in retrospect, rang clearly in his mind. "I...I can help with that, can't I?"
Kirishima's stare burned with skepticism.
A poke at his leg prompted Shinji to look down; Pen-Pen was looking expectantly at him, arms held up. "You...want me to pick you up?"
"Wark."
Blinking, Shinji did so obediently; to his surprise, Pen-Pen quickly clambered onto the table and waddled over towards Mana. The girl looked at the penguin with slight confusion and irritated suspicion; the landborne avian glanced down at the crack that she had caused before looking back at her. "Wark." He then promptly slapped her face with the flappy backside of his flipper.
Shinji boggled.
Mana blinked.
"Wark." Pen-Pen huffed, hopping off the table and waddling back towards the couch.
"...um..." Shinji looked back towards Mana. "...you okay?"
"It barely even hurt," muttered Mana, a wry grin slowly forming on her face. "But...it isn't my table...not mine to break..." She looked back at him, her eyes hardening into something more resolute. "Katsuragi may be genuine...I don't know yet. She didn't have to do this...but she did. You could've killed me...but you didn't. Honestly...you two don't make sense to me...but you still freed me from Tokita. So...I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now. No matter what...I'll endure...I'll endure..."
As Mana made that resolution to herself, Shinji couldn't help but wonder what would come of this...
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 Strength Arcana,
and let it guide you
to a new Promised Land...
xxxx
...but he would do what he could. After all, if he could prove himself to someone he had nearly killed, anyone else would be a breeze, right?
xxxx
The first sight that Misato experienced walking out of the washroom was Shinji Ikari and Mana Kirishima unpacking the recently-delivered yakitori and onigiri onto the kitchen table; in the corner of her eye, she saw Pen-Pen walking back from the doorway, holding the delivery receipt in his clawed flippers. Okay. They're acting somewhat amicably. And we've got food. She spotted a new crack in her kitchen table. Eh, acceptable collateral damage. I'll count this as a win!
Shinji turned around, saying, "ah, the food's here Misato-saaaaAAAAAAAH!" The boy's sudden yelp startled her, as he promptly turned around in shock. "M-M-Misato-san!"
"...what's gotten into you?"
Mana Kirishima stared blankly before pointing straight at her.
That's when Misato felt a slight chill around her legs. Oh, right. Wearing only a towel. Damn it, I'm going to need to remember I have a new roommate that's not a penguin. "Eh, I'm sure you don't mind that much. You're a teenager, aren't you?" she casually joked before striding past the table and through the living room towards her own bedchamber.
"T-T-That's not funny," grumbled Shinji, still keeping his face hidden behind his hands.
"...eh, it's kind of funny in a slice-of-life sitcom kind of way."
"Wark."
"Oh you have no room to call ANYONE an exhibitionist!"
"WARK!"
xxxx
The brief argument that Katsuragi had with her penguin (with Ikari trying his hardest not to look anywhere near the towel-clad woman) was honestly the most surreal thing that Mana Kirishima had seen in a long time, and it caused an odd - almost bubbly - feeling to well up within her chest; she only barely managed to fight it off.
(In retrospect, she would recognize this as a bout of impulsive laughter; her first one in a very, very long time.)
Dinner was a relatively pleasant affair, after that.
Misato had offered Shinji a ride back, but he had refused. "I...I can make my way back to the Academy on my own."
"It's no big deal-"
"It's fine, Misato-san. I'll manage." He looked over towards the couch, where she was sitting with a stoically content expression (or maybe a peacefully sedate one?). Clearing his throat, he said, "Kirishima-san...I hope you do well."
"...thanks," she acknowledged, still feeling uncertain about him. Just a little bit.
With those words, Shinji Ikari departed. At last, it was only Misato and Mana.
And Pen-Pen, of course, who was busy taking a hot bath.
"...so. There's the whole matter of getting you situated..." said Misato. "Never thought I'd have to break out the guest room bedding, but it'll be kind of bland...until we can get some shopping done-"
"Katsuragi," interrupted Mana, still unsure about...all of this. "I...don't really know how all of this is supposed to go. Or if there's any...rules. What am I allowed to do? What am I not allowed to do?"
