Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Second Coming ❯ Icebreaking ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter Ten: Icebreaking

 

Some time passed after the birthday parties without anything notable happening. I have to confess that a lot of it was a blur, as we were preparing for exams in school, and (even though I've already said it before) while there were some courses of knowledge I could ace in my sleep, there were others in which I genuinely needed study.

In between all of the so-called 'required' schoolwork lay various synchronization and harmonics tests, in which I was steadily improving as well. I had no misconception that it was for any reason other than the fact that I had developed a rapport of sorts with whatever soul was inside Sangouki. It's still something I can't adequately describe in the printed word, but even without verbal communication, I had the feeling we were almost becoming 'friends'.

Speaking of friends, Asuka, Hikari, and I grew closer together, becoming as much of a trio as Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke were. I feared at one point, watching Toji and Hikari go at it in a regular verbal sparring match, that I might one day be expected to pair up with Aida; with all due respect to the boy, that never materialized. As I've mentioned before, it's not that I disliked anything about him in specific, but I wasn't ready for any kind of relationship at that point.

And then there was Rei. If I were to say she tolerated my presence, it would fit descriptively, but paint an unfair picture of her personality and demeanor. For all intents and purposes, I, and others around her, were just simply 'there' - at least, that's the feeling I got from her. There was no one special in her life, at least, not that I could tell. Shinji, I had to wonder about, though, and for the first time since my initial exposure to the whole Evangelion world (pre-Jill days included), I found myself not firmly entrenched in the Shinji-Asuka camp. I could see benefits and positives for him and Rei getting together, despite what I thought I knew about her origins.

In any case, as the late summer went on, so did life, in what might have been construed as a semblance of normalcy. A month or more transpired with nothing remarkable to report. I truly didn't remember what was 'supposed' to happen next; it'd been so long since I'd seen the anime that details were fading from memory. Geez. It seems so weird saying that, now.. after all that's happened, and all I've experienced. It was the undeniable truth, though; but of course I didn't dare share it with anybody. First of all, how would you react if someone said they knew exactly what was going to happen in your future because they'd watched it on a television show in a past life?

Sorry for getting off on a tangent there for a minute. I promise to try to avoid getting into that rut too many more times. In any case, life went on, and for a while, I almost wondered if the Angels had given up, or if the whole deal about Third Impact was just baloney, and things would die off with a whimper, with no grand fanfare or majestic crescendo of drama.

Then the school trip was announced. I felt like I was vaguely drifting back over familiar territory as the destination, Okinawa, was declared and the trip's details were divulged to the students. I remembered now; Asuka and Shinji would go on a mission into a volcano, first to recover an as-yet-unhatched Angel, and then, as things went on..

"Aren't you going to open it, Fourth?" Asuka said, nodding to the envelope on my desk with the permission form and itinerary within. She already had hers open and was scanning over the schedule for things to check off and plan to do.

"I get a bad feeling that there's no point," I said in as apologetic a tone as I could muster. "After all, being Eva pilots.." I shrugged. "We're probably on 24-hour call or something."

"Pfah!" Asuka scoffed. "Even Eva pilots deserve a break once in a while," she said, dismissing my reasoning out-of-hand.

The conversation continued thusly all the way out of school and into the stores where Asuka had insisted we go shopping afterwards. It was the closest I'd seen Asuka act like a child, before or since. She all but literally bounced off the walls, skipping about and singing "O-ki-na-waaaaa!" at the top of her lungs, giggling madly at random intervals.

I envy you, I realized at one point, watching her toss her exultations to the skies. Would it not be better to not be cursed with 'pre-knowledge' of the things to come? To blissfully move through life just like Asuka was at that moment?

That line of thinking drew my mind towards thoughts of what Asuka's final fate was to be. I shut my eyes and shook my head violently, as if that would help exorcise the images from my mind's eye.

"What? No?" Asuka said. I looked up and saw she was holding up a swimsuit before her. "What's wrong with it?"

