Shin Persona Evangelion

by Ultra Sonic 007

Shinji Ikari stared, bewildered by the bizarre-looking man, who gave an intrigued smile. "An interesting guest has arrived. My name is Igor. Welcome to the Velvet Room, young fool...we have important matters to discuss, you and I." (A fusion of the realms of Evangelion and Persona, where not all is as it seems.) (Cover art by Renu of the Sufficient Velocity forums.)

79. SIDESTORY - The Tale of Narukami: Part 2

Author's Note: Okay, so I INTENDED for Yu's Sidestory to only last two parts, but he kept swagging his way through Neon Genesis Evangelion, almost against my will. "Joker's had too much screen time. I demand Slices of Life for myself."

It doesn't help that this dorky chad is so much fun to write dialogue for.

xxxx

Why are we here?

To keep learning...of the struggles of those who came before...

xxxx

Yu (regardless of whether he also went by Seta or, more rarely, Asakawa) had a new target of sorts: find out more about Ryoji Kaji.

Unfortunately, it took a few more lives for an 'Impact Timeline' to come back around; resolving to get into NERV somewhat more legitimately, Yu — born in 1970, this time around — solidified a working relationship with Fuyutsuki to the point where Yui Ikari seemed 'impressed' by his work ethic.

(At least he didn't have to work with her too much; she was generally elsewhere.)

(Could you stomach being around her, for an extended period of time?)

When he received an offer of employment at the Artificial Evolution Laboratory (merely a public front for GEHIRN, he would later discover) in 2001, Yu accepted. His final interview was conducted by...Gendo Ikari, of all people.

"I think we can skip the formalities," said the man with a knowing grin, leaning back in his chair. (His current office was a far cry from the cavernous one he would have as NERV's Commander.)

"...I just have one question, if you don't mind my asking."

"And?"

"The last 'timeline' when I was in Tokyo-3, as a teacher...what happened after I died?"

Gendo chuckled. "You were 'officially' reported as missing. But Katsuragi wasn't inclined to let matters lie; one thing led to another, and she eventually confronted Inspector Kaji about what he knew about it, given his not-so-secret affiliations. The one-sided tirade that ensued, when she found out the hand he had played in your demise...that was quite entertaining."

"I'm glad you find the emotional turmoil of other people to be so amusing."

"Go through life long enough and you'll start finding entertainment in all sorts of places. Do you think the man I was in my youth would recognize who I am now?"

(A fair point, he was forced to admit. After all, would the young man from his 'first' life recognize the Yu Narukami of today?)

(There's something even more important that he told you.)

(Timelines continued on 'after' he perished.)

(Do the worlds continue on without you for an eternity, until the universe runs cold? Or is the timeframe more restrictive?)

He had no way of knowing.

Thus was Yu assigned to work as an assistant for the AEL's chief scientist, one Naoko Akagi. (The mother of Ritsuko Akagi, he would also come to realize.)

xx

"Evangelion," Yu murmured gazing at the bare bones (metaphorically and literally) of what would come to be the great titans he had seen in lives past. "Why would such research be funded...?"

"To discover the means by which mankind can evolve further, Narukami," remarked Naoko, typing away at her computer. "The ultimate endpoint is still up for debate. Some would even say it's the key for immortality."

"Immortality's overrated," he muttered.

"Because I'm so sure you're speaking from experience," she joked, not catching his reference.

"If everyone lived forever, that would also include the people you despise...and the people you hate your guts."

Naoko snorted. "A fair point, Narukami."

xx

"But seriously, why name them after the Magi?" Yu asked.

"Well, we're following a mysterious light that will lead the way to our salvation," she offered as an explanation, typing away at the computer terminal connected to three giant blocks of complicated hardware. "It seemed thematically appropriate."

"Creating biological supercomputers seems more like you're setting up the plot of the Exterminator than following a metaphorical Star of Bethlehem."

"You were hired for your brain, Narukami, not for your sense of humor."

"But my sense of humor comes from my brain."

"...get back to work."

"I'm just saying, if it turns out your MAGI usher forth our future A.I. overlords, I'll know who to blame."

"Ha ha."

xx

It was Yu's first time seeing the physical remnants of, ostensibly, an alien lifeform. (It was a good thing that his 'first' life as a Persona-user had inured him to the unexpected.) "So that's what's left of what was found underneath Antarctica, huh?"

"Yes," answered Naoko, watching as more slivers of flesh were extracted to serve as the basis for another prototype.

"What was it called?"

"Its given name is ADAM."

"...as in, the first man?"

"That was the theme."

"...why all of the Christian symbolism?"

Naoko shrugged. "Above my paygrade, alas."

"And Evangelion...Eva. Eve," he said, as one coming to an epiphany.

"Yes."

Yu narrowed his eyes. "...you named your computers after the Magi to keep with the biblical theme, didn't you?"

Naoko tellingly refused to answer.

xx

Yu stared flatly at LILITH's crucified form. "Now it's just getting blatant."

"Again: above my paygrade," tiredly answered Naoko, unwilling to even dispute the point.

xx

It was 2004.

Yu wondered at the wisdom of letting a tiny Shinji Ikari (who, even at his diminutive age, still shared that odd sense of 'unreality' with Yui Ikari) watch the Contact Experiment.

Gendo Ikari stood to the side, watching through the windows with a detached weariness. Sliding up towards him, Yu asked, "is...this the 'old and bothersome role'?"

"Like clockwork," he quietly muttered, watching with unfeeling bitterness as Yui Ikari got into the Entry Plug.

"Have you ever considered telling anyone? Of averting it?"

"What would be the point?"

"...you're looping for some reason, just like I am. You could be trying to change things. You could be reaching for the truth."

Gendo stared at him with an expression akin to...bewilderment, crossed with amused sorrow. "...to have come this far, and yet you still understand nothing."

"Then help me understand."

"No. It won't mean anything if I simply tell you." Turning back towards the large windows, Gendo watched as the Entry Plug screwed itself into the not-yet-fully-grown upper body of Unit-01; his expression was of someone watching video of an historical execution. "You'll have to face your precious truth head-on...just like I did."

Yu said nothing more, watching in solemn silence — even as Naoko, Fuyutsuki, and the other staff began to panic — as the tragedy played out.

(Watching Unit-01 up close gave him such an odd feeling, one he couldn't quite explain. Why?)

(For all the energy you spend focusing on your 'first' life, it's hilarious that you've forgotten...)

xx

It was 2005.

Yu had lost count of the number of times he and Naoko had pulled all-nighters in the shadowy computer labs of GEHIRN (even to the point where he and Akagi had brought separate futons to leave in their workspace); after transferring to the subterranean facilities, he couldn't recall the last time he had actually left the Geofront...not that he could, whilst the construction of Tokyo-3 was ongoing. Why would they bother transferring the capital city a second time, he wondered not for the first time.

(There was still no sign of Ryoji Kaji, either; surely someone with his connections wouldn't have waited until 2015 to show up in Hakone?)

(Do you even know when he was born?)

(He probably had known, at one point; yet it was a tangential bit of information lost to a sea of memory, because Kaji simply hadn't been important at the time.)

(How funny, that you spent so much time trying to find out about the Annihilation of Inaba. When's the last time you wondered about it?)

(...)

(You're only one man.)

"...hmm. Strange, that the Katsuragi girl would become such a chatterbox."

Naoko's words elicited a blink from Yu. "Katsuragi? The girl who was the sole survivor of the Expedition?" (He wondered how Misato was doing.)

(When's the last time you thought of your 'first' friends?)

(They were never far away.)

Naoko nodded, her burgundy hair cast in an odd color by the light of the monitors. "She apparently met my daughter at the New Imperial University in Tokyo-2."

"Have they become friends?"

"From the sounds of it," murmured Naoko, leaning back in her chair as she gazed at the email once more. "I'm glad...she needs someone who can be honest with her."

"You don't talk about her much. Your daughter, I mean."

Naoko chuckled. "Amidst our work, what time is there to be had?"

"Well, it's not like you were working with GEHIRN forever."

"True...but even growing up, Ritsuko was rather distant from others. Overshadowed as she was by my name, I thought it best to let her do as she liked. It was my way of making it up to her..."

"...or so you thought?" he guessed, idly reading a diagnostic report in the meantime. (If he didn't know any better, it looked like the MAGI were...running a bet amongst each other. But for what?)

The woman smiled bitterly, spinning in her chair to look at him. "I'm realistic," she said; her fingers lightly brushed against his as she took the diagnostic report from his hands. "I know I'm not 'mother of the year' material."

"And I suppose the father wasn't particularly memorable either?"

Naoko huffed. "A louse in every sense of the word. I try not to think of him."

"Yet you cared enough to carry his child."

"And in the end, he didn't care enough to stay around."

"...ah," he muttered, pounding his fist into his hand. "Louse. Lousy. That makes sense."

"...pfft," snorted Naoko at the abrupt non-sequitur. Regaining her composure, she asked, "tell me, Narukami: you've spent an awful lot of time working here. You've stayed away from any of the political matters surrounding GEHIRN, but even I can tell that you lack Fuyutsuki's trepidation regarding the Instrumentality Project. Yet you also don't share the outward fervor that the rest of our peers possess."

(It would be helpful if he knew precisely what it entailed. Gendo kept such knowledge close to the chest.) "So I keep to myself. And?"

Leaning forward, Naoko continued, "so why exactly are you here? What's your ultimate goal? You've never exactly been enthused about advancing humankind's evolution, not like myself..."

Yu shrugged. "For all mankind's flaws, humans can be pretty cool. Why fix what isn't broken?" (He had to believe that.)

"...if that's your opinion, then why stick around?"

Yu gazed towards the MAGI mainframes, mentally envisioning the growing Evangelions, and the crucified LILITH in Terminal Dogma. "...there's a great truth to this world, to this reality, that I seek to understand." Once he reached the truth...would he finally be free? (Was that even possible?) "I've been trying to find it...for my whole life," he admitted. (You may gain knowledge...but will it avail you of anything?) "And Project E...is my best path forward. That's what I believe anyway."

"And if something more suitable for that objective were to come along, you'd leave?"

"...yes," he admitted.

"...well, that's certainly a rather esoteric goal. One that you're committed to, if nothing else..." Naoko stared at him with a strange expression, until her lips quirked into a pleased smile. "...it's always men with ambition, it seems...strange."

"What's strange-?"

