-*-
TAKING SIGHTS
Chapter
Written by: Lavanya Six
(Please don’t sue)
-*-
"Very stylish. But orange?"
Gendo Ikari remained impassive.
"The saleswoman assured me that this style is apparently all the rage
among manipulative bastards."
Kozo chuckled dryly. "If I didn't
know better, Ikari, I'd think you were being self-depreciative."
"No, just honest." He flexed
his gloved hands tentatively. The itching still hadn't died down. "Where
do we stand on Unit-01?"
"The initial diagnostics have been
very positive considering it’s been in cryo-status all these years. Doctor
Akagi estimates it'll be ready for a full activation test by this time
tomorrow."
"Just in time."
"Ikari?"
"I understand Tokyo-2 has finally
released our Chief Operations Officer to us."
"Yes. Wasn’t it nice of them to
approve the transfer eight months after we requested it?"
"It'll be nicer still when we can
do away with the fiction that they’re in charge of us." Gendo adjusted his
glasses. Why had he bought this pair again? The nose pieces had always been
shoddy. Still, what good was change just for the sake of change? "When
does she arrive?"
"She's already here. I believe
Doctor Akagi is giving her the tour of the place. They're old friends, after
all." Kozo rubbed his shoulder. "She's due to report for duty
officially at tomorrow morning’s staff meeting."
Gendo remembered. She had been
hung-over. Kozo hadn't been impressed. He’d tried to convince him to fire her.
"Why wait?" Gendo Ikari stood
up from his desk. "Let's go meet the Major."
"...Captain."
"Hmm? Oh. Yes. Pardon me."
-*-
"So this is the MAGI, huh? The
original?"
Behind her old friend, Doctor Ritsuko
Akagi nodded. "Yes."
Captain Misato Katsuragi, detached from
the United Nations Combined Military Forces (UNCMF), whistled. "Nice.
Bigger than Tokyo-2's."
"They're functionally identical,
actually. However, since these were the prototype seventh generational
super-computers their development required a lot of hands-on work. That's why
the casings are so prominent. We weren’t so concerned with aesthetics during
the beta. The copies around the world were built from the final design."
Misato pointed to CASPER. "And
since the primary and secondary Command Centers use a modular design, the tower
instillation of the MAGI allows for easy transfer should the need arise. Very
handy for a city going to war."
Dr. Akagi raised a carefully plucked
eyebrow. "Very good, Misato."
"I've been studying. There hasn't
been a lot for me to do lately back in Tokyo-2. Just shuffling paperwork
between the UN, NERV, and the JSSDF."
"Every little bit helps the war
effort," joked Ritsuko.
"Tell me about it." Misato
surveyed the Command Center, her fashionable black dress clashing with the
uniformed NERV staff. "Is it always this quiet around here?"
"Yes," replied Ritsuko,
"though you should have been here two weeks ago."
"You mean the incident with Unit-00
and the First Child?" Misato asked, her voice lowered from its usual high
boisterousness.
"You've read the report?"
"What wasn't redacted."
"I'll tell you more over dinner
tonight. I know this great German place. You'll love the beer they h-"
"Sempai! Sempai!"
A young, slim technician hurried over to
Dr. Akagi's side. The blond woman was somewhat irritated at this interruption.
"What is it, Maya? Is that pig in Division Four giving you lip again? You
outrank him."
The woman, one Maya Ibuki, was bug-eyed.
"The Commander is coming here!"
"What? When?"
"Now!"
Misato turned to Ritsuko. "I
thought you said he was in meetings all day! How can I meet him wearing
this-"
"Lovely dress?"
The three women turned around. There,
standing atop a platform lift, were the Commander and Vice-Commander of NERV.
And, horribly, Commander Gendo Ikari was smiling. Not smirking. Not grinning
slyly. Smiling.
The three women, Ritsuko in particular,
openly stared at the bizarre sight. Misato, who only knew Gendo Ikari by
reputation, thought to herself that it looked like the rest of his face didn't
quite know what to do with the smile. It was as if the soprano in an opera had
suddenly burst into rap, forcing the rest of the cast to desperately try to
carry on with the normal show in spite of the performance being derailed.