"Gee, you don't have to be that much of a stickler-"
"Please." She didn't want to wrap her arms around her knees. She didn't. "I...this is all...crazy. I need something to start with..."
The woman's eyes softened, as though she understood (and that was the craziest thing, how the HELL could she understand-?!) what she wanted. "...okay. How about this; I'll draw up a list. Set some boundaries, chores, all that good stuff. Then, tomorrow, we can sort out the details while we go shopping."
"...shopping?"
The woman suddenly looked heartbroken, but only for a second, flashing a knowing grin. "Eh, you'll see. Haven't had much occasion to splurge for myself, so we might as well make your new room a smash!"
"...okay?" Mana glanced at the television; she had often seen various members of Tokita's staff using them in the facility break rooms (not that she had ever had occasion to use them for her own personal use). "I...think I'll watch this, for a while."
"Gotcha." Misato grabbed the remote, holding it out towards her. "You know how it works?"
Looking at the legible characters by the various buttons, Mana couldn't help but snort. "I was intentionally isolated, but I'm not dumb."
"Mah, so prickly! If that's the case, knock yourself out." Misato tossed it at her, slow enough for her to easily catch it. "I'm going to hit the hay. Try not to stay up too late, okay?"
"...what's the limit?" 10:00 PM? 11:00 PM?
"...let's say 10:30? That gives you a few hours. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy one." The silence hung for a few moments afterwards. "Well...good night."
And then Mana Kirishima was by herself. "...so. This is it, huh?" Where do I start, where the HELL do I start? Gingerly, she reached for the remote, turning on the television; after flipping through a few channels, a flash of color and explosions caught her eye. "Hmm?" The instrumental song was an odd thing - a mix of horns, strings, and percussion with peppy yet sweeping sounds...and an electric guitar(?) - that somehow worked, when combined. Young women in bird-themed outfits of various colors and jewel-encrusted headgear were moving about in numerous action scenes. What's this?
"Don't touch that dial folks," excitedly said whoever was narrating the commercial. "Starting up our Classic Marathon Theater and continuing all the way through the night, we have the first season of the hit masterpiece Bishoujo Senshi Featherman Z! Starring Ann Takamaki as Ruby Robin, Rio Iwasaki as Emerald Eagle, Rise Kujikawa as Sapphire Swan, Saki Konishi as Opal Owl, and Hifumi Togo as Diamond Dove, with special guest appearances by the legendary Naoto Shirogane as Pearl Phoenix! All episodes of the show which revolutionized the Super Magical Sentai genre, with ten percent fewer commercials! Remember, at least seventy-fivepercent of all the stunts you see are real!"
...I have no idea what he's talking about, thought Mana, a grim expression on her face. Well, it LOOKS interesting enough...
xxxx
When Pen-Pen finally got out of the bath over an hour later, he stared blankly at Mana Kirishima: fists pumped, eyes practically glued to the TV. "Come on Eagle...use your move, his right flank's open-!"
"Time to put you down, vile fiend! TALON...STRIKE!" With those flamboyant words, Emerald Eagle moved at high speed on the screen, bypassing whole lines of enemies to strike at the monster's leader with vicious claws.
"Yes, now finish the job!" she quietly yelled.
...hmm. Unexpected, but a suitable form of entertainment for a young lass like her.
Moments later, right as a new monster appeared out of nowhere, the show cut to commercial.
"Oh come on," growled Mana, her face twisting into a furious rictus. "Who invented commercials?!"
Pen-Pen tried so very hard not to quack with laughter.
xxxx
Shortly after Shinji Ikari had departed Misato's apartment, he had focused inwardly, trying to recall the exact lessons and words of Rei Ayanami...of the strange feeling that had accompanied him whenever he had shifted between dimensions...there was something tangible, yet unreal; real, yet incorporeal; as mind and body and soul synchronized...
xxxx
...and he found himself in a world of grayscale, blinking mutely as the entirety of the world took on a dreamlike quality. Orange lights shined all around, corresponding around the shapes of people. It was-
" Peace, " spoke the voice of his Other, imperceptible yet bound with him. " Don't linger, lest you lose yourself. "
Right. He was supposed to be getting back to the Academy.