And then Naoko mashed her lips against his.

xx

As it turned out, there was an additional benefit to having futons in the lab, other than to use for the more-than-occasional all-nighter.

Yu, arm wrapped around Naoko's naked body, stared silently at the dim ceiling. Why does this keep happening to me?

(You could always say 'no.')

(He could say 'no', true...)

(And yet you never do.)

(...)

(Chivalrous pervert though you may be, you're still a pervert, even after all these years.)

(...well, he couldn't exactly deny that, now could he?)

xx

From that point...nothing much changed, at least in terms of Yu's and Naoko's working relationship.

("It doesn't have to be too complicated, Narukami-kun," said Naoko, glossing over the deliberate change in honorific. "We both still have our work to keep us occupied...but at least any intimacy is made less awkward as a result.")

He respected that desire of hers, but did make it clear that if anyone inquired about their relationship, he would be honest.

(Naoko seemed amused. "Mysterious in some ways, yet utterly without guile in others...what an odd combination.")

Naturally, workplaces being what they were, rumors spread fairly quickly.

xx

Fuyutsuki-sensei sighed, shaking his head. "Young people these days..."

"Am I about to be lectured?" asked Narukami, sipping from a styrofoam cup of coffee (and intentionally ignoring the curious eyes from the lower-ranking staff in the break room).

"No, you're both adults. I guess I'm just old, is all...so much has changed," he murmured.

"Well, it's only natural if you want to deliver a lecture. You did that a lot at Kyoto University, after all."

"..."

"I'm willing to be the sacrificial lamb to spare my kouhai your stern and elderly retributions."

"I think I'll manage, Narukami-kun."

xx

"Is there a reason for the cavernous office? It seems like a waste of space," remarked Yu, sitting in front of Gendo's desk.

"And you feel compelled to comment because...?" asked Ikari.

"Well, I have dabbled in engineering once or twice. It just comes across as...too grandiose. Too important."

"And yet this is the place upon which the world will turn," cryptically answered Ikari. "A nice view isn't too much to ask for, in light of that."

(What ultimately happened? Would an Angel more powerful than all the others lay waste to the world? Would ADAM, or perhaps even LILITH, somehow rise up?) "Is there a reason you wanted to talk to me?"

"It's been refreshing to not have to deal with Dr. Akagi's affections, for once. For that, you have my gratitude."

"...I beg your pardon?"

Gendo smirked. "The good doctor's always had a certain type; it made her easy to manipulate for my plans, the first time around. But as time goes on, that relationship has become...rather stale."

(He wasn't like Ikari. He couldn't be like Ikari.) "That's a rather candid admission."

"You were present to draw her interest. I wanted to at least commend you for introducing some variety."

"...and yet I bet you always carried a torch for your wife the entire time," he murmured, thinking about the reality of Yui Ikari's internment as the soul of Unit-01. "And you led Dr. Akagi on in spite of that?"

"For the sake of my goal, I had no issue with using anyone or anything," responded Gendo, smiling somewhat anemically. "Are you not the same? Going through timeline after timeline, using whatever resources are at your disposal to obtain what you seek?"

"...there's one major difference between you and me, Ikari." Yu leaned onto the man's desk, mustering forth a piercing glare. "My relationships...aren't about how I alone can benefit. That would be missing the point entirely."

"And yet in two consecutive 'Impact' timelines, you've bedded both Misato Katsuragi and Naoko Akagi. Making a list of conquests? Trying to warm every lonely heart in Tokyo-3?"

(How repulsive.) "...the relationships I've gained are the only reason I've made it this far without giving into despair...and a relationship where only one side benefits isn't worthy of the name. Everyone I've formed a bond with has helped me in some way, shape, or form...and I've helped them in return. Through those bonds, everyone involved became more true to themselves."

"How unexpectedly...sentimental."

"If you need evidence, here's a lesson I learned from one of those bonds." He thought of Hisano Kuroda (your Death Social Link). "Happiness is something you only recognize...after it's already happened."

At this, Gendo actually seemed...taken aback. "...that's rather profound, Narukami," he admitted.

"I was told that by an old woman, who was mourning the loss of her husband. Yet in the end, she remembered that she still had bonds of her own, and found the strength to keep on living."

"..."

"...you should probably step out of the office every once in a while. Get some sunlight. I don't think life in the Geofront isn't doing you any favors."

"...it'll be interesting to see how long you can keep up that attitude of yours," wondered Gendo aloud, no longer sounding as sarcastic or amused as before.

"Then I'll be more than happy to disappoint you," vowed Yu.

xx

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Ritsuko Akagi to find out that her mother was romantically involved with someone.

It was odd, hearing Ritsuko — still far removed from the relatively aloof woman she would come to be in the future — berate him on behalf of Naoko. "You know, we haven't actually done anything too extreme-" he tried to say.

Ritsuko, sounding tinny over the landline phone in the underground labs, audibly scoffed. "I don't care how long you've worked together. I won't have you hurting her."

"Believe me, if anyone's being hurt, it's me."

"...and what's that supposed to mean?"

Glancing over towards Naoko (who hid a wicked little smirk behind her hand), Yu added, "well, it turns out that your mother is experimental in more ways than one-"

The interruption and panic were immediate. "TMI, TMI, TMI!"

"...anyhow, your mother doesn't seem to be in the mood for anything formal, so I don't imagine we'll be going before a judge to have anything finalized from a legal standpoint."

"...hmph."

"Personally, I'd be fine with a wedding, but your mother isn't on board for that sort of thing."

Ritsuko audibly sighed. "...typical. Whatever."

"I mean, if you want to call me daddy or whatever, that's totally your business. I'm just saying it would be rather weird."

"I'm good," she grumbled, sounding utterly disgusted.

"...so, how's university treating you?" he segued.

"I am not having this conversation with you."

"Fair enough," he said with a shrug. Then, offhandedly, he said, "oh, and by the way: if you ever feel the temptation to dye your hair blonde, at least choose a brand that doesn't make you look like an overgrown high-schooler. Go for a natural shade, if possible."

"Wait, what-?"

"There are better ways of standing out, after all. You ever consider a new hairstyle? They can get pretty crazy, if you put some effort into them."

"...how did you know-?"

"Well, people do say that 'daddy knows best'-" Ritsuko hung up before he could finish. "...huh. What awful manners."

Naoko finally burst into amused laughter.

xx

It was 2008. Naoko and Yu had finally finished the MAGI's functional prototypes, and were ready to integrate them into the municipal functions of Tokyo-3 on a case-by-case basis.

Coincidentally, Ritsuko Akagi had also graduated from the New Imperial University, and had been hired by GEHIRN to work within Naoko's department.

The moment Ritsuko walked into the underground labs, Yu successfully resisted the urge to blink with surprise. Instead of the blonde woman with the artificial beauty mark that he had gotten used to in a prior life, it was a woman with her natural hair color (dark brown, almost burgundy) still remaining, with her locks cut into a feathery, layered pixie cut.

"...well, that's certainly a statement," diplomatically remarked Naoko.

Ritsuko petulantly crossed her arms, as if expecting disappointment. "It certainly is."

Yu stoically responded, "it's a good look on you." Raising his arms, he nonchalantly added, "come give daddy a hug."

"Not in a million years," retorted Ritsuko with a pout (much to Naoko's humor).

"Ah. Unfortunate."

xx

Ritsuko's brilliance with computing quickly shined through, as she eventually took on more and more of Yu's responsibilities when it came to debugging the programming code. This gave Yu more time to directly interface with and maintain the hardware in the massive MAGI mainframes, a task that Naoko was happy to leave to him.

("It's a strange thing; they seem to respond better when you're inside them," remarked Naoko with the sort of coy smile that only heightened her innuendo. Ritsuko audibly groaned.)

Although Ritsuko tried to get under his skin in subtle ways, he brushed it off with aplomb by completely ignoring it and treating her like a consummate professional. That only made the times where he tried to randomly hug her all the more pronounced. (One day, his daughter would get a fatherly embrace.)

(She's not your daughter.)

(So long as he was with Naoko, he would treat Ritsuko as family...as best as he could, at any rate. There was only so much he could do when the young woman wouldn't reciprocate.)

As such, months later, it was only mildly surprising when Ritsuko told the two to leave the Geofront for a week. "I beg your pardon?" retorted Naoko, flabbergasted.

"I've already booked you two to a resort hotel," said the young doctor, holding out a brochure and two receipts with their check-in information. "Five days and four nights. That'll at least give you some leeway on getting there and getting back."

"...the Gôra Kadan?!" said Naoko with boggled eyes. "But that's-!"

"Mother," insisted Ritsuko with a resigned smile. "...as much as I hate to admit it, Narukami's been good for you. So...go on. Have some fun. Enjoy life outside of the Geofront for just a little while."

"But..." Naoko tried to find a rebuttal. "But..."

Yu, taking it for granted, simply handed Ritsuko a clipboard. "The MAGI have apparently had some 'creative' ideas about queueing traffic in the city, but there's no tangible programming error that I've been able to find that could be causing it. That needs to be taken care of ASAP. Think you can solve it within a week?"

Ritsuko rolled her eyes. "Sounds doable."

Yu flashed her a thumbs-up. "Way to make papa proud," he said with a straight face.

"And the moment's ruined. Get going. I've already cleared it with Ikari and Fuyutsuki." Ritsuko made a shooing motion with her hands. "Go on."

Yu took Naoko by the shoulder, who still seemed rather stunned by the unexpected gift. It wasn't until they were on the vehicle tram taking them to the surface — sitting in Yu's pre-owned Corsa L10, because why not go for the same make and model? — that he finally broke the silence. "I've heard good things about it; it has to be, to be one of the few establishments to remain after the conversion to Tokyo-3."

Naoko was staring at the check-in slips quietly, her hands still clenched tightly.

"Ritsuko will be fine. She's passed all of your performance evaluations since getting hired, after all."

"..."

"...I know that you've confessed to being distant with Ritsuko before, but I doubt this is the first time you've gotten a gift."

"It's not that," answered Naoko, finally speaking up. "It's...what it represents." Yu said nothing, giving Naoko time to form her words. "I've always wondered if she resented me on some level, for raising her by myself. She was afraid of boys for a long time; did you know that?"

"I can see it now: Ritsuko sees a five-year-old child, and scampers up a tree in terror. Like a cat would."