Commander Ikari, perhaps sensing their
reaction, let his face lull into a neutral, vaguely irritated expression. The
three women relaxed. He asked, "What do you think of NERV?"
"It's, uh, nice." Inwardly,
Misato cursed herself. Nice? You moron! What the hell kind of thing is that
to tell your boss? Or any man, for that matter!
"I should hope so." Gendo
stepped off the lift and made his way towards the trio. Kozo followed close
behind. "Considering the billions the UN has poured into our little
company town, I think we can afford a little niceness."
Nervous, Misato smiled.
Gendo Ikari walked right up to her. For
a moment, the three women stared at the bearded menace towering over them.
Ritsuko, for her part, also made a mental note to compliment him on his lovely
new glasses the next time they had dinner together.
After an awkward pause, Gendo saluted.
"Captain Katsuragi."
Years of training snapped Misato into a
reflexive salute. "Commander Ikari, reporting as ordered, sir! Please
forgive my lax state of dress, sir, but-"
"All is forgiven, Captain."
Gendo lowered his salute. "At ease."
Misato relaxed.
Gendo glanced at Ritsuko. "Doctor,
has the Captain been familiarized with Central Dogma?"
"Yes, Commander. We're still in the
middle of our tour, but the Captain has demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of
both the NERV and Tokyo-3."
"Excellent." He turned back to
Misato. "Captain Katsuragi, I was wondering, are you free for a little
get-together tonight?"
"What?" the three women
chorused.
Misato and Maya missed the stink eye
Ritsuko shot the Commander.
"I'm planning on making a trip
tonight to recruit a new pilot for the program. A stopgap is necessary until
the First recovers."
Behind him, surprise washed over
Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki's face. It slowly morphed into dread. Doctor Akagi was
at a loss. "Sir," she said, "I was unaware of any report by the
Marduke Institute regarding the Third. Surely-"
The Commander waved a hand dismissively.
"Paperwork and red tape. I'll see to it that copies are forwarded to you
and the Captain by the end of the day."
“Of course, sir,” Misato said.
"I'll gladly accompany you on tonight's mission. I only ask that I be
given time to change into proper attire."
"Meet me on the Number 17 helipad
at 14:30 hours. That should give you enough time to find your uniform. A VOTL
will take us to our destination." He nodded. "Good day, Captain.
Doctor."
With that, both men turned back to the
lift. The three women glanced at one another. Before the Commanders left,
Misato called out, "Sir? If I may ask, what is this Third Child's
name?"
"Well," Gendo Ikari mused,
"if you must know..."
-*-
"Ikari, what the FUCK are you
thinking?"
"Language, Fuyutsuki."
Back in the Commander's office, the
elder Fuyutsuki was bent over the Commander's desk. Without the Third Angel
bearing down on Tokyo-3 he was much less receptive to idea of recruiting
Shinji. Gendo idly wondered if the man would actually hit him.
The unexpected was quite exciting. He’d
missed it.
"-and WHY are you SMILING?! Have
you been listening to a word I've said?!"
Gendo froze. Damnit. Had he
slipped again? He needed to watch that. Whimsy would be the death of him if he
kept getting caught up in idle thoughts. "Yes, I have. And I understand
your anger. But we have no choice."
"No choice?! This is no emergency!
Ayanami will be cleared for pilot status in little over a month! That's just
before the scheduled scenario regarding the Angels' return! There's no reason
to put your son" – from the way he said it Gendo understood Kozo meant
'her son' – "in the firing line when we'll have the First ready and
trained to pilot Unit-01!"
"Incorrect," he adjusted his
glasses. "The Third Angel will attack in three days."
Fuyutsuki stiffened.
"The scenario was inaccurate. Using
new information, I have revised it to more perfectly reflect reality."
That was one way of putting it.
"I haven't heard of this new
information."
"Neither have the old men. I intend
to keep it that way."
"Fair enough... but how can you be
sure, Ikari?"
"I can't tell you."
"Not good enough, damn it! Not good
enough!"
Gendo leaned back into his chair, his
spine creaking as he did so. Not for the first time did he curse Japanese
school desks and the poor posture they instilled in him during his malleable
youth. "What do you want from me, Fuyutsuki? My source? Well, I can't tell
you that. I've kept secrets from you in the past. We both know that. Get used
to it. Yui kept secrets from me too."
