The battle was over. Parties involved were given a day of rest, but now they were back on duty. Maya Ibuki arrived very early, and began work on the debriefing. She type for a few hours, analyzing information, determining what would be released to whom, and in what way would it be released. It was exhausting work, and when 9:00 finally rolled around, she looked as though she were coming off the night shift.
Misato, Asuka and Shinji arrived looking refreshed and ready to tackle the day.
Shinji and Asuka had stayed up late the night before, and looked at the notebook that Asuka had confiscated from Misato’s bedroom. It had confirmed Misato’s words that she would do anything in her power, and possibly some thing that were not in her power by the sound of it, to keep their relationship alive. They had both been relieved. Shinji had remained adamant about the fact that Misato wouldn’t lie to them just to put them at ease. That she was on a quest for truth as well.
Every one made their way to the briefing room, and seated themselves, but they couldn’t start without everyone being present.
Kaji came to work late as usual, and the briefing was held until he got there. His unkempt stubble, and loose tie trademark were still in place. Once he found his seat, conspicuously close to Misato, the debriefing began.
"At 0655 Tuesday morning, unidentified object class 37 appeared 7.65 miles above Central Dogma. Approximately 7 miles above sea level. At 0657 it was reclassified as Angel 12.2. We have made this a subclass Angel, because its arrival was not predicted, as were the previous encounters. At 0703 parties concerned were contacted, and given the battle-station alert. After arriving on station, pilots were readied, and were sortied in their respective units at 0740. Mission was originally a reconnaissance mission, however as the units emerged on the surface, target began moving northward at approximately 2.5 miles per hour. The Angel was mapped using data gathered from sensors aboard the Evas. This is a computer representation of the Entity."
The projector came on; showing a wire diagram of the Angel, spinning slowly, then it filled in, so that it looked exactly like the angel. "It had a displacement of approximately 1.3 million cubic meters. After following the Angel out of the city, which took approximately 9 hours due to the extremely slow pace, the angle descended and made contact with the ground where it remained for about a minute when it used its primary offensive weapon." The projector showed the extrapolation diagram of the angel releasing its pulse field. "This AT field was set in motion from deep inside the angel, radiating outwards in all directions. It destroyed hundreds of acres of forest, and lightly damaged all three units, Unit 00 taking the most. After backing off from the Angel, Unit 01 was sent to retrieve a heavy proton rifle from the nearest armory. While attempting to nullify it’s AT field, Unit 01 fired at the target incurring no damage. The angel released its attack again, this time damaging Unit 01’s balance control system slightly."
An image of a woozy unit 01 appeared. "After another retreat, a plan was made concerning a certain ability seemingly inherent to the pilots of Unit 01 and 02. This helped nullify the enemy’s AT field, allowing Unit 00 to fire at the target until exposing and piercing its core."
The projector turned off, but the briefing continued. To Shinji, it seemed to go on for hours, but in reality, it lasted less that one hour. All manner of things were brought up, but nothing was said about the astral projection. Shinji wondered about this. Why would they choose not to release knowledge of such a thing to Rei? He knew that she privy to a great deal more than he had been. Somehow she was unearthly. He didn’t know what it was. Her unemotional state was certainly odd, but he had seen other people similar to her before. Something about the way she moved. As though she was not meant to be where she was, but she seemed that way everywhere. He had never seen her take much action in her Eva either. That was weird.
The Briefing ended, and everyone but Shinji got up. He was unaware of his surrounding, so absorbed in his thoughts he was. "Hey slowpoke, come on. We’re missing enough school by coming to this stupid thing as it is."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, coming." He noticed that Rei exited the room, and moved down the hall to a bank of moving walkways that would take her to the elevators. But it was in the opposite direction that she would need to go to get to the surface, and ultimately school. He stared after her, for a moment, until she was out of site.
"Where do you think she goes? She is often late or absent from school."
"I have wondered that, too. It’s weird, but it seems that the really weird one is let in on all of the good stuff. I know she knows more about this than me, and that is not a result of inability to learn." Asuka looked at her watch. It was nearing lunch. "We had better get to school, or we’ll be counted as absent for the day."