Naoko swatted his shoulder, her face a cross between amusement (at the joke) and irritation (for not taking the moment seriously). "I've always prided myself on being independent. So long as I was able to do my work, I was content...I was under no illusions about what a terrible mother I was to her. But I had no interest in looking for a replacement parent, because it seemed...superfluous. It's not like it would've made up for her father being absent." Looking back at the gift receipts, she confessed, "this...is her way of saying that she approves. Of me and you. And...I never realized I needed that from her. Not until this moment."

Yu couldn't help his own smile. "Evolution encapsulated, don't you think?"

"Hm?"

"This moment: you and Ritsuko have changed in a way you would have thought impossible even a year ago. This is the sort of human evolution that I live for."

Naoko huffed, taking it as an insight instead of a barb against her worldview.

"...we should get Ritsuko a gift," he offered. "I can brainstorm some ideas while you're processing your epiphany."

"...your sense of humor isn't needed now, Narukami-kun."

"Well, like I once said, it comes with the brain."

"...I suppose it does," she said with a tiny smile.

"...I wonder if I can figure out a way to get these gifts expensed out of the R&D budget as a reimbursable item. After all, it was the thought that counted more than anything."

"That would require some creative accounting."

Yu nodded solemnly. "And does not every military and government budget in the world thrive on such a skill?"

Naoko snorted. "If you can, I'll make sure to get it listed as a one-time bonus of sorts with Payroll. A little year-end present for Ritsuko."

"How about...we call it a 'Health and Wellness Incentive'?"

Naoko outright cackled at the sheer deviance of the idea.

xx

One week later, Yu Narukami and Naoko Akagi — looking and feeling considerably more refreshed — returned to the depths of GEHIRN.

Before Ritsuko could ask how their week had gone, an orange tabby kitten was pushed into her face. "...oh."

"I was reliably informed that you like cats," said Yu. The kitten's green eyes stared intently into Ritsuko's. "A token of our appreciation."

"...thank you," she murmured, gingerly taking him into her hands. Ritsuko briefly glanced at Naoko (doubtlessly exchanging a silent salvo of meaning that only mothers and daughters could understand) before saying, "does...he have a name?"

"We were going to leave that decision to you." Leaning in, Yu theatrically whispered, "but personally, I was thinking...Randall."

"...Randall?" said Ritsuko with a confused sputter. "A Western name?"

"Why not?"

"...why Randall?"

"Why not?"

(Naoko was doing a poor job of hiding her snickers.)

xx

2009 came and went. Even as Yu's bonds with Naoko and Ritsuko improved, he was still troubled inwardly.

(Still no luck when it came to finding Ryoji Kaji.)

(You could always ask Gendo for more information.)

(He was notoriously tight-lipped. There was also that strange little project that Gendo had going on in a part of Terminal Dogma that even he didn't have access to.)

(You've come so far; how many secrets are still waiting to be uncovered?)

(If only the other branches of GEHIRN allowed for personnel records to be researched. Maybe Kaji had joined elsewhere?)

(Such a dreadful thing, operational security is...)

It wasn't until 2010 that something truly noteworthy occurred, on the day that the MAGI supercomputer system was officially completed and deemed fully operational. From that day forward, Tokyo-3 would be administered and run by a trio of artificial minds based off of Naoko Akagi.

(He once would have thought of that as foreboding. Now...it was just a little foreboding.)

"...all these years of toil, and all of the debugging..." Naoko smiled as she leaned back in her chair, resting a hand on Yu's shoulder. "...it's finished..."

"And they're all as ornery as you are," remarked Ritsuko, wiping a hand across her brow. "This will reduce the time needed for running all of our Project E tests by an order of magnitude...maybe even more."

"...ah, that reminds me," murmured Yu, recalling something distant. He quickly accessed a particular diagnostic application and selected a particular subroutine. "Read this," he said, printing off a brief report.

As Naoko glossed over it, asking, "what's this? It looks like a chat log."

"Back in 2005, the MAGI were having a private conversation amongst each other. It looked like they were making a bet amongst each other...but given a certain 'event', it slipped my mind."

"Wasn't the only thing that slipped," joked Naoko with a coy grin (much to Ritsuko's annoyance). "...wait. They were...?"

Ritsuko walked over from her station, leaning over to look at the chat log. "The MAGI...were betting on you whether you two would hook up?"

"I don't know whether to feel appalled or annoyed that my personalities are such gossiping spinsters," grumbled Naoko.

"MELCHIOR was against, while BALTHASAR and CASPER were conditionally for," explained Yu.

"Those conditions being...?" wondered Ritsuko.

"BALTHASAR bet that I would make the first move. CASPER bet that Naoko would."

"Because of course CASPER would," grumbled Naoko, glaring over the rail at the three massive metal boxes containing the MAGI's hardware and biological components. "The Woman has always been a minx..."

"...it's strange. Happiness has always seemed such a nebulous thing to me...but maybe this is the closest thing to it that I can envision," admitted Ritsuko, sounding surprisingly vulnerable yet pleased. "If only Misato had better luck..."

"Your friend from university?" asked Yu.

"Yeah; she's getting reassigned from GEHIRN's German offices to here."

(Another familiar face.) "Will she be bringing her boyfriend with her? The one she always complained about in your e-mails?"

Ritsuko shook her head. "No; they've long since separated. Kaji-kun's going to remain at the branch in Germany, to help watch over the Second Child."

(He hadn't known Kaji had actually joined a separate branch of GEHIRN.) "I didn't know Katsuragi and Kaji had actually joined GEHIRN."

Ritsuko sent a knowing smile towards Naoko. "Well, it's not like everything mother and I talk about makes it your way. Girls do like to keep secrets, after all..."

"You're so cold to papa," mourned Yu with a deadset expression.

Ritsuko rolled her eyes, long resigned to the joke to the point where it was...seemingly accepted, by everyone involved.

At that moment, Randall (because once the name had been introduced, Ritsuko had been unable to think of any other, to her irritation) loosed a curious trill. Perched on the corner of Ritsuko's desk, the orange tabby was looking towards the entryway.

Yu looked over his shoulder, and saw...blue hair. Red eyes. A face that was strangely familiar. (It couldn't be.) "...who's the little girl?"

Ritsuko turned, blinking with surprise. "Ah; that's Rei Ayanami. Ikari said that he was looking after her for an acquaintance."

(Her face looks like Yui Ikari's.)

"What are you doing here?" asked Naoko aloud. "Little children shouldn't be wondering around this place by themselves."

"I got lost exploring," quietly whispered the girl; though she looked the part in her little red and pink dress, her eyes seemed impossibly ancient. (Those eyes were looking right at him.)

(She's looking at you with fear.)

(What had he ever done to elicit such dread from Ayanami?)

Rising from her chair, Naoko said, "then let me help you get back to the surface. Does that sound like a good idea?"

"...who is he?" asked Ayanami, pointing a tiny finger at him.

"He's my assistant," explained Naoko with a smile.

"My name is Yu Narukami. I'm also known as Naoko's gofer or Ritsuko's papa. Not that either of them will ever admit it."

The girl — ignoring Naoko and Ritsuko's light reactions to his comments — gingerly walked towards him, moving with such trepidation that he was honestly confused. (She's looking at you like you're some fearsome beast, ready to devour at a moment's notice.)

(What had he ever done to terrify her so?)

Finally, she stood in front of him, looking up with unnerving stoicism. (It's like she's looking into your soul.) "Ayanami-chan...?"

"...your soul is different from everyone else's," she murmured, eyes narrowing with an ancient anger. "...was my defeat not enough for you? Have you lowered yourself to mocking the memory of this time as well...?"

(Wait, what?)

(Wait, what?)

"Wait, what do you-?"

Rei's eyes flickered. There was a flash of orange (an A.T. Field!) that propelled him backwards, crashing through the computer monitors...and over the rail.

Yu barely had time to catch his bearings — barely had time to hear the panicked screams of the Akagis — to see the red-capped surface of BALTHASAR's container looming way too close-!

Impact.

xxxx

/December 9, 2001/

OBSERVATIONS:

- This is my sixtieth life. My fifty-ninth life ended after I fell to my death, thanks to Ayanami. Friends found: Yosuke, Fuyutsuki, Naoko, Ritsuko. (Married in all but name only: Naoko.)

(He had only met Yosuke as a child, that last life; after high school, the majority of his time with spent with those who would go on to join GEHIRN/NERV.)

(You are beginning to move on?)

(Though they weren't Social Links...the bonds he had forged with the likes of Fuyutsuki, Katsuragi, and the Akagis were real enough for him.)

- Important Events: Second Impact, etcetera. Gained greater understanding of the MAGI and the inner workings of NERV's predecessor. Helped out the Akagis. Rei knows.

(What did she know?)

(Is she aware of something that you're not? Did you do something in a life long forgotten?)

(Could she be mistaken? He wasn't sure.)

- Continued: there are more mysteries left to unravel. About Rei, about Gendo, about Yui, about the Angels.

(He had to keep going.)

- New Name: Hayato Asakawa
- New Age: 11 Years Old
- New Location: Tokyo

(Another non-Impact timeline.)

(Things had been going so well, too.)

(How did Ritsuko and Naoko react to your sudden demise?)

- Miscellany: a life ends, and all that I've worked for crumbles to dust. Yet the people I meet, with few exceptions, keep going on, unaware that it's all for nothing. What is it all for?

(He had to find the truth.)

Thus did he had another reminder to himself.

- Never forget your first life. Never forget those who died. Never forget your new relationships.

(You've spent so much energy on people and places that had nothing to do with your 'first' life. Why keep assigning it such importance?)

(Without that 'first' life, he doubted he'd have even come this far at all.)

xxxx

The next sequence of lives were rather unlucky in terms of where and when Yu Narukami manifested: namely, in timelines where Second Impact occurred, yet too young and remote to actually get into a position of influence within NERV.

However, it did enable him to cross-reference some of his older memories and come to a particular hypothesis regarding when the memories of his past lives would manifest.

Amidst a crowded warehouse, surrounded by hundreds of people, Yu quietly wrote with a ballpoint pen.