She'd thought I'd been rejecting her choice. "Um, no, it's okay--" I began, but she was already rooting through the racks again, seeking out another design.

I moved forward and picked up the one she'd been holding, looking at it with all sorts of thoughts tumbling through my head. If, for some reason, you're wrong, and we do get to go, you'll look like a fool if you don't have a suit for the diving portion. And if you're right, maybe you'll get to do some swimming in the pool at school, or at NERV.

I held up the suit so it was fully unfolded and presented before me. And you don't have a suit, other than that gawdawful school-issue one..

Looking at the garment in its entirety, it was only then that I noticed that it was a white one-piece, with a red vertical stripe along one side of the front and back, looking somewhat like a Buster Machine pilot's outfit.

Smirking, I folded it over on itself and kept it clutched in my hand, as I sought out where Asuka had bounded off to next. It didn't take long to detect a shrill "Ohhh! Mr. Kaaajiiii!!" from across the aisle.

Ryoji Kaji happened to be entering the store from one of the myriad of entrances, this one in particular fairly close to the ladies' wear section we were inhabiting. Asuka leapt over and latched on to him, the man reacting as if he'd been caught off guard by her sudden appearance. I wasn't so sure if that was an act or not; what purpose would he have being in a department store, even if just to grab another six-pack of blue shirts and red ties from the men's wear side of the aisle? Why did it feel like the coincidence of timing was just too great? Then again, what reason would he have to confront Asuka at this point?

The fact that we were all likely under observation 24/7 did come to mind at that point. Maybe Kaji was fulfilling that purpose for Asuka, on behalf of NERV. It would make sense from a tactical standpoint, considering how infatuated she was with him - no one else could get as close as he did.

I was idly wondering who was watching over me, when Asuka, having all but completely forgotten about me, carried on with Kaji, holding up a striped two-piece suit before her. I realized it was the one she'd eventually buy, all things being equal, and headed over to become part of the conversation.

"--even scheduled to go scuba diving!" Asuka was gushing.

"Hmm," Kaji mused. "It's been years since I've been able to do any diving myself." He glanced over and smiled broadly at me. "Salutations, Miss Thomson. It appears your friend is ready too, Asuka."

Asuka wasn't fazed, plowing on with her questions. "Where did you go on your school trip?" she asked Kaji.

"Oh," he said, developing yet another smile, as he casually responded, "We didn't have one."

"Didn't have one?!" Asuka breathed, as if it was a tremendous injustice, or a radically unbelievable concept, as if he'd said he didn't have a childhood. "Why not?"

"Well, you see, there was this thing called Second Impact," Kaji said ruefully. "The world was a little more concerned with picking up the pieces and surviving, plus, travel wasn't exactly high on the priority list either, after the seas had been so severely altered."

With the melted ice cap, I realized. Then again, it could be that he was covering up the fact that he was orphaned and running with a street gang, if that was his true past. Maybe he was weaving bits of the truth - world policy and concerns - into a lie about his past.

Kind of like you, I found myself thinking.

Asuka was asking Kaji what he wanted her to bring back for him from Okinawa. He stumbled over his words a couple times, one of the few instances where I ever witnessed him truly flustered. "Well, any old thing will do, because I'll know you picked it with the utmost care and thoughtfulness," was along the lines of what ended up coming out of his mouth. I had to hand it to the guy; he sure knew how to say a lot while still not really saying anything.

Asuka declared her shopping completed in this part of the store and started marching off. I was left there with Kaji, and before he decided to slip off into the shadows again, I seized the opportunity to ask him a question, if for no other reason than to gauge how much he really knew about things.

"This is pointless, isn't it?" I asked.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked, truly caught off guard this time.

I lifted up the swimsuit I was still holding. "This," I said, gesturing with it to Asuka bubbling happily an aisle or two over. "We're not going anywhere, are we?"

"Miss Sohryu sure seems to think you are," he responded.