They ran for the elevators, and made it in time to catch a ride to the express elevators to the surface.
Arriving at school 30 minutes later, they heard the bell ringing signaling the start of the lunch hour. Since they had sworn Touji and Hikari to secrecy, and they had kept their promise, their relationship had been kept under wraps. All they needed was the whole class talking about them. Asuka had figured out a good way for them to find out. Just ease into the public view of the relationship, by getting a little closer each day. So far they had progressed to holding hands and sitting next to each other. That was probably as far as it was going to go.
They entered the common area, holding hands, and looked around for their friends. Lately with Touji and Hikari’s relationship developing, they had brought two groups together. Initially both groups hated each other. One consisted of the girls that Asuka had hung out with. The other was headed up by the ‘Three Stooges’, namely Shinji, Touji, and Kensuke.
Kensuke spied Shinji, and waved them over.
"So, where have you two been?"
"Well, for your information, we had to get debriefed on our mission on Tuesday. What’s it you?" Asuka challenged.
"My, my, still a little on the defensive?" Kensuke laughed to himself.
Asuka knew what he was doing. He was actually trying to pry more information out of her. He didn’t understand what ‘Classified’ meant.
"I heard that you defeated another Angel. This makes what? 11 now? Quite an impressive record. How did you do it this time?" Kensuke dared to ask.
"Not only is that classified, it is personal. If I don’t tell it to you without your asking, then you don’t need to know. Got it?" Asuka growled leaning forward menacingly.
"OK, OK, I got it. Geez."
Touji and Hikari were off talking to each other a little more privately.
Kensuke eyed them a little jealously. Not that he wanted Hikari, but he wanted a relationship. He filled the holes in his life with Anime and war stuff, and tried to fill the void in his life that he felt every day. For some reason his life seemed empty. He wondered silently if other felt the way he did. Shinji, Asuka, and Rei would never understand because they piloted Eva; they were needed. They could have the fun jobs. Besides, Shinji had Asuka, and vice versa. Touji and Hikari wouldn’t understand; they had each other. He sat and pondered his problem wondering if there was someone to fill the void rather that something.
They all ate their lunches and talked as though everything was just fine. On the surface, things couldn’t be better. However, underneath, problems lay in wait to come out when they were alone, with time to think them over in more detail. They laughed, and joked, Shinji more active than he had been before he and Asuka had hooked up, Kensuke noticed.
The bell rang, and everyone hurried to the classroom. After the teacher entered they bowed and sat, waiting for the extensive lecture on the Second Impact.
"And so, after the meteor impacted, it sublimated nearly the entire continent of Antarctica. Huge storms formed first, raining for nearly 2 years. The heat given off could be felt from a far away a the U.S…"
<Yeah, yeah, I think you’re the only one who still believes that crap. It amazes me that people are so easily fooled. > Asuka thought. She looked at Shinji, and found that he was stroking his chin, and looking at Rei's seat.
A little perturbed that he could think about her, she punched a message to him on her desktop, and sent it. Across the room it beeped, and caught his attention.
‘WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?’
He punched back for a moment, then looked at her. "JUST WONDERING WHAT IT WAS THAT SHE DOES ALL THE TIME WHEN SHE ABSENT. I HAVE NOTICED THAT SHE HAS CHANGED SINCE I GOT HERE. ITS WEIRD. I DON’T LIKE HER IF THAT"S WHAT YOUR GETTING AT.’
She stared at it for a while. After mulling it over in her head, she realized that he was right. Rei had changed a little since she had gotten to Tokyo-3 as well. She now distanced herself from the commander, and even talked to Shinji and herself in more than 2 or 3 word sentences.
The hours dragged on, and finally the bell rang. Asuka had never heard a sweeter sound. The teacher was just starting to get done with his lesson. If allowed to continue, he probably could filibuster for days. Asuka and Shinji walked home with Touji and Hikari, and split ways when they came to the turnoff that they took. "I’ll see you tomorrow, Hikari. Keep that idiot in line!" She grinned.