- Hypothesis: past memories don't manifest until all of the following conditions are met, in order—(1) I've attained the age of reason; (2) I've encountered a Social Link from my first life that I hadn't previously met in the current life.
- Rationale: As far as I can recall, for every single life, my memories only manifested once I met, saw, or read about someone that had previously been an S-Link.
- However, there were some lives where I knew one or more S-Links before awakening to my memories. (Most common case is where they were friends from the time I was a young child.) Why didn't they awaken my memories?
- Reason: They were present in my cognition prior to the age of reason. As such, they were 'expected', and 'normal.' There was no 'shock' or 'impact' to jostle my past memories into awakening.
- However, once I attained the age of reason, and was able to differentiate between myself and others in my own mind, awakening to past memories is possible.
- There may be other explanations as to why, but this is the simplest explanation I can think of going by what's known.
- Corollary: this implies that there may have been lives

He paused, wondering what to put down next.

(For some reason, writing in code felt...superfluous. Something momentous was about to happen. He could feel it.)

"What'cha writin'?" asked Kensuke Aida, sitting to his left.

"Private stuff," remarked Yu, not even looking up from his notebook.

"Yu-kun is a rather deep thinker," remarked Yukiko Amagi (introduced this time around in their first year of middle school; they had been best friends ever since) from the other side. "But personally, I think he's writing ghost stories!"

"...why ghost stories?" asked Hikari Horaki, hugging tightly onto Pen-Pen.

Yukiko smiled with excitement. "Well, he has a talent for saying really insightful stuff that freaks out a lot of our classmates. I'd say that means he writes stories about the Angels, but that would probably be in bad taste given...well, everything that's happened over the past several months. So what's the next best horror topic to write about after giant monsters? Ghosts!"

"...I guess that's logical...?" murmured Toji Suzuhara with a confused blink, clinging tightly to a crutch.

Hard to believe it's all come down to this, mused Yu.

Shortly before the end of 2015 in his current life (born in 2001), Tokyo-3 had been evacuated. Despite the media blackout, it hadn't been difficult to find out that the cause had been due to a massive explosion that wiped out most of the city, forcing the civilian populace to flee for Saitama and Nagano Prefectures. By sheer happenstance, Kensuke, Hikari, and Toji had been among those who evacuated to Tokyo-2.

(When Yukiko had insisted they meet the evacuees from Tokyo-3 — "Maybe they've seen an Evangelion in person!" she had exclaimed at the time — he had tried his damnedest to hide his shock at the sight of his former 'students.' The lack of any Evangelion Pilots amongst their number, the fact that Pen-Pen was in the care of the Horakis, and Toji lacking a left leg entirely carried bad omens.)

The implications of what had happened in Tokyo-3 in the interim...weren't pretty. The Eva Pilots had been relatively successful in a prior timeline up through the Eleventh Angel. What happened afterwards...?

(Ironically, this was the furthest he had ever made it into an Impact timeline, and it was the one timeline where he didn't have the capacity to get to Tokyo-3!)

(There's some irony there...and a possible lesson for you.)

Now, barely into 2016, the civilian populace of Tokyo-2 had been ordered into shelters and quarantine zones by the military, 'as a safety precaution' for some upcoming military operation. (It had to deal with Tokyo-3, somehow. Or an Angel. Or...it honestly could have been any number of things. He didn't have enough information!)

Fortunately, he had successfully persuaded his and Yukiko's parents to let them shelter with their 'new friends' from Tokyo-3 (because he had been their teacher for quite some time in a prior life; there was a connection there, even if the impulse to act like a mentor was still rather strong). If nothing else, they were familiar faces in an unfamiliar situation. (Plus, given Yukiko's interest in hearing of their experiences, it had allowed him to gain some additional details...awful details.)

(And you think you would've been able to stop those events from happening?)

(He had no way of knowing.)

Yu briefly gazed back over some of his old notes, this time written in French. (Because why not?)

- [Toji selected as Fourth Child. Deployment in Evangelion was hindered by Angel corruption. Shinji stopped him with great violence.]
- [Asuka mentally attacked by an 'Angel of light'. Went into depressive spiral?]
- [Rei Ayanami blew up?]
- [Kaji apparently died, if the rumors Aida heard had been true.]
- [Overall relationships amongst the Pilots and NERV staff degraded immensely.]

(It sounded like everything had gone tumbling down, near the end. Was this a constant?)

"...is it strange, feeling like the end of the world is coming?" wondered Kensuke with a nervous expression. "It just...I don't know. We've dealt with evacuations and sheltering in place...but this feels different."

"Well, this has been the first time we've ever had to deal with evacuations, so it's honestly kind of exciting." Yukiko immediately condemned herself. "Um, sorry. I know it sounds rude...but I can't help it-"

"It's okay, Amagi-san," quietly said Hikari, hugging more tightly onto Pen-Pen. "It's...not your fault."

Toji simply rested a hand on the bandaged and bound knub where his left leg had once been. "...it all went to hell. That's really all there is to it..."

At that moment, a clamor arose from the doorways, as the military police began backing away out of sheer fright. "It's a giant...it's a giant...!"

As if compelled from within, Yu immediately rose to his feet. The cries of Yukiko and the others were ignored, as he slipped through the throngs trying to get further inside. The warnings of the guards were ignored, and he gazed skyward...

...what the hell am I looking at...?

The sheer scale was almost hard to comprehend. (Ameno-sagiri had been big. Izanami and Izanami-no-Okami had been bigger. Hi-no-Kagutsuchi and Mikuratana-no-Kami had been literal titans. The Evangelions and most of the Angels had been utterly gargantuan. This...)

(You are but a mere ant in the grand scheme of things. You always have been.)

A black sphere floated above the horizon, looking like a moon; a white giant (literally white, colored like paste or glue) was cradling the sphere between her hands, and purple wings spanned beyond the horizon. And those red eyes, staring blankly at the black moon...it struck a chord.

Yet the sheer scale rendered the feminine figure difficult to recognize, at first. It...looks like Ayanami...but that can't be...what's going on...?!

As red lights began to sparkle around the floating sphere, the sound of splashing liquid echoed behind him. Yu turned, gazing with detached bewilderment as the whole warehouse trickled with orange water (no, not orange water, LCL!)...and floating above the newly-formed pond, one for each soul that had been present, were specters of Rei Ayanami. "...what's going on...?"

Suddenly, another flashed in front of his eyes, staring at him with utter befuddlement and outrage. "Why do you keep appearing...?" Her very appearance morphed and shifted with each passing moment, transitioning between those he had bonded with over the years, Social Link or otherwise (Naoto, Chie, Rise, Yosuke, Kanji, Yukiko, Nanako, Yumi, Ayane, Ai, Misato, Naoko, Ritsuko, so many others that they all blended together beneath the visage of an increasingly outraged blunette!). "Have you truly become so bored?! Was defeating me and ADAM not enough for you, that you would descend to this level of pettiness?! To toy with the life where my choice damned us all?!"

(What was she talking about?) The utter fury coming from someone who was normally so stoic and aloof caught Yu flat-footed. "Now hold on a second-!"

"Even now...your soul is screaming at me, so utterly unlike the rest of humankind...has your ascension to the Throne changed you so much? Or did you decide to start rubbing it in my face on a whim?!"

What is she talking about?! "Ayanami-"

"Just stop," she wailed, speaking with the voice of a legion. "You already won...I've not lifted a finger against you since...so please...just let me suffer in solitude until my existence finally ends...!"

Yu couldn't even muster a confused retort before an Anti-A.T. Field covered the globe; all he saw was a rapidly-encroaching tide of crimson light and green crosses-!

xxxx

/April 17, 1994/

OBSERVATIONS:

- This is my seventy-first life. My seventieth life ended at the hands of Rei Ayanami doing 'something'. Friends found: Yukiko.
- Important Events: Second Impact, etc. Possible world-ending cataclysm at the hands of a white giant in early 2016.
- I don't even know where to begin.

(The defeat of her and ADAM? A choice that damned everyone? Something about a Throne?)

(You've always been a mere fish in a great lake...now you see that you've always been but a minnow in the ocean.)

(And what were those words about his soul, being utterly unlike the rest of humankind?)

(Yet another question on a list that keeps growing...will you ever find rest...?)

xxxx

It was more than clear to Yu Narukami that Rei Ayanami had greater knowledge of other timelines than she had let on.

(Who to pursue? Ayanami, or Kaji?)

(Perhaps you could strongarm Gendo Ikari into being more honest.)

(He doubted that Ikari would be so forthcoming.)

There were another few non-Impact timelines to go through, and several more Impact timelines where circumstances kept him away from NERV or Tokyo-3. (It was a rather depressing commentary that he had been nuked in Old Tokyo more often than he had died by drowning due to Impact-induced flooding.)

(How long will this obsession drive you?)

(He had to find the truth.)

(How long will you live so halfheartedly, waiting for the 'right' timeline, as untold experiences pass you by?)

(He had to find the truth.)

At last: during his eighty-second life (born in 1988), once Second Impact occurred, Yu resolved to ensure a future position with NERV. Focusing on a double major in computer science and bioengineering, Yu Narukami graduated from the New Imperial University in Tokyo-2 in 2011.

(There were times when walking around campus that he caught glimpses of Katsuragi, Kaji, and Akagi. However, being two years behind them, and given how his double major added onto his academic workload, he had never been able to find a time where his path would reasonably intersect theirs.)

(You're thinking too circuitously. Just go introduce yourself to them.)

(He would run into all three of them eventually in Tokyo-3.)

(Now you're letting 'future' knowledge dictate your actions. Is that any way to live?)

After sending out his résumé to numerous private and governmental institutions, Yu went to the trouble of interviewing with several before finally accepting a job offer from NERV.

It felt like deja vu, sitting inside Gendo Ikari's office once more.

"A bit younger this time, hm?" remarked Gendo, hands folded in front of his face.

"In a manner of speaking," calmly answered Yu, looking at the man with some measure of suspicion.

"It's been so many timelines since I last saw you, that I wondered if you had given up."

"Circumstances have kept me away from here."

"It's fascinating, how variable your existence is, even in timelines where other events largely stay the same."

(It was time to play a brief gamble.) "I guess I'm something of a Wild Card." Gendo showed no reaction to that term. (Best not to play any other hands, then.) "The last timeline I joined NERV is one where I was in a relationship with Naoko Akagi."

"...ah," murmured Gendo, after spending a few moments in recollection. "That was...over twenty lifetimes ago."

(Like he needed a reminder of how much he had endured.) "I fell to my death thanks to Rei Ayanami. What happened afterwards?"