Fuck. He did it again. Where had his
self-control gone? And would his balls soon follow?
"Ikari, I want your trust."
He sighed. "I've committed myself body and soul to the plan. I think I've
earned it."
"And you have it." He cut off
Kozo before he could speak again. "The matter is closed for the moment.
But be rest assured, I will tell you everything when the time is right. You
just have to be patient. Everything depends on it. The plan depends on
it."
That is, the new plan.
This time Gendo suppressed his telltale
smirk.
NERV's Vice-Commander gritted his teeth
and hissed, "Fine! Play your games. See if I care. But don't bring the boy
into it! There is any number of candidates on hand. Pick one of them."
"Unit-01 is the only working
Evangelion capable of fighting an Angel. And we both know why the probability
of it successfully synchronizing with a pilot candidate is 0.000000001
percent." He stared into Fuyutsuki’s eyes. "These two facts amount to
one inescapable conclusion. Don't pretend you don't know that too."
"There's always Rei."
"She can't pilot now."
"There's an easy way around
that."
"Absolutely not!" he snapped.
"If anything, Rei's accident has made her more loyal to me! Too
much depends on her to throw that advantage away for short term gain."
"...fine." Kozo straightened
up. "But do you actually believe Shinji will come back after you abandoned
him?"
"He will,” explained Gendo, “when
he thinks that I love him."
-*-
The VTOL cruised over the Japanese
countryside. In its main cabin, two adults sat facing each other. One, the
male, was resting. The other, a woman, sat quietly. Beside her were a few file
folders and a briefcase.
Misato looked around, bored. This was
not how she had expected to spend her last free day for a month.
“Is something wrong, Captain?”
Ikari’s voice startled Misato. Her eyes
darted over to the bearded man. He was still dozing in his seat, eyes closed.
Or-
“I’m resting, Captain, but I’m awake.
I’ve just had a long few days. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.”
"Sir, what should I expect when we
arrive? What’s your son like?"
The Commander opened his eyes. Misato
thought she saw emotion flash through them for just a second. Perhaps it had
just been a trick of light; Ikari didn't strike her as the emotional type.
"Ms. Katsuragi," he began, his voice subdued, "I haven't spoken
to my son recently. In fact, the last time we spoke it was at a train station
three years ago when I sent him back to live with his uncle. It was not a
pleasant parting."
Misato was speechless. What the hell?
Was he... confessing to her? She wasn’t sure. He didn’t sound that regretful.
"That most of been traumatic for him. Would he even be willing to see
you?"
"Captain, you must understand this
about Shinji: he is, at heart, actually quite... gentle." Ikari seemed to
stumble on that word. "He is also starving for any type of approval.
Shinji's uncle, my late wife's brother, tolerates the boy, but only so much. I
suppose he sees too much of me in the boy. Obviously he doesn’t know me that
well." Ikari gave a small laugh. "Shinji may hate me, but he's too
mild to ever say it. He'd probably never even admit it to himself. And more
than anything, he wants a relationship with me. For that he’d do
anything." Gendo closed his eyes. "So, to answer your question, he
will pilot. For me."
Goddamn, Misato thought to herself,
the man is ice.
Silence settled over the cabin. The VTOL
continued on its journey, chugging along. Misato paged through the Marduke
Institute's report on the Third. It seemed to match what Commander Ikari had
told her, though in more roundabout wording. The boy's psyche profile was
riddled with half a dozen red flags. Still, she thought, that seemed to be par
the course for Evangelion pilots. He seemed like a nice enough boy; troubled
but cute.
The pilot paged the cabin, informing
them that they were approaching the local airport.
"Captain, before we disembark,
there is one other matter."
She set aside the Marduke report.
"Yes?"
-*-
Misato looked out the car window. What a
crappy little town. If she were Shinji she'd have jumped at the chance to leave
this backwater for a real city. Commander Ikari probably counted on that too.
Bastard. Well, at least he had the... what? ‘Kindness’ was the wrong word.
Respect? Wisdom? At least he'd had the wisdom to make that arrangement with
her.
Gendo Ikari was a cool customer; not
someone Misato would cross. If she did, she figured her career probably
wouldn't be the only thing hitting a dead-end.. Poor Shinji, she
thought, he doesn't stand a chance.