"You know what I mean," I said with a frown, having half a mind to come clean with at least some of what I knew about things. Luckily, that half didn't win out at that moment. "The Evas are too important to let us go on vacation. Right?"

"I know you're concerned about her setting herself up for a fall," Kaji said, watching Asuka. "But let her have her time. You only get to be young once."

Hah! Shows what you know. "Yet NERV is content to take our youth from us to make us do all these horrible things."

"If you think they're horrible, you shouldn't do them. You do have a choice, you know." He looked over at me, looking more serious than I recalled seeing him before. "I get the feeling you're in this for the long run, though."

I stared back for a few moments, trying to gauge exactly what he was on about - did he already know all about me somehow? Or was he trying to bluff his way into getting me to say something I regretted?

Finally, I sighed and said, "I want to pilot Eva. I have a duty. I just don't think it's fair to us."

"That's the thing about life," he said sagely as he turned back to watch Asuka again. "Fairness isn't guaranteed."

 

To say that Asuka was upset later that night, when we all got home, didn't come close to a proper description. I could hear her right through the wall, hollering at Misato, then Shinji, then the world in general.

I went out on the balcony to sample the night, and to think of the things that I'd said to Kaji that afternoon. Whether fairness was guaranteed or not, was it right for these kids to give up their early teens to Ikari's master plan?

A pinpoint of light shone in the early dusk within my line of sight. I thought for a fleeting moment about wishing on it, but with my luck I would be wishing on a Cathay Pacific 747 or something. Besides, was there any point? The realist in me wanted to point out that wishing on a star was something best left to Pinocchio et al. However, the realist was routinely overruled by the part of me that was still reeling with having been transported into the life of a teenaged girl piloting an Evangelion.

"Oh, Fourth. Good, you're out here."

I turned and saw Asuka stepping out onto her balcony. I nodded and stepped a little closer to the common railing to be with my friend.

"If you say 'I told you so', I'll throw you over this railing in an instant."

I giggled, in spite of the threat, which may or may not have been genuine. "Sorry," I said. "I know you were looking forward to it. Maybe we can take another trip of our own, later on. Hey! Maybe NERV should pay for it. They owe us, at least. Right?"

"They better," Asuka muttered, leaning on the rail. "So the class leaves on Monday. Misato says we have to study. You up for it?"

I didn't have the heart to tell Asuka that I was one of the top scorers in the class. "Sure," I said with a smile.

"I still feel ripped off," she grumbled. "I mean, this is our school trip!"

"I hear you," I said. "I was looking forward to it, too. We never did this kind of thing in Canada."

"I'm sure," she nodded. "The West is far more worried about liabilities and such to let anyone have any fun."

"Yup," I agreed, if only to try to let the conversation die a natural, dwindling death.

After a moment, Asuka said, "I have no intention on studying all week, though. What else should we do?"

"Well," I offered, "We did get those new swim suits.."

"Oh! Of course, there's no reason they should go to waste," Asuka grinned. Then, suddenly, she grinned even wider, if that was possible, and squealed. "Oh! I know!"

"What?" I asked.

"We can rent scuba gear here and take it to the pool," she declared. "We can partake in the same things everyone else is, just in a different location!"

"Good idea," I said, just to agree with her, smiling and nodding as well.

"I do have a question," she said after another pause.

"What's that?" I asked.

"How did you know we'd be left behind?"

I felt like time was stopping; as if I'd frozen in the typical way anime characters do when they're caught red-handed at something. Regaining my composure, I said, "I told you, it makes tactical sense to not leave the Evas unmanned--"

"I don't buy that," Asuka said evenly. "I know you were talking with Kaji today in the store."

Sputtering, I finally found words to put to my thoughts in response. "I was just asking him if what I was thinking was the truth," I said, mostly truthfully. "He is NERV, you know. He'd know if anyone would."

She looked at me for a long moment, then said simply, "Fair enough."