Gendo's smirk emerged like a wretched snake, peering from its lair to devour a hapless rodent. "Naoko Akagi's affection for you was...deeper than even I had believed possible. She broke Ayanami's neck in a fit of rage. Then the MAGI executed Special Order 582."

"...which means...?"

"A self-destruct mechanism." Ignoring Yu's alarm, Gendo continued, "the entirety of the facility — from Terminal Dogma on up — is wired with high-yield explosives. In the event of an Angel infiltrating Headquarters, they are meant to detonate as a method of last resort, to prevent Third Impact from happening. To stop such a self-destruct mechanism from being turned against our own staff by foreign hackers, it was deemed necessary for the MAGI to give a unanimous consensus in order for the detonation to proceed. Given their unique construction, it was the safest means by which we could still destroy the base in the event of total operational loss." The man lightly clapped, which echoed like a hollow drum in the cavernous office. "Apparently, the MAGI shared Naoko's sentiments, because they detonated the entire base moments after Naoko killed Ayanami."

Yu honestly had no words.

"Bravo: you destroyed NERV years before the Angels returned. A truly stunning turn of events."

(Yu felt his disgust increase, ever so slightly.) "...were you not in the base that day?"

"I was in Tokyo-2, finalizing the terms of GEHIRN's pending reorganization into NERV. A necessary step, given the transition from a special organization focused on R&D to an NGO tasked with being the last line of defense against the Angels. The MAGI transmitted their final data logs to our secondary facility in Matsushiro, which is how I learned of what happened after the fact."

(Somehow, he doubted that was purely coincidence.) "...and what happens to Naoko normally?"

"She ends up choking Rei Ayanami in a fit of rage for an entirely different reason," admitted Gendo. "A very strange constant, wouldn't you say?"

(Now his disgust increased by three sizes.) "...it's a shame," Yu muttered, staring stoically at Gendo. "Despite our philosophical differences...Naoko was a brilliant scientist, an encouraging mother...and a good woman."

The intentional reference to the triune aspects of the MAGI was completely ignored. "Your point?"

Deciding to change the subject before he could get angrier, Yu asked, "there's one other thing I'd like to ask about...though I never joined NERV or made it to Tokyo-3 in my seventieth life, I met a few students in Tokyo-2 after they had evacuated in December of 2015. Then, on New Year's Day of 2016...I saw a white giant with immense wings, looming over the Earth. Then I saw Rei Ayanami...and then I died." Gendo's grin was all the answer he needed. "What was that?"

"The end of the world, Narukami. It is how this timeline always ends."

"Why did the giant look like Rei? Why does she seem to despise me? And the terms she used: about how I 'defeated' her and ADAM, about my supposed 'ascension' to some 'Throne'; what was she referring to?"

Gendo leaned back in his chair, his eyes hidden by the reflected light on his orange shades. "It is a mystery, I'm afraid; Rei tends to avoid me if possible during non-Impact timelines. If she is convinced as to your culpability in some alleged event, you'll have to ask her yourself as to why she believes that."

(How spectacularly unhelpful.) "I'm afraid she'd just as soon kill me again."

"Then I'll phrase it as an order."

"Would that be enough?"

"In this timeline, Rei is rather...particular. She professes a desire to suffer as penance for her sins. Living this life over and over, according to how events originally happened...that is how she chooses to live. As such, she will follow my orders, for the most part."

(Did that imply this Impact timeline was the 'original' one? The 'real' one?) "But why?"

"As I said: you'll have to ask her yourself."

"...you suck," stated Yu.

The heartfelt words were so petty and unexpectedly juvenile that Gendo impulsively laughed.

xx

As it turned out, Yu was assigned to the Technical Branch, under the supervision of Ritsuko Akagi. (This time, she was blonde, bearing red lipstick and the fake beauty mark. What a shame, that she had felt the need to cover up her natural beauty with synthetic allure.)

"Your CV was rather impressive on paper, but we'll see if that translates to practical experience."

Yu nodded. "I understand, Dr. Akagi."

"...what's with that stare?" asked Ritsuko, lowering her clipboard.

"Nothing. It's just...your eyebrows."

Ritsuko blinked, looking somewhat dumbfounded. "My...eyebrows?"

"I mean, you're not exactly fooling anyone with the hair dye, but why leave your eyebrows uncolored? At least if you tinted them a similar shade, it'd be enough to make people second-guess themselves."

The nearby technicians all stared in dumbfounded silence at his utter gall. Flatly, Dr. Akagi replied, "give me a reason why I shouldn't fire you right now."

"Because it would make me sad. And you'd have to spend time going through the hiring process again."

"Valid points. Not enough."

"I will call you senpai at all times."

Ritsuko was unimpressed, looking back down at his curriculum vitae. "...I'm unconvinced that this CV belongs to you."

"You're just as entitled to make fun of my hair if you so desire. It's only fair."

"...let's just put you through your paces first."

xx

Much to Dr. Akagi's disappointment, Yu was, in fact, good at his job.

"How are the MAGI responding so well to your maintenance?" remarked Ritsuko, peering into the confines of the mainframes.

Yu, typing away at a terminal inside CASPER, remarked, "maybe the MAGI just needed someone to talk to." Running a hand against a coiled cable full of coolant, he added, "isn't that right, CASPER? I bet you're just lonely."

Ritsuko's expression of utter befuddlement, exasperation, and disbelief perfectly displayed her irritation. "Are you for real?"

"No, I'm Yu." Typing away at the terminal, he said, "don't worry CASPER, Akagi-senpai doesn't mean it. I'm sure she'd be willing to hang out with you if you asked politely."

"...I don't know if you're taking the piss or not, and that scares me," she grumbled.

"Could it be both?"

"They're mutually exclusive."

"Not necessarily."

xx

The first time Yu met Rei Ayanami this time around was when she emerged from Terminal Dogma in 2012, to perform some Sync Tests.

Within the Pribnow Box, Yu stared through the window at a Simulation Body, suspended by water and tethered to the wall by numerous cables. "Is there a reason why they were left without a head? Or limbs?"

"They were salvaged from failed Evangelions, Narukami," muttered Ritsuko, typing away at her terminal. "We want to iron out all possible issues before putting Ayanami into Unit-00 for a true test; this way, she can get used to the action of 'synchronizing' using the Simulation Body as a medium to reach Unit-00."

"So the Simulation Body is like a firewall."

"A relatively accurate analogy."

(Perhaps NERV was trying to avoid a repeat of Yui Ikari's Contact Experiment?) Leaning over towards a microphone, Yu said, "okay Ayanami-san, we're ready to begin when you are. Do you copy?" There was no answer. "Ayanami-san?" Still nothing.

Sighing, Ritsuko turned on the microphone on her terminal. "Ayanami, respond."

"I am ready, Dr. Akagi."

Rei's voice, despite its stoicism, still came off as clipped. "What did you do to tick off Ayanami?"

"Not sure, Akagi-senpai," honestly answered Yu. "Today's the first time we've met." In a manner of speaking...

"...I'd chalk it up to a fear of men, if I didn't know of her relationship with the Commander. Maybe she's just intolerant of strangers...?" Shaking her head, Ritsuko said, "just leave any communication to me. Focus on monitoring her vitals and the relevant data."

"Copy that." (At least silence was preferable to getting immediately murdered.)

xx

Through 2013, more staff joined NERV. Among their number was a young woman named Maya Ibuki. (The name rang few bells; perhaps Misato or Ritsuko had mentioned her offhand at some point, in a prior life?)

"It's strange, being the only civvie among the junior staff," remarked Yu, eyeing the various individuals in NERV's khaki uniforms, with clips over the left breast pocket bearing signs of rank and insignia. By comparison, he looked rather casual in his jeans, yellow button-up shirt, and white lab coat.

"Well, I wasn't exactly in combat myself," admitted the relatively shy newcomer (who, based on her personnel file, had been born in 1991; that put him right between Akagi and Ibuki in terms of age). "Most of my duties involved software engineering...Narukami-senpai, was it?"

(Been a while since you were called senpai.) "Enough for you to become a Second Lieutenant, at any rate."

"Given NERV's mission statement, I'm surprised you have no prior military experience. I mean, if you don't mind my asking!"

Yu shook his head. "No, it's fair enough. Considered military work a few times, but I decided it wasn't for me. I was hired here right out of university."

"Try not to intimidate the new girl Narukami-san," lightly admonished Ritsuko, watching as some technicians went about fixing the wiring for the holographic displays. "She passed her interviews with flying colors."

"But did she pass the final examination?" he asked.

Maya blinked, suddenly looking nervous. "Um...a final exam...?"

Looking at her with stern eyes, Yu asked, "Second Lieutenant Maya Ibuki...do you like cats?"

"...yes?" she said with a confused stutter.

"Excellent. You pass." Yu glanced towards Ritsuko. "Akagi-senpai, I humbly request permission for Ibuki-san to be your new gofer, as is tradition."

"Gofer?!"

"Request denied," bluntly retorted Ritsuko.

Yu frowned. "It would only be fair for the new girl to have to go to the surface to check on Randall. At least your apartment would see more variety."

"R-Randall? Apartment?" sputtered Maya.

"First of all, Randall's an orange tabby," said Ritsuko to Maya. "And secondly," she added, turning back towards Yu, "his name's not Randall. It's Momo!"

"That's awfully harsh of you. Randall wishes you would stop calling him such awful names."

"Momo's the name I gave him."

"So rude, ignoring Randall's personal desires."

Maya didn't know what to think. "Um..."

"Oh, and word of advice," he added (swerving to a completely different tangent), "the chairs in the Command Center are...less than pleasant." He opened a hidden drawer underneath his terminal, revealing a gray cushion in the shape of a chibi penguin. "I recommend bringing your own."

"...right..." nervously muttered Ibuki.

xx

The very next day, Yu looked tellingly at Maya as she sat on a pink cat pillow.

"...please don't make fun of me," she whispered, scooting her chair further towards her terminal.

"I all but advised you to bring something to sit on," replied Yu. "That would be akin to making fun of myself, and I believe that self-love is important."

(Well that's a certifiable lie.)

(He actually believed that.)

(...fine, then you're a gigantic hypocrite. Who would subject themselves to this sort of endless repetition for the reasons you've chosen?)

(A fair enough retort.)

"...right." Maya nodded, seemingly taking his words in stride.