He continued on, dutifully moving along the pathways made by man, moving about the silent denizens. There was a strange, otherworldly bewilderment as he walked along streets; the pace of everything was slow, as if in molasses.
" Trifling, isn't it? " whispered the unseen Beast. " If only you knew your limits...then space and time itself would not bind you. "
He didn't know what to make of that. All he knew was that bumping into people would be rude, and that touching a car - moving at a proverbial crawl by comparison - would probably be bad.
Thus, he continued onward, until finally the grounds of the Academy were beneath his feet.
" Slowly. Disentangle, bit by bit... "
Sighing, Shinji let his focus fade, little by little...
xxxx
...and thus, by the time Mana Kirishima was halfway through her first episode of Featherman, Shinji emerged by the side of the Izanagi Dorms, feeling a strange headache pounding in the back of his mind. Ugh...that felt so weird...is this headache normal? He resolved to ask Ayanami about it later.
As he got back into the dorm room, he came upon the sight of Kensuke Aida and Kaworu Nagisa at their desks. Toji Suzuhara was absent.
"Man, you were gone for awhile. Did you hit it off with the girl that well?" asked Kensuke, a wide grin on his face.
"Now now," lightly admonished Nagisa, "a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."
"...um, I actually had dinner at Misato Katsuragi's," replied Shinji, too weary from the headache to even consider the possibility of homework. "Apparently, Kirishima-san's going to be living with her."
Aida-san blinked. "Wait, seriously? Even with all the stuff you told me about at the debriefing?"
Wordlessly nodding, Shinji proceed to flop over onto his bed. Lazily reaching for his SDAT, he placed the earbuds in to let soft music lull him to sleep.
"-hey, don't think this means I'm not gonna find about your lady friend-!"
Aida's proclamations faded away as the blue cassette tape began to play...
xxxx
...and he awoke in the Velvet Room, sitting in the same folding chair. It looked much the same as always, which found reassuring.
"Welcome!" exclaimed Igor, sitting at his desk on the stage. The Persona Compendium sat in front of him. "Hmm...yet another bond has been formed," he said, holding up a card depicting a stylized woman petting a leonine beast. "Of the Arcana, you have formed bonds with
fifteen...a marvelous pace, for a Wild Card whose power has been awake for naught but a month!"
"...are there other Wild Cards?" Were there others who could use multiple Personas? But if so, why did people treat that power like such a big deal...?
"There have indeed been other guests before; they had their own trials and tribulations. However, many of the struggles they endured were unique to them; part of your story is how your labors can be endured; how, with the help of your bonds, you can grow, and achieve fulfillment."
"...I guess that makes sense..."
"Which brings me to your current state: you have grown to the point where I would like to introduce another power to you, a
new means of growth. As parts of a personality can serve to help other parts grow, and change...I can take your Personas, and help one learn from another. Let us call this power...Apprenticeship."
"...Apprenticeship?"
"For example: your Personas each have certain abilities. If you wish for one Persona to learn a particular skill that another one possesses, I can withdraw those aspects...for a time. The simpler the skill, the quicker the process. However, there is a limit: as each aspect of yourself has boundaries that cannot be trespassed without undergoing a substantial change...so too do your Personas have a limit in what they can learn." Igor flipped the Compendium open, and out floated the cards of those he currently wielded: Hamlet, Kinnara, Jack Frost, Yaksini, Pixie, Berith, and Sandman. Fluttering in the background, partially transparent, were registered Personas that were inactive: Silky, Mandrake, Ara Mitama, Onmoraki, and Cait Sith. "Choose wisely."
"...huh." Shinji thought about it. In the Velvet Room, amidst the soothing song, there was a certain tranquility that allowed him to think and ponder without pressure. However, the longer he thought, a specific possibility came to mind, one that had been long in coming. "I want Jack Frost to be Kinnara's apprentice...so he can learn Agi."