-*-
Gendo Ikari was scared shitless.
Intellectually, he knew he had only seen
Shinji twelve days ago. Third Impact. His death. Yu-
Stop it! Don't think about that!
For nearly a year in Tokyo-3 the two had
been around each other with only minimal contact. Neither had made an attempt
to avoid the other. Both of them had just... hadn't... tried to talk.
But that was a lie too. Shinji had tried
occasionally. He'd fumble and second guess himself, but he'd tried. Gendo
simply had no desire to reciprocate.
Had he mistreated Shinji? Yes.
Had he gone against Yui's wishes with
Shinji? Yes.
Had he underestimated Shinji?
Yes
Last time, he had thought Unit-01 was
the key to everything. Now he knew better.
Today was the first step in a long game.
And if it required him to sit down with Shinji and-
His toes curled.
-talk with his son, then by God he
would!
Gendo had given his word to Rei, and,
despite what others thought of him, he kept his word when it came to the people
who mattered most.
He had to admit that constituted a short
list.
The armored car slowed to a halt.
Remember why you’re doing this,
Gendo, and move forward regardless of the cost. It’ll all be worth it in The
End.
-*-
Shinji Ikari kept a tidy bedroom.
It was small, as most Japanese rooms
were. Cultural inertia kept post-Second Impact architectural styles fairly
unchanged despite the decrease in population pressure that had originally
driven the need for commodity of space. Shinji, who spent much of his time in
the bedroom, kept it meticulous. Every piece of clothing was normally clean,
ironed, folded, and organized inside the dresser. His cello, when he wasn’t
practicing it or caring for it, usually sat in its case in the room’s sunless
northwest corner. He had few other possessions, none of particular importance,
but they too had their place.
Shinji himself found his place at his
second-hand desk, sitting in a folding chair his uncle had bought at a yard
sale, staring out the window at nothing in particular. He was waiting. He’d
been waiting for a few hours now.
The door to the room was open. Shinji’s
uncle stepped in. “He’s here.”
Shinji nodded. “I’ll be right down.”
“Fine.” He started to leave, but then
paused. “Shinji, there’s no point in getting your hopes up.”
“I know.”
His uncle left.
Shinji exhaled, releasing a breath he
hadn’t known he was holding in. With only a small tremble he stood up. On the
desk, next to his SDAT player, he put down the piece of paper he’d been holding
since the special currier showed up at his uncle’s house that morning.
The paper on the desk was a telegram. It
read:
“I’m coming later today to talk. I
hope you are well.”
-Father
Shinji Ikari kept a tidy bedroom. So it
was no surprise how quickly he had been able to pack it all up.
-*-
His son looked young.
That got under Gendo’s skin. At the end,
Shinji had been a broken shell of a person, yes, but he had also matured over
the year-long war. He’d begun to exhibit the first signs of manhood in his
tightened face, broader shoulders, and gangly legs. This child here had none of
that. His eyes were bright and filled with hopeless longing, not pain.
And he was shorter. That was weird.
“Father,” the boy said, fear creeping
into his voice.
“Shinji,” he said, forcing himself not
to run, “how are you?”
“I-I’m fine.”
God, who was this kid? Where was the
Shinji who had stood up to him when Zeruel came crashing through Central Dogma?
He’d cowed this one with barely a word.
He gestured to his left. “Allow me to
introduce Captain Misato Katsuragi, Chief Operations Office of NERV.”
The woman stepped forward with a smile
and offered a handshake. “Pleased to meet you, Shinji!”
Shinji, a little hesitantly, met the
hand with his own. “You too, Captain Katsuragi.”
“Call me Misato.”
Gendo cursed himself as he watched
Shinji’s eyes light up. Damn, I should have offered to shake his hand. Every
gesture of respect would go a long way today. “I’m glad to see you’re
healthy, Shinji. Maybe later you could demonstrate your cello for the Captain?
I’ve told her how good you are.”
Shinji froze. "Y-you... know about
my music?"