"Oh, and one more thing." He pulled out a packet of nicotine gum from his shirt pocket, handing it to her. "I've been trying to keep Akagi-senpai from relapsing. If you see her try to sneak in a cigarette when I'm not around, please give her a piece."

"...I think I can do that," said Maya with a nod, taking the packet of nicotine gum from him.

"Good. Even though kouhai are expected to learn from their senpai, it's also our duty to look after their welfare." He held out his fist towards her. "Will you accept this mission with me?"

"...you're strange, Narukami-senpai." Maya nonetheless gave him a fist bump. "But the Akagis' revolutionary work with the MAGI computers are why I joined NERV to begin with...so I'll do my best!"

(Maya was honestly the most enthusiastic individual he had met in quite a while. It was truly endearing.) "For senpai."

"For senpai!"

As Dr. Akagi walked back into the Command Center with a steaming cup of coffee in hand, she stared flatly at their fist bump. "I sense a plot against me..."

"You sense wisely, Akagi-senpai," ominously said Yu. "A plot to be the best assistants ever."

Ritsuko rolled her eyes, unable to help the small smile that came to her face. "Just get back to work, you two."

(Thus far, he had forged a relatively good working relationship with Ritsuko, and Maya seemed a rather well-adjusted individual with a sunny disposition. The path to friendship — and only friendship — was wide open!)

(You're asking too much of yourself.)

xx

One more year had passed, and it was now 2014. Yu Narukami was at Ritsuko Akagi's apartment on the surface...and he wasn't alone.

(You KNEW you were asking too much.)

(He didn't understand. Honestly.)

(Of course you don't.)

Sandwiched between Ritsuko and Maya on Akagi's bed, Yu stared stoically at the ceiling. Why is it so difficult to just be friends...?

(Oh, what a truly existential dilemma you're suffering.)

(Surely this amounted to unprofessional nepotism, or inappropriate fraternization. How many workplace regulations did this violate!?)

(Like NERV, or Gendo Ikari specifically, ever seemed to care about that.)

(...he couldn't refute that.)

The sound of a cat demanding food echoed from outside the bedroom.

"Not now Randall, I'm having a moment," he whispered.

"...t'name is Momo," sleepily murmured Ritsuko.

"Of course, senpai..." he muttered, impulsively tightening his arms around both women. At least her apartment doesn't smell like cigarettes anymore...

xx

All told, reactions were fairly...expected.

(Maya woke up, looking rather mortified and embarrassed at waking up in a bed with two other people. Ritsuko impulsively reached for a cigarette...only to grimace at the fact none were available, and instead reached for the packet of nicotine gum on the nightstand. He, on the other hand, got up to look for breakfast. Noticing a distinct lack of eggs or bread, he poured three bowls of cereal.)

Breakfast had been a rather quiet affair, for the most part.

("...you two have made working in this damn place bearable," muttered Ritsuko, looking evenly at them both. "If neither of you want anyone else to know...then that's fine by me. I'd rather keep it quiet, because people would talk about how unprofessional it is. But I think Ikari wouldn't care, even if he knew. What we have...is something I can call my own.")

Ritsuko had dismissed them both, saying that they could have the rest of Sunday to themselves, but to show up at work on Monday.

Standing in the apartment complex's elevator in silence, Maya asked, "was...what we did...the right thing?"

Yu glanced curiously at her. "The three of us having dinner at her place was technically your idea. The escalation from that was...unexpected." In the face of Maya's blush, he added, "but I suppose...you might have a point." (He had lived for so long that being in various positions of authority — having authority, and lacking the same — was no longer an issue to him. Pursuing the relationship for the sake of the bond itself rendered such questions irrelevant, in his mind.)

(None of the others are like you, however.)

(People like Maya, or Ritsuko...still had rather mundane concerns, about social respect and things of that sort. Those were concerns that seemed to slip away from him with increasing regularity.)

(You've lived too long. How many more lives before you become like Gendo Ikari?)

(The very idea seemed anathema.)

"...I just don't want senpai to get into trouble," murmured Maya, fidgeting with her hands.

Yu held out his fist towards her (not initiating contact, but an invitation nonetheless), saying, "I don't think a life without trouble is possible. But is it the kind of trouble you'll be able to live with?"

"...I don't know."

"In the end, nobody can force you to do anything. So be honest with yourself about what you want, Ibuki-senpai."

"...um, but you're also one of my senpai..."

"You technically have a higher military rank than me or Dr. Akagi, so you're our military senpai," he casually said. "A senpai trio is what we are..."

"...you're so strange, Narukami-senpai," said Maya with a fond smile, finally returning his fist bump. "But that's one of the things I like about you, as odd as it sounds..."

Yu nodded. "For Akagi-senpai."

"For Akagi-senpai," she chorused.

xx

A few days later, at night in NERV, Yu was at his personal workstation, writing into an old notepad.

OBSERVATIONS:

- I've only ever been on the periphery of NERV; even in the life where I was with Naoko, the deepest secrets were hidden. I knew of LILITH, of Project E, of the Angels' eventual return. But I lacked the 'why' behind so many things.
- Why was LILITH found here? Why do Evangelions require children to be their pilots? Why did Yui Ikari choose to partake in the Contact Experiment to begin with? If Gendo truly hates this chain of events so much, why doesn't he change anything? If Yui was bound within Unit-01, who is likewise bound within the other Evas? Who is Rei Ayanami?
- I died before I could find out.
- That event when I made it to January 1, 2016 as well: a winged giant that looked like Rei...and all those Reis who showed up, before I died suddenly. Ayanami seems connected to so much. Who is she?
- Although I help supervise her Sync Tests, the place where Rei stays is a mystery to me. She must be somewhere within Terminal Dogma, in an area I have no access to...but why? Why does she live in such an isolated place?
- Ikari mentioned that Naoko had choked Rei before. Is this the same Rei? Or did she actually die? If so...who is Rei Ayanami?
- And how does Kaji tie into everything? What about SEELE? Ikari mentioned they're irrelevant now, but are they?
- A collection of miscellaneous data, but nothing as substantive as I'd like.
- And why hasn't the Velvet Room ever shown up again?!
- I need to find the truth.

Yu idly tore the paper out of his notepad and ripped it to shreds before stuffing them into his pocket; moments later a brief message came across on his terminal via private channel.

G. Ikari: The MAGI's municipal functions include surveillance in numerous parts of the city. NERV personnel of importance are also included in that number.
G. Ikari: Two more, hm?

Yu frowned, impulsively closing the chat window. (He never took Gendo to be a voyeur.)

(That would require him to gain some pleasure from it...and you doubt he's even capable of that.)

In like manner, an unprompted error report was delivered to him from the MAGI's administrative subroutines:

CASPER. Admin: Ritsuko seems to have caught herself a decent man. But why involve the mousey assistant?
BALTHASAR. Admin: Would you like to review the following resources related to Family Planning?
MELCHIOR. Admin: What a waste of time.

Yu promptly deleted and scrubbed the error report, looking up at the ceiling of his private office with a sober stoicism. "...in times where I'm not present...what are they like...?"

(His impulsive need to seek relationships — to help people, and be helped in return, in a sort of mutually beneficial symbiosis — probably blinded him to a lot of underlying history and personality flaws.)

(You can sense the deep-rooted unhappiness like a rotting miasma.)

(What was the source of Ritsuko's ambivalence towards NERV? Was it her mother's suicide, this time around?)

(Do you ever wonder about your own ambivalence? Even if it was many lives ago, you practically considered Ritsuko an adopted daughter, however jokingly you coated it.)

(What of it?)

(And now, she's your superior in 'age' and rank, and you're enabling an inappropriate relationship that would get you, her, and Maya reprimanded in a normal work environment.)

(NERV was hardly a normal work environment. And Ritsuko's importance as the head of Project E rendered her mostly invulnerable to such concerns...and if the end of the world was a constant, Gendo Ikari likely wouldn't even bother.)

(Your ability to adapt is quite thorough...but how much of it is a measure of your own duplicity?)

(If he didn't detach himself to some degree from the absurdities and contradictions these different lives often put him through, he would have gone insane long before now.)

(And you're so sure that you're not?)

xx

As the year rolled on, Yu made it a point to both Ritsuko and Maya that they should arrange for times where they would mingle and hang out as pairs (not necessarily romantically), and not only as a trio. Notwithstanding the fact that it would deflect suspicion, it would also help them come to understand each other better in light of their...new situation.

(Ritsuko arched an eyebrow out of intrigue. Maya seemed flabbergasted that a guy was intentionally limiting his own opportunities for threesomes. "Men like you were practically nonexistent at the university I went to...")

(Were college-aged men really that horny...?)

(...Yosuke Hanamura.)

(Ah. Right. How could he ever forget...?)

(You're slipping.)

Although work still occupied the majority of their time, Yu enjoyed the opportunities when they came about.

xx

Fast forward to September 2014.

Although Yu and Ritsuko were discussing recent issues from the most recent analysis package formulated by the MAGI for Project E, they were doing so whilst walking around Lake Ashi.

At one point, Ritsuko stopped, staring solemnly at the twilight sky. She had stopped applying her beauty mark and brilliant red lipstick over the past few months (especially after repeated insistence from her assistants that they weren't necessary, because who was she showing off for?), sticking with a more minimalist makeup. It made her blonde hair dye stand out even more, ironically enough. "...it's odd, being used to a ceiling above your head...even though sunlight gets reflected into the Geofront, it's not the same..."

"Given that the Geofront is a gigantic subterranean sphere, I thought that would be obvious."

Ritsuko shot Yu a weary glare. "Smartass."

"My brain's in my head, not my ass."

"...can I just enjoy the moment in peace?"

"I thought we were being perfectly peaceful. You didn't threaten me even once."

"Ha ha." Taking a deep breath — a really deep breath — she said, "I can't even remember the last time I craved a cigarette..."

"Smoking's bad for electronics, so I'm surprised you smoked as much as you did."

Dr. Akagi snorted, a somewhat sardonic expression overshadowing her features. "It's strange...thinking of how desperate I once was for that man's attention...I wonder if I would have even..."

Yu said nothing, letting Ritsuko have the moment to wonder and ponder. (The lines were easy enough to read through. Would Gendo have...?)

(With how this timeline is 'supposed' to go? You can't know for certain. Your mere presence always alters trajectories.)

(Gendo Ikari's unpleasantness seemed to drag down a lot of people, he couldn't help but notice...)

xx

Fast forward to October 2014.