"Hey Shinji, if she beats up on you, you can come over to my house, and you won’t have to look at her for a while." Asuka turned red, and a large sweat drop formed on her head. Shinji just smiled.
Turning towards home, they set out. After about a block, he reached out, and took her hand. They walked that way, sharing the day with each other. About the debriefing, Kensuke’s preoccupation, Rei’s absence.
When they arrived home, they walked through the house, and came upon Misato lounging on the couch, sleeping. "She seems to sleep a lot lately. Or maybe I don’t remember it because it seemed like we were always on the move to defeat the next angel.
They went to their separate rooms to have some time alone, and contemplate things, and after about an hour, Asuka came to Shinji’s door, book in hand. Shinji looked up at her, questioningly.
"I need to study. Neither of us have been to school nearly as much lately as we should have, and we both need to catch up a little." She plopped down next to him, and they studied physics for about 45 minutes when they heard a stirring Misato call out groggily. "Asukashinji? You guyshome?"
"Even when she’s sober she’s drunk."
"I don’t understand her either."
Misato came to Shinji’s door, and peeked in. "Oh, I’ll bet you were just studying or something right? I tried that one once, it didn’t work very well."
"But we really were studying. It’s not like our relationship is based on sex. There is more to it than that." Asuka stated.
"So you’re saying that sex is factored into it?" Asuka and Shinji both turned bright red. "Not that that is wrong, but I think you may be a little young to realize what exactly sex means. It is more than just physical pleasure in your case. Although, yeah, it feels great, it creates an emotional bond, that strengthens you love, but it can be overwhelming if you’re not ready for it. I don’t want you to have to go through that." Asuka started to say something, but Misato held up her hand. "I know, I was getting to that. I am a pretty lenient person, so I cam going to leave it in your hands. I think this is too big for a person on the outside to control without it being detrimental. Do what you think is right, but remember, you are going to be the one responsible."
"Yes, ma’am." They said in unison.
"Now, it’s about time for dinner. I think I have got that cooking thing down, so I’ll go at it tonight."
Shinji and Asuka looked at each other with grim visages, knowing that there was no stopping her. They would just have to bear it.
A half-hour later, they all sat at the table, and waited for the first person to try it. Shinji didn’t want a cemetery named after him, so he was a little reluctant. Asuka eyed the "food" with suspicion. Misato beamed at them, promising that it was good food.
"Yeah, WAS good food. What did you do to it?"
Misato decided to default the task of tasting the food to an unsuspecting Pen-Pen. The little bird lasted about until his third chew before he passed out.
Shinji and Asuka shoved theirs away. "Ok, I’m done."
"I don’t understand it. I followed the recipe." Misato pleaded. "This is even the way it looked in the picture.
Shinji got the cookbook, and compared. It was about like comparing a kindergarten drawing to a Picasso. They had some of the same general shapes and colors, but one was a masterpiece, and the other was a piece of shit.
"Well, maybe it’s a little off. I had to substitute a few things because my pantry is getting a little sparse. I’ll have to go shopping soon. Oh well, want to order out?"
6 beers and half a pizza later, Misato was passed out on the couch once more, this time with the litter piled right at her feet. She had fallen asleep watching a movie they had decided to play. Shinji and Asuka fooled around for a little while, and decided to "go to bed". It had been a pretty good day.
Far above the spinning orb that was Earth, the Angel probe unit moved closer to make a closer scan. It watched as one of its cousins was killed in a brief battle. How it hated it’s designated job. All it could do was sit there and watch, record the event, and then report its findings. Then it had an idea that had never occurred to its kind before. Go against orders. After a little debate it found that if the objective was cleared, and higher found out about it, they wouldn’t mind much. They would be happy with what had turned out.
It sent thought tendrils out to its waiting cousins, instructing them that the plan had changed. They would now be mounting a concerted attack to destroy the dissidents once and for all. They had to secure the area so that they could find what was generating the incessant pull from somewhere inside the planet, relatively close to the surface. It called to them, beckoning. They would attack soon. It would be a glorious victory.