"Asuka. I know you're upset about the way things turned out, but don't take it out on me," I said softly. "We're all getting screwed. Let's just make the most of what we've got."

"Yeah, yeah," was the grumpy response.

"I mean it. Let's just have a good week regardless of where we have it, okay? There's lots we can do. I've never been to Okinawa myself, and I won't deny that it sucks not getting to go, but we'll make up for that later on. Okay?"

Again she eyed me for several moments. "All right, Fourth. Let's start with renting scuba gear for the week."

"Good," I grinned. "I've never dove before. It'll be fun to play around underwater and be able to breathe."

"Are you daft, Fourth?" Asuka shot back. "It'll be exactly like we experience in the entry plugs. Except we'll have a lot better scenery to look at."

I chuckled. "Fair enough, Asuka," I replied.

 

The day of departure came, and many of our friends teased and needled us about being left behind. Hikari took pity on Asuka and me, and promised to bring back something good for each of us. Asuka grumbled and griped, but I know she was already accepting of the fact that we were home and the rest were gone.

As for me, believe it or not, I wasn't dwelling on things to come for a change - well, that's not entirely true. I wasn't dwelling on the things which I thought were going to happen, that I couldn't tell people about. If you can follow that convoluted stream of thought, I congratulate you. In any case, what I was thinking about was the scuba diving that was imminent. I had never used scuba gear before, and though it was not too different from the air packs that firefighters use, I was really looking forward to the experience.

And so, that's how Asuka and I came to be lugging two tanks, buoyancy compensators (vests filled with lead, essentially), fins, masks, and weight belts into the area of the pool later on that afternoon. As I expected, Shinji was there, working studiously in his school books, and Rei was just ahead of us, in the plain white one-piece I 'remembered'. For a moment, my thoughts went to that particular piece of information: Had she bought it herself, or did Gendo get it for her? I'd never seen her in clothes other than her school outfit and her plugsuit. Was there a meaning behind her wearing this new piece of clothing, or had she just done the same thing I'd done, and picked up a suit so that she would have something other than the school suit to wear in the pool?

Regardless, the four of us were there. Asuka looked over at Shinji and tch'ed as she noticed what he was working on. "Look at the pathetic little bookworm."

I sighed a little. "Be nice to him," I suggested.

"Why?"

"Um, for starters, he hasn't had a chance to take college and get three degrees yet?" I pointed out.

"Oh, you're no fun, Fourth. I just wanna tease him a little bit," Asuka grinned, holding up her thumb and forefinger as a gauge.

I shook my head. "I'll prep our gear," I said simply, setting my tank down and crouching down beside it.

Asuka headed off with a smirk and a giggle, and I set about connecting the two tanks to their respective hoses and such, and mating them to the BCs. I had to remind myself that the valve on a scuba tank points up, not down like a firefighter's air bottle does - ask me why, and I'll just give you a blank look and a shrug. I presume it has to do with the fact that in a fire, you're generally having things like the roof spontaneously fall down on you, and having the valve up top where it can be damaged isn't the best idea.

In any case, I was suited up by the time Asuka got her fill of giving Shinji a hard time, and so we were ready to get into the pool. I checked the breathing air, mainly to make sure it worked before I went under and found that it didn't, and just then heard a splash.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rei dive into the pool at the diagonally opposite end as us, and begin swimming laps. It was as if she'd been swimming for years; a nearly-flawless dive in, and strong, powerful strokes propelled her through the water.

"Look! Shinji!" Asuka yelled right beside me, waving frantically at him. "Back roll entry!" With that, she leaned back and tumbled into the pool, laughing all the way down.

I shook my head, smiling, and followed her into the 'depths'.

 

We goofed around in the pool for a good while. For a while, I spent time by myself, acclimatizing myself to the equipment. Despite my earlier assumptions, I found it actually difficult to remember to breathe underwater. I guess it had something to do with the fact that I spent so much time in a liquid medium 'at work', and relied on my blood being oxygenated directly by the LCL. In any case, it didn't take long to deal with it once I realized the problem.