At a lounge on the surface called Neo Penguin Sniper, Maya read the history of the establishment — mounted on the wall as a stylized parchment — with genuine interest. "Huh...the owner actually left Tokyo-1 mere days before it was destroyed..."

"Guess he saved up enough capital to open up a successor," murmured Yu, sipping from a cup of whiskey on the rocks. "...they always say 'on the rocks', but it's never actually rocks..."

Maya, sipping from her umeshu cocktail, gazed over at the nearby pool tables. "...you up for a game, Narukami-senpai?"

"Billiards?" As the young woman nodded, Yu downed the rest of his whiskey. "Challenge accepted." (It had been quite a while, but there were some lives where he had dominated the local arcade.)

(Muscle memory is a wicked temptress. You haven't played in a while.)

As it turned out, Maya was unexpectedly a pool shark, besting him three-out-of-five. "The youthful kouhai, hiding a predator's gaze behind a cherub-like demeanor, hustles her senpai with veiled viciousness," he stated aloud, narrating her performance as though it were a nature documentary.

Maya was in too much of a good mood (or maybe it was the second ume highball she was sipping from?) to be as demure as usual. "Well, at university, it's how I would earn a little extra spending money...it's just geometry, angles, and application of force."

"...so what you're saying is that you chose billiards because you're a nerd," he said with faux sagacity.

Maya blinked. "If...you want to put it that way..."

"Then perhaps we should try a nerd's game with a different skill set," he retorted, turning towards the dart boards.

Maya blanched. "Er...I'm not quite as good at darts..."

"Then allow the King to teach you." Turning towards the bar, he placed his glass down with a subtle yet profound thunk. "Fill 'er up."

(This seemed familiar.)

(You can't be serious...)

Hours later, a taxi dropped the duo — now well and truly red-faced after four drinks a piece (or was it five? Six...?) — off by Narukami's apartment. "The King can't believe you're such a fast learner..." murmured Yu.

Maya, her face flushed heavily, retorted, "the Queen can't believe that the King would doubt her capability..."

(After Maya had hit her first bull's-eye, he had lightly dubbed her as a challenger to his 'throne'. After their third drink, they had begun referring to themselves in the third person by royal titles.)

"Well, the King's orders are absolute," he said, gingerly opening the door to his bottom-floor apartment. Supporting each other in their mutual inebriation, Yu slowly maneuvered them towards the couch in the living room.

"And the Queen demands to know what the King's orders are!" she loudly asked in the manner of drunk people who thought they were talking but were actually yelling.

"The King's orders...are to sleep." Letting go of her, Yu fell backwards onto the couch, hitting the cushions with a soft thud.

"The Queen...agrees." Maya then fell on top of him, her cheek crashing into his face. "Ow."

"The King thinks the Queen's face is too heavy," he grumbled.

"The Queen thinks the King should shut up."

"The King will ensure that the Empress hears of this foul transgression..."

"...not if the Queen tells the Empress that she beat the King like a chump..."

"...who's the Empress again...?"

"...zzz..."

"...ah, right...zzz..."

They both fell asleep in short order. (No sexy times were had; the mood just wasn't right.)

xx

Yu never purposefully dug into the details about what Ritsuko and Maya did with their time together.

(Like you're not curious.)

(Of course he was curious. That didn't mean that prying wouldn't have been rude regardless.)

xx

Fast forward to November 2014.

At Ritsuko Akagi's apartment, Yu aimed a cumbersome video camera around the corner and into the kitchen. "And here we have Randall, curiously gazing upon the newcomer Kiki..."

Maya, hovering behind him, clenched her fists tightly with growing excitement.

The orange tabby in question was staring at a female calico (a present for Ritsuko's twenty-ninth birthday); the latter was helping herself to dry cat kibble.

"Will the master of this domain accept the trespasser...or will he treat her as an usurper...?"

Ritsuko, reading a newly-published computer science journal at the kitchen table, stared dryly at her assistants. "It's just a cat getting introduced to another cat."

"But Dr. Akagi," solemnly said Yu, acting as if the fate of the world was on the line. "Don't you believe that love can bloom around the food bowl?"

"Yes, senpai! Don't you?" chorused Maya with enthusiasm.

Ritsuko stared flatly at them. Then she turned back to her journal without answering.

"Such a meanie," mumbled Yu.

"She doesn't believe in love..." mourned Maya.

"Just the worst."

"The worst!"

"Don't worry Randall, we believe in your ability to change!"

"Let Kiki warm your heart!"

Ritsuko refused to chuckle at their antics. Not even once did a giggle slip by. Honest.

(It said volumes that Maya felt comfortable enough to tease Ritsuko by this point.)

(Don't lie to yourself, you really want Randall to have kittens with Kiki.)

(But of course! Then he would name the kittens Momo, Momo the 2nd, Momo Junior, Momo Quattro, Go-Momo, and so on...)

(That would just make Ritsuko even angrier about the fact she already has a cat named Momo.)

(He could be such a silly man at times; Ritsuko had only ever had Randall.)

(Do you even know if you're joking anymore? Or have you embraced your delusion?)

(There was no Delusion; there was only Dekunda and Dekaja!)

(What?)

(What?)

(...)

(...maybe he should make a steak dinner for Ritsuko and Maya. A little splurging sounded nice.)

(...whatever. Steak sounds good.)

xx

Fast forward to December 2014.

Ritsuko pulled Yu away from the Command Center, asking him to follow her. "What for, Akagi-senpai?"

"...Commander Ikari has authorized you to see the Dummy Plug Plant."

"...the dummy what now?"

"You've been curious about Ayanami, right? You haven't exactly been subtle about it."

...oh. (Oh.) (Oh.) "Given the girl's total refusal to talk with me, I'd sort of given up on that, to be honest..."

"Well, I think it's a good idea for you to know."

Yu, in all honesty, expected to take an elevator that he had yet to step into in this life: the lift that would lead directly to the remnants of the Artificial Evolution Laboratory, where the first Evangelion prototypes had been built and constructed...and where the crucified LILITH lied. (The public description of it as the 'LCL Production Plant' was rather inspired, in terms of keeping its true contents a secret.)

However, Ritsuko directed him to an entirely separate elevator, which would apparently lead them to the deepest part of Central Dogma: an entirely separate means of accessing Terminal Dogma, it would seem. "...what exactly is down here?" he asked, staring at the back of Ritsuko's head.

"...the graveyard of failed Evangelions. The place where Yui Ikari disappeared." (Yu resisted the urge to blink with alarm; had Terminal Dogma and the lower layout of GEHIRN been shifted and reorganized completely after it had been reconstituted as NERV? What would justify such a notorious level of secrecy?) "And the place where Rei Ayanami was born."

Yu frowned. "She was born down here? Who were her parents?"

"...there are none. Not in any conventional sense."

As the elevator came to a halt, Yu followed Ritsuko, who walked ahead with hands in the pockets of her lab coat. The odd miasma that GEHIRN and NERV had always exuded...now it seemed to be utterly tyrannical, as though sorrow itself had metastasized into something cancerous. It only solidified the odd tingle down his spine as they walked past the expanse showing bones of failed Evas, gathered into pits arranged in an esoteric design. The red glow triggered a long dormant memory, of another bloody skeleton rising from a treacherous abyss. (Like Izanami-no-Okami...)

(If Izanami-no-Okami was a god...then would these be failed gods?)

Yu, trying to keep track of what he was 'supposed' to know (and what he shouldn't know), cautiously asked, "...there've always been a lot of rumors about what the Evangelions were made of. They're definitely biological to some extent...but where did the material come from?"

"...what do you know about Second Impact, Narukami-san?"

"...that it was the result of a small meteorite moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light, carrying enough kinetic energy to vaporize the continental ice. Chaos ensued," he said, offering the official cover-up. Letting the silence hang, he then added, "but I'm assuming by the fact you brought it up that that's not how Second Impact happened."

"Long ago, ancient knowledge of extraterrestrial origin was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. An organization known as SEELE worked to use that knowledge to advance the evolution of humankind according to their designs; it was through that prophetic knowledge that the Black Moon of Hakone and the White Moon of Antarctica were discovered."

(He couldn't help but think of the black sphere floating in the sky, before the world had ended. Had that actually been the Geofront?!) "...hmm. It always struck me as odd, that an arcology of the Geofront's scale would be built. NERV was constructed within an alien artifact, then?"

"Yes...within the Black Moon, LILITH was found; likewise ADAM, within the White Moon. Gods, for all intents and purposes...and in their joy, those humans tried to hold those gods within their grasp. Through experimentation, they hoped to divinize humankind, and make us a more perfect creature...and through the introduction of human DNA to ADAM, Second Impact occurred."

"...wait." The possibility was looming large (for the oddities surrounding NERV, Project E, GEHIRN...had always seemed so far beyond a typical government black project. Had they...?), and it was too horrifying to contemplate. "Then Second Impact was...intentional...?" (All of the death and chaos of Second Impact, and everything that had come from it: the militarization of numerous countries, the destruction of cities and countries, the Annihilation of Inaba...were traced to a man-made disaster...?)

"ADAM vanished, after Second Impact: split into pieces that, per the Dead Sea Scrolls, will soon return," continued Ritsuko, continuing her slow trek through the depths of Central Dogma. "Evangelion was an attempt to recreate ADAM, to have a god within the control of man. But without a soul of their own, they could not move, or be controlled...we learned this because of Yui Ikari's Contact Experiment. An attempt to salvage Yui was made...and although her soul remained bound within Evangelion, the remnants of that salvage attempt became the basis for a new lifeform."

(Now you know why her face always seemed so similar to Yui's.) "...Rei Ayanami."

They walked through concrete halls, one of which opened up to a facsimile of a home; were it not for old bloodstains and privacy curtains common to a hospital ward, it would have seemed like a very cheap apartment. Isolation and resentment seemed to have been seared into the walls and floors. "This is where Rei was raised."

"...why keep her in such conditions?" he wondered aloud, feeling a stab of pity and anger and cold indignation. "For whose benefit...?"

Ritsuko did not answer. Instead, she continued on with her elaboration, "the means of manipulating the soul was perfected with Rei Ayanami...and would serve as the basis for a project that would enable standardized control of the Evangelions. Theoretically, at least: that is the Dummy Plug Project."

"And Commander Ikari believes I should be brought into the fold, so to speak?"