"YES!" came a childish scream from right behind him. "A FIRE-BREATHING SNOWMAN!"
Shinji squawked with shock and surprise, falling out of his chair.
Sokila squeaked with dismay. "Oh! Um...sorry...got excited..."
"...it's okay..."
As the brief bit of drama unfolded, Igor busied himself by taking the cards for Kinnara and Jack Frost; they took on a glow of their own, before he flicked them to the side of the stage. With a sudden and flashy burst of stars and spectral fire, Kinnara and Jack Frost manifested. The bipedal horse-man stood in front of a chalkboard, drawing a detailed diagram behind the principles of pyrokinesis. Jack Frost, meanwhile, sat at an appropriately-sized schooldesk, nodding along in an exaggerated manner.
Shinji Ikari slowly rose, looking down at the young girl. "Is...everything okay, Sokila-chan?" Memories came to him, unbidden, of how Sokila had comforted him during a truly dark moment. Glancing down, she noticed her dainty hands clenching onto something tightly. "...what's that?"
"Um..." Nervously, the silver-haired child opened her hands; in her palms sat an old-fashioned door key, its handle bearing the simplified image of a human face, split down the middle to demonstrate contrasting colors of black and white. "...I...wanted to give you this..."
"What is it for?"
"Ah, how interesting." The smile could be
heard in Igor's voice. "The attendant for each guest is the one who provides the key which serves as their means of accessing the Velvet Room. Because of Sokila's nature, and the state of your power...her key manifested as a blue cassette, enabling you to enter whenever you slumbered. Convenient, and versatile...yet lacking in vitality. However, now that your power has grown...perhaps you both now have the capacity."
"What do you mean?" asked Shinji.
Sokila fidgeted. "...well...if...if you can use it...then...I can...go outside. Like the others who came before me..."
"...really?" Igor's words came back like a flash, about Sokila's youth and inexperienced. About how, as his power grew, so would hers. "Then...all I have to do is take the key?"
"...I think so? M'not sure everything works..."
As far as Shinji was concerned, it wasn't even a question. Sokila deserved more than to stay stuck within this place; despite the serenity of the music, it seemed so...empty. She was just a child. Without hesitation, he grabbed the key-
SO MANY IMAGES
A VELVET ROOM OF VARYING SHAPES AND SIZES
AN ELEVATOR, A LIMOUSINE, A PRISON
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS THAT THREATENED THE WORLD
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS THAT WERE NO LONGER KNOWN
AND IN THE MIDST OF IT ALL
WAS A WORLD OF-
"Not yet."
-and blinked, trying not to stumble from the vertigo. It felt like part of him had been siphoned away: not torn, but borrowed...or perhaps given.
Even now, though Sokila looked no different, she seemed...more.
"Are you okay?" exclaimed the girl, worried by how he had nearly stumbled.
"Yeah...I'm fine..."
Igor chuckled knowingly, full of delight about this turn of events. "Ah...the wonder of human potential. It would seem that Sokila is ready..."
The girl's yellow eyes widened at Igor's words. "Then...do you mean...?"
"...Sokila-chan..." Shinji, regaining his composure, knelt down to her level. "...tomorrow...do you want to go outside?"
The girl's smile was undeniably precious, as was her impulsive glomp.
xxxx
END OF 07/03/2015
xxxx
Consider the power of "Apprenticeship" as a baby version of the Skill Cards which will eventually came later.
And imagine "Bishoujo Senshi Featherman Z" as a Featherman show with Sailor Moon themes/aesthetics and DBZ-level action. And imagine an intro song that was mix of the P5R Featherman theme, Sailor Moon's original JP opening, Cutie Honey F's opening, and "Don't Lose Your Way" (non-rap version) from Kill la Kill.
BUT NONE OF THAT'S IMPORTANT
BECAUSE NEXT TIME
SOKILA GETS TO GO OUTSIDE