After that, Asuka and I took turns doing what was called the 'tormenting' exercise. One of us would , for example, knock off the other's mask, and while she was going to retrieve it, she'd be stripped of her weight belt, et cetera. Random problems kept occurring for each of us and we had to maintain our composure and solve the problems one at a time, before moving on to the next issue. It was the kind of thing that made sure that recreational divers had their wits about them when they were under the surface, but for an Eva pilot? I don't mean to sound smug, but it was baby stuff.

At one point or another, we came up for a break. I was sitting on the side of the pool, the weight belt removed so it wasn't digging into my sides, when I heard a soft voice beside me.

"Did that hurt when it happened?"

I looked up at Rei curiously, then down at what she was looking at. My gaze followed hers to the faint, pinkish scar on the inside of my leg.

"If it did, I don't remember it," I said plainly. "I don't remember much of the crash, and didn't wake up until weeks later, at least."

Rei said after a moment, "May I ask what happened?"

"I was in the back seat of my parents' car when it was in a crash," I explained. "I got trapped between my mother's seat and mine. I think my legs were kind of the weakest points in the chain, if you know what I mean."

It occurred to me that Rei might not know what I meant, but if she didn't, she didn't bother admitting it. "You have healed fully?" she asked.

"As much as I'm going to," I nodded, smiling. "The scars are with me for life.. and so are the titanium rods and screws. I'm impressed at how I don't actually feel any discomfort or anything out of place. They did a great job patching me up."

Shinji's attention was piqued when I spoke about the metal inserts that the docs had told me about way back when I was in the hospital. "You don't feel them at all?" he asked.

"Not that I can tell," I answered him, turning halfway around to respond. "Not even in cold weather or anything like that." Searching for something to say to Rei, I turned back to her and commented, "I understand you've bounced back from some serious injuries yourself."

She just nodded once, expressionlessly, and Shinji's look turned to her, becoming distant and lost, as if he was reliving the first time he saw her. I felt for a moment like I'd made another faux pas.

That moment passed when I realized that another of our group would be, or would probably be, horribly injured in a few months, when she met her end at the hands of the mass production Evas. I was glad that she wasn't around to see me wince, but at the same time, wondered where she'd gotten to.

"I'm sorry," Rei said abruptly, and stood. I looked up at her with surprise.

"What for?" I said.

"You are reliving bad memories," she said, interpreting my wincing as part of the previous conversation.

"No, it's fine--" I began, but she turned to walk away at that moment, leaving Shinji and I alone at poolside, and the latter had already gone back to his schoolwork.

What was she so intrigued about? I wondered, looking down at the scars on my legs. Of all the Children, I'd think she'd understand injuries the best.

After some consideration, I realized, Maybe it was because she does understand them that she was curious about mine.

My self-inquisition was cut short when Asuka burst back into the pool area. "Hurry and get dressed!" she blurted out.

"Why? What.. an Angel?" Shinji said, all but bolting out of his seat.

Asuka just grinned and turned away, disappearing as quickly as she'd shown up.

 

The four of us were in a room with a peculiar Lexan floor, standing on one side of a projection set into the floor, with Dr. Akagi, Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, Lt. Ibuki, and Lt. Hyuga, across from us. The projection was a curious bit of tech, and for one, I was confused as to why it existed. What was the benefit of making everyone tilt their head and look right at their feet? Hadn't these clowns had an ergonomics study done?

As I expected, Ritsuko showed us a volcano nearby with a highlighted segment inside; that highlighting expanded and resolved into a fuzzy image of an embryonic Angel. Asuka practically jumped up and down begging to be picked for the job of capturing it, and to Shinji's surprise, she was chosen. Then, also as expected, Rei asked what her assignment would be.

"Units 00 and 03 and their pilots will remain at HQ," Ritsuko declared.