"...I don't know what to think," she admitted.

They entered a circular room, in which a single glass cylinder stood, fixed underneath a titanic construction of metal, wires, and cables. Glass walls surrounded them, with no light illuminating the expanse beyond; however, he got the vague impression of water...and eyes...? (He had never set room in this place before.) "And this place is...?"

"The Central Area of the Deep Underground Facility." Ritsuko held a small tablet of sorts (almost like a remote), pressing down on a switch. The realm beyond the glass walls was suddenly illuminated, casting the room in a shade of muted orange. Floating beyond (within LCL) were...copies, or perhaps clones, of Rei Ayanami. "Out there is where the spares are kept."

"...why are they all naked?" he muttered, unnerved by their vacant expressions and naive laughter, muted though it was.

"Just things. Vessels with no soul of their own. Hardly human."

"...but why are they all naked?"

Ritsuko looked at him with a sort of drained weariness. "Does it matter?"

"...yes. Yes it does. Even if they have no souls, they possess the capacity to 'be' Rei, correct? Why not at least...I don't know, have them in swimsuits or something?"

"The First Child's never cared for modesty."

"I wonder why." Turning towards the central cylinder, he growled, "it's degrading."

"...maybe so," she relented, turning towards the cylinder herself. With another press of the remote, the central tank too was illuminated, revealing another Rei floating inside: seemingly asleep, with closed eyes. "That's the only Rei with a soul. It's been the biggest roadblock in the creation and implementation of the Dummy System: our inability to spread her soul to more than one body. You'd think she of all people would be capable..."

"...question."

"Yes?"

"Why is she also naked?"

"The nutrient solution within the LCL is absorbed more easily without any obstructions. Plus, there's no need for the life support systems within the Plug Suits like there would be in an Eva-"

"Then why is the cylinder transparent?" he interrupted. "Why can't the glass be opaque from the neck down, if face-to-face visuals are needed? There is literally no good reason for it to be see-through."

"...you'd have to ask the Commander about that," said Ritsuko with a resigned sigh, speaking as someone who knew they should care but just couldn't find it in themselves to do so.

(A sensation akin to utter revulsion went up his spine.)

(You've never considered that the man might have such 'inclinations'...and yet the 'first' time around, when all of this was new...?)

(He didn't want to think about it.)

(You now know that she was salvaged from Yui Ikari. Who is Gendo devoted to more than anything else...?)

(He didn't want to think about it.) "...you said that the Commander authorized you to inform me about the Dummy Plug Project. But you've told me a lot more than that. Why?"

"...because you're in deep, Narukami-san. And surprisingly enough, you have a good head on your shoulders. I...felt that you deserved the truth."

"What about Maya-chan?" (He never called Ibuki by such an honorific to her face; however, by now it had become a bit of an injoke between him and Ritsuko to refer to her in such a way, when they were in private away from the mousey Second Lieutenant.)

Ritsuko's expression was conflicted. "You've...you've both been good to me...but Maya's too innocent. For all your goofiness...you have a sort of weariness with the world that I can empathize with. Even if you do a good job of hiding it."

Yu blinked with surprise. (You know she's not a fool. Relationships go both ways, after all...) Before he could ask another question, he suddenly turned towards the central tank.

Rei Ayanami was looking at them both with a detached expression. "Dr. Akagi," she spoke, her voice echoing through the Central Area's speakers.

Ritsuko turned towards Rei, saying, "good morning Ayanami. The Commander authorized me to bring my assistant Yu Narukami down here; he'll be helping me with future scans and spiritual analysis-"

"I wish to speak with him," she said, interrupting her. "Please leave."

Ritsuko blinked, utterly flabbergasted by the girl's sudden insistence. "What the...? Why? For what reason?"

"I have words for him, and him alone. Please leave."

Ritsuko's eyes seemed to flare with impulsive anger. "You wretched doll," she growled, with a sort of deep-seated anger that actually surprised Yu. "Where the hell do you get off-?!"

"LEAVE," spoke the voice of a legion.

Ritsuko went still, shocked by the force behind Rei's voice...that is, until she saw that all of the clones had pressed themselves against the glass partition, staring with a grim focus that should have been impossible. "What..." she whispered, with dawning horror. "How are you doing this...?"

"Akagi-senpai," said Yu, raising a hand to cup the older woman's cheek. "It'll be okay. Might as well take advantage of Ayanami's willingness to talk to me while I can, you know?"

Ritsuko frowned, looking back and forth between him and Rei with an almost jealous expression. "...are you sure?"

"I'll be fine."

"...fine." Ritsuko briefly kissed him — for but a second, but with an intensity that was rather shocking — before backing away, keeping her eyes on the various clones with trepidation. The moment she crossed the threshold, the Central Area's door slammed shut.

"...Akagi-senpai is just going to reference the MAGI logs, you know," he said, trying to ignore the odd chill of being stared at from all sides.

"I am aware. That is not relevant," said Rei, speaking only by herself.

"If you say so." Yu stuffed his hands into his pockets, staring face-to-face with the young yet mysterious figure. "Then let's talk."

"...Yu Narukami. If that is indeed your true name?" asked Rei. Her facial expressions were rife with suspicion and uncertainty.

"...that's actually a pretty good question," he was forced to admit. "On occasion, I go by Hayato Asakawa; sometimes, it's Souji Seta. Most of the time, however, my name is Yu Narukami...so if I have a 'true' name, it's probably that one."

"Hmm."

"How about this: you seem to have an idea as to who I am. Would you mind sharing?" Yu tapped at his forehead, subconsciously touching the point where his head had smashed into the MAGI mainframe in a past life. "I've apparently defeated you and ADAM: at what, I'm not sure. My soul is apparently different from that of other people, in your eyes. I also ascended to a Throne of some sorts...and whoever you believe me to be, it's someone that you don't like very much."

"...that is accurate."

"Well, I'm very curious as to who did all of that, and why you think I ever had anything to do with it."

Rei stared flatly at him, her face cast into a mask of stoicism. "...you seem so very reasonable. There was once another who was reasonable as well, and quite helpful in their own way...yet it was nothing but a mask, to hide their true intentions. In light of the warnings I've received about your presence...I can't conceive of another alternative."

Warnings? Who warned her about me? "Whoever this person was that betrayed you, I certainly don't recall. The first time I remember ever laying eyes on you was as a teacher at the local school."

"Yes. You were...a curiosity. An uncertainty...but when you appeared in a future timeline in an entirely different context, it was as though my nightmare had returned to haunt me. Given your propensity for bedding a new woman in each timeline, it felt like you were...mocking me."

(...well, he supposed that was fair.)

(Maybe you should have kept it in your pants?)

"Looking at your soul...is an exercise in frustration, because it points to a power outside of my own and ADAM's...and what else but the Throne could grant such an ability...?"

"...you know, I'm hearing a lot of esoteric words, but not much in the way of actual answers."

"Trust...and honesty...is not something I am accustomed to, anymore. The last time I tried...failed miserably."

"Sounds rough."

"It is. The consequences of my failure cannot ever be taken back. And here you stand: someone who is inserting themselves into events at a seeming whim, with a soul that no other human shares?"

Yu sighed, gazing at the ceiling with a frustrated expression. "I have a feeling that a lot of trouble would have been saved if you'd just talked to me upfront..."

"...perhaps. Or perhaps not. It would not be the first time that the Usurper has played a long con."

(Usurper.) (That title...carries weight.) "And you believe me to be this...person?"

"...I do not know. But I can obtain testimony that will...tip the scales, one way or another." Her eyes suddenly seemed to gleam. "In a future time, in a world where Second Impact does not transpire...I will seek you out."

(He suddenly had a very bad feeling.) "...then I guess I'll try and make it easy for you to find me then." Alarms began to blare, right as a rumble from further below was felt. "...can you at least make it quick, this time?"

Rei said nothing more as a great white hand (the hand of LILITH?!) erupted from the floor, crushing him-!

xx

In that timeline, LILITH arose unexpectedly, striding the Earth as a great and terrible beast.

The remnants of ADAM, spurred to life by the emergence of her A.T. Field, arose to wage war.

They met in Antarctica, where they all clashed in a cataclysm that would end humanity in much the same way Third Impact would.

Yu Narukami would not learn any of this.

But the way events transpired...were perceived quite differently by two individuals.

Somewhere, Gendo Ikari was laughing.

And elsewhere, unseen by all...

xx

The One Who Sat Upon the Throne blinked.

"...yet another standardized timeline diverging unexpectedly."

What had prompted ADAM's facets to act so bizarrely? Likewise LILITH?

"...this doesn't seem like another attempt at rebellion...something else is underway."

With a scowl, they leaned back, watching irritably as their domain underwent its long and laborious repair.

"Could it be those interlopers...?"

xxxx

/October 18, 1992/

OBSERVATIONS:

- This is my eighty-third life. My eighty-second life ended when Ayanami seemingly summoned LILITH(?) to crush me. Friends found: Ritsuko. New friends made: Maya.
- Important Events: Second Impact, etc. Rei confirmed some details about why she seems so paranoid about me. Possibly believes me to be an old adversary of hers. (Who warned her about me? What did they tell her to color her perceptions?)
- Hopefully that will be the last life where Rei ends up killing me.
- New Name: Souji Seta
- New Age: 10 Years Old
- New Location: Inaba
- Miscellany: from what it sounded like, Rei will seek me out in a non-Impact timeline...which means at some point after the year 2000. (How to make it easier for her to find me?)
- Never forget your first life. Never forget those who died. Never forget your new relationships.

Souji sat back in his small desk chair, turning towards his bedroom's tiny television: an intrepid journalist by the name of Naoto Shirogane was being interviewed by Rise Kujikawa. "...what is the truth...?" he murmured.

(It'll probably be something you'll find rather unpleasant.)

xxxx

TO BE CONTINUED

xxxx

Author's Note: Looking back over P4 the Animation (especially the King's Game segment), I'm still like 'yep, Yu feels perfectly in character here.' It would be annoying from other characters, but for some reason the sheer memery of 'Chad' Narukami makes it acceptable, even funny. I don't get it.

Also, Yu's insistence on naming Ritsuko's orange tabby 'Randall' is nothing more than a reference to my other NGE AU, "Mobile Fighter Evangelion", where Ritsuko's cat was named...Randall. For reasons. :V

/the third installment
/ /WILL be the last one
/ / /then it's back to the main plot