Maya Ibuki added, "For one thing, Unit 00 can't accommodate the high-heat equipment necessary for this task. Furthermore, while we are operating with 01 and 02 in the field, we'll take the extra time to perform some tests on 00 and 03."

"What kind of tests?" I asked, genuinely wondering what was transpiring.

"We'll go over that later, after the mission is underway - that's our first priority right now," Akagi replied.

"Furthermore, the mission takes priority," Fuyutsuki added. "Units 00 and 03 will remain in full readiness at all times. If the mission team needs backup, the others must be prepared to mobilize at a moment's notice."

"Yes, sir," Rei and I stereoed. I found it interesting that she and I would be the ones to sync, so to speak, but it appeared lost on her, or at least not of enough interest to react to it at that point.

"Too bad, guys," Asuka teased, leaning out of line to leer at the two of us. "I get to dive, and I get to go to a hot spring! Some of us have all the luck, huh?"

"I guess if you want to be doing work inside a volcano, that's cool," I quipped. "Or not so cool, as the case may be."

"Ladies, do you mind?" Ritsuko sighed, which brought us back to attention.

"The use of an offensive strike against the Angels has been authorized," Fuyutsuki declared, ending the discussion. "We begin immediately."

 

Rei and I suited up in silence. Asuka had been let through the change room ahead of us, for reasons I suspected I knew - anticipated embarrassment over the heat resistant plugsuit's added features. I was sure I'd heard her shriek once or twice.

When we went out to the Cages to join the others, it was all I could do not to burst into laughter at the sight of Asuka looking like she'd been to ten too many buffets. Seeing Nigouki in the ridiculous exo-suit was also a bit of a laugh.

"Some of us have all the luck," I squeaked at Asuka, with a grin. The only reason I didn't get slapped was that she couldn't bring her arm around fast enough.

She and Shinji began briefing on the mission, and Ritsuko asked for me and Rei to follow her. I let Rei go ahead of me, seeing as how she was already walking by the time I'd registered the request, and then I took up the rear.

We were brought to the adjacent pair of Cages, but not in the order I'd been expecting. Ritsuko tersely told Rei to continue on, which she did; the doctor and I stopped by the gantry elevator to an entry plug.

"Any questions?" she asked, as if she knew I would have some.

"No," I said after a moment's pause. "If you're comfortable with this, I am."

"Good," she said. "Then let's get up there and get started."

I stepped into the lift, leaving Dr. Akagi behind, and proceeded towards the entry plug. As I ascended. I had a full, pan-up view of Zerogouki.

A cross-synchronization test, I mused. I wonder why.

The entry plug was almost exactly the same as San's, with the exception of some minor things - the inscription on the pilot's chair, of course, and little things like different catches on the control handles, and an appearance of a little more wear and tear than the cockpit I'd inhabited for all my career to date.

"Are you both ready to begin?" Ritsuko's voice momentarily came over the distorted speaker, which had yet to be imbibed with LCL, as with the rest of the plug.

"Yes," came Rei's soft response from 03.

"Ready," I replied, nodding.

LCL began spilling into the compartment, and gulping it down was no problem. All of that was second nature now. I was focused on what would happen when the soul, or awareness, or whatever was inside 00, awakened and found me where it expected Rei.

That moment came fairly swiftly, even though we were progressing through start-up at a reduced pace. Akagi called out one of the benchmarks, something about the A10 connection, and I had a phrase come to me suddenly.

Old hag.

I blinked. Had I thought that, or was it the Eva? As if it would do any good, I looked around.

Curiosity flooded into me at that instant, and I knew this time that it was from the Eva. It had sensed me and was wondering who the hell I was, so to speak.

I tried to identify myself and communicate with the entity. I was met with reluctance, on a large scale - to the point where Maya noticed it, if I remember the chatter from the control room right. She measured it as rejection of the nerve impulses, which I guess was how the equipment saw it.

Don't worry. Rei is still here, I tried to send to Zero. She is with.. I had to pause while I considered my words. My partner.

Zero was still not fully sure of what was going on. I heard Ritsuko asking us if we were both all right, and I murmured a yes, still trying to stay in contact as deeply as I could, to keep from losing anything I might not be able to regain.

I'm another pilot, just like Rei, I thought into the void. I'm known as Jill.

The return I got at that moment was swift and abrupt, and if I had to put it into words, it would be: Not like Rei.

I'm a teenaged girl, chosen to communicate with you. I hoped that the sincerity I put into the first part of that didn't betray the memories I still harbored that could potentially screw things up.

Acceptance of that point came reluctantly, which gave me some relief, even though I had some 'Still, not like Rei' vibes coming across. In addition, a flood of images, and what I presumed were memories, rushed through me - both from what must have been Rei I's life, as well as the current Rei.

"Jill? How are you doing?" Ritsuko called out to me.

"Fine," I responded, distracting myself enough to focus on the conversation.

"How does it feel?"

"All right," I said. "Strange."

"I think we were expecting that, Doctor," Maya cut in.

"Indeed," Akagi said. "And you, Rei?"

"I am also fine," she replied.

"How do you feel?"

"Out of place."

That answer surprised me - it was the closest I'd ever heard Rei come to a complaint.

"What do you mean?" Akagi pressed on.

"I don't belong here," Rei said. "Pilot Thomson does."

"This is a cross-synchronization test, Rei," Akagi said, as if explaining it to her. "The purpose is to see if each of you can pilot the other's Eva."

"It is possible," Rei answered. "But this is not my place."

I thought for the longest time that Rei was arguing, or being petulant - but later, after all was said and done, and I had time to go over it in my mind, I'd realize that she was simply reporting back the same thing I was feeling, but in a different way. Rei knew a lot more about the Evas' connections to us than I did, I presumed, and her declarations were her way of saying what she was feeling from the Eva.

At least she didn't say "It smells like Jill", I guess.

 

As usual, I pressed for sync ratios, but this time, Ritsuko refused to give them. I suppose I should have expected that, considering the special situation of the test.

We were given various tasks to perform, some of them the typical sync/harmonics tests like 'visualize your legs' or 'move your right arm', but others were more complex, involving multiple operations at once, and other tasks apparently designed to get us to work with our Evas - or perhaps vice versa.

In the middle of the test, about two hours after we'd suited up and gone in, Fuyutsuki was suddenly cutting in on the comm system. "Cancel the test," he declared. "There has been an incident at the mission site."

"An incident?" Akagi said with concern.

"The Angel has hatched upon attempt to capture," he said. "Unit 02 is battling it. I want 00 and 03 maintained in full combat readiness, here at base."

"Understood," Akagi responded. "Maya, end the test." To the room, she added, "Prepare to reload original code plugs."

The insinuation was, if I read it right, that Rei and I would be returning to our respective Evas. "Uh, does this mean we don't get to.."

I was cut off as the system went dark and everything spooled down, the LCL returning to phase and the lighting going to its orange-ish tint of system standby.

 

There isn't much to say about the standby; as you all probably know, Asuka fought the Angel, ending it with a unique and ingenious attack. Shinji stepped in - or rather, reached in - to rescue her, after the winch line used to send her into the magma failed.

Rei and I were stood down without moving a muscle.

 

Early in the evening, after showering and changing into real clothes again, I was surprised to find Rei standing at the gates between NERV and Tokyo-3. To call it loitering would contradict any previous notions about Rei; she seemed to be lost in thought, or contemplating something. For a few moments, I observed her from afar; she didn't move or look around at all.

Finally, I casually walked up as if I was just heading to the gates myself. "Oh, hi, Rei," I said cheerily when I was within earshot.

She looked up at me and said, simply, "Pilot Thomson."

I couldn't leave it at that, so I smiled and shrugged. "Just our luck to get shut down in the middle of something interesting, huh? At least we learned something new from it, right?"

Rei's eyes flitted across my happy, suggestive expression for a moment before she responded. "We did," she acknowledged.

"Hey, I hope you didn't think I was out of line by wanting to pilot Zero," I said, referring to my truncated question just before the crossover test was canceled. "All I meant was--"

"I was looking forward to it, too," Rei interrupted me.

"Really?" I asked genuinely, eyebrows arching. "In that case, maybe we can get them to give us another chance someday."

"Perhaps," she said simply.

After a pause with no more words exchanged between us, I said, "So hey! Are you heading home, or what?"

Rei nodded.

"Want to come home with me?" I said, out of the blue, surprising even myself (well, not really, but you know what I mean). "I have some tea, and we can pick up something to eat on the way."

She nodded again, coming to agreement with the proposal. There was no smile, no 'Okay! Sounds great!' that Hikari might offer. Rei was just Rei.

We headed home, stopping at the store for some stuff on the way. Rei was, as advertised, not a meat eater, but I got the feeling it was for reasons other than what one might think. I didn't have the guts to breach the subject yet, because it would let on far too much of what I knew or should know compared to reality. Perhaps later, I told myself.

"You performed well today," Rei commented as we walked home in the dusk.

"I did? Well, thank you, you weren't too shabby yourself," I responded brightly.

"Your sync ratio was four points higher than mine," she replied.

"What? Really?" I said, truly shocked. "Wait - higher than yours in 00 or 03?"

"Higher than mine in Unit 03," she confirmed.

"Oh," I said. "Well, I don't know about these sync ratios anyway, it could be completely random, you know--"

Rei stared at me, which caused me to trail off. Finally, she said, "You don't believe that."

I thought about my response to that for a long few moments. When it finally came, it went like this: "Rei, does.. do you ever.. talk to your Eva? And does it kind of.. talk back?"

"Yes," she answered, studying me for a long moment of her own. "So it seems."

I couldn't really tell if Rei was just agreeing with me, trying to put my description of synchronizing into things she could understand, or if she really knew the whole thing from A to Z and was just trying to gauge how much of it I was privy to.

 

We got back to my place and I started off by finding the tea I'd bought ages ago, in case of something exactly like this happening. I would drink it, but only with guests; tea isn't my normal cup of.. no, I won't say it. You're welcome.

While I was making the tea, though, I got yet another scare of my life.. er, lives. Standing right beside the balcony's sliding glass door as I fiddled with the kettle, I was startled by a loud clattering sound on the glass.

"WAH!" I shrieked, thankfully not dropping or flinging the kettle, and turned to find a particular waterfowl pressed against the glass from the outside, its beak rapping on the window.

"Wark!" Pen2 cried.

"What the hell are you doing out there?!" I snapped, yanking the door open and catching the bird as it tried to scurry into my house. "And how did you get over the balcony?"

"It would appear no one is home next door," Rei observed.

"Gee, ya think?" I shot back, instantly regretting it. Thankfully, Rei simply took it as the snappy comeback it was. It was then that I noticed my message light was flashing on my phone.

"Hi neighbor!" came the voice of my boss. "We're staying over at the hot springs here for the evening, so we won't be home until laaaaate. Could you do me a big favor and take care of Pen2 for me? Please? Huh? Okay? Okay. Thaaaanks!"

The phone clicked off and the penguin pecked at my bare leg, as if to say, 'How come you haven't fed me yet?'.

"Ow!" I said, smacking his beak away. "Stop that!"

Rei sat silently at the table, watching everything passively.

"Take care of you, huh?" I said, eyeing the bird. I thought about it for a moment, then grinned as something horribly mischievous crossed my mind. After offering him about a quarter of my dinner, I started to extricate my Styrofoam ice cooler from the closet.

"What are you doing?" Rei asked.

"Hey, Pen2," I said. "Wanna go to a hot spring?"

The bird stood up straight and looked at me attentively and eagerly. "Wark," it said.