"Your uncle sends me a tape every
month." And he did, though Gendo had never listened to them. He had thrown
them away whenever he received a new one. Fuyutsuki always saved a few,
however. This time around, shortly after the Unit-00 Incident, he had asked to
borrow them. The music experts he had review the tapes had given him a detailed
breakdown of Shinji's skills. To be fair, they had been impressed. "I
listen to the one of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 from your March recital
quite often."
Shinji said nothing. Gendo suspected it was
less that he didn't want to ruin the moment and more that he couldn't believe
it had happened at all. Gendo almost felt bad about the necessary lie. He had
actually listened to the Cello Suite, though he couldn't do so for long. His
son's music, much like his default expression, was just too depressing. Even
Fuyutsuki admitted he never listened to the tapes in order to be cheered up,
and never while drinking.
“Why don’t we find your uncle?”
“Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep
you waiting.” Shinji bowed, then turned and tried not to hurry away. “Uncle’s
in the sitting room. Follow me, please.”
Captain Katsuragi gave him a sideways
look.
Gendo adjusted his glasses. “Yes,
Captain. He really is mine.”
-*-
In the next room, Gendo and the Captain
were seated at a couch across from Shinji and his uncle. On the coffee table
between them were four cups of hot tea. Only Misato was drinking.
Yui’s brother was as sour as Gendo
remembered. He’d never approved of their marriage, considering Gendo too low
class for his sister. After all, what sort of man took his wife’s family name?
Gendo didn’t care what he thought. Yui had understood.
“So Gendo,” the old asshole began, “what
brings you up here? Business or pleasure?”
“Both, actually. Though neither concerns
you.”
“Typical. Then again, you never were the
sort for a guilty conscious.”
If only you knew. “I didn’t come
here to bicker with you. I came here to discuss something of great importance
with my son. You can leave now.”
“Leave? Why? Someone here has to watch
out for the boy.”
Gendo turned to Misato. “Captain.”
Katsuragi retrieve a thick, cumbersome
manila envelope from the briefcase she carried. She set it down as carefully as
she could before the old asshole, though Gendo noted with approval that she
dropped it a half an inch off the coffee table so that it produced a nice
little ‘thump’ and rattled the cups of tea in their saucers. The Captain then
took a pen from her jacket, clicked it to ready, and presented it the old
asshole.
“If this is a joke I’m not amused.”
Misato explained that it wasn’t any such
thing. “These are the legally required security forms you must fill out before
you can be present for today’s meeting. Commander Ikari,” Gendo noted that the
old asshole tensed at that surname, “has granted special security clearance to
Shinji for the duration of today’s meeting. Due to time restraints, we won’t be
able to postpone today’s meeting. If you would like to sit in, I recommend you
begin filling out these forms immediately.”
The old asshole was incensed. “That’d
take all night! You’d be done by the time I finished!”
“Failure to obtain proper jurisdiction
before sitting in on this meeting will be considered a treasonable act under
Japanese law.” Misato leaned forward. “But just between you and me, if you want
to protect yourself against any possible accusation of unlawfulness I recommend
being far outside of earshot.”
“I can’t even stay in my own house?! This
is the thanks I get after taking in the boy?!” On the other side of the couch,
Shinji wilted. “What am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?”
“Well,” mused Gendo, “On the ride down
here I noticed that the bait shop up the road is having a sale on buckets of
worms. I don’t know much about fishing but I’m pretty sure 2-for-1 is a good
sale any day of the week.”
The old asshole stood up with a huff.
“Fine. You want to talk with the boy? Take all the time you want.” He looked
over at Shinji. “Family reunions rarely involve signing off on security
clearance. You were too quick with your room.” And with that odd last statement
the old asshole left, slamming the front door behind him.
Captain Katsuragi sighed. “That was too
close. I thought he was actually going to fill it out just to spite me. That
would have been awkward.”
Shinji frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“These aren’t clearance papers.” She
flipped open the official-looking NERV manila folder and showed it to Shinji.
It was all blank paper. “I just raided my office’s printer.”
“But if my Father’s work doesn’t matter
today, why are you here?”
Gendo decided to speak. “The Captain is
here because she works for NERV. I’m here because-”
“-because you need me for something,
right?” Shinji was crestfallen even as he was bitter. “That’s the only reason
you’d come here.”
I’m here because I have a use for
you. I’m here because sending a telegram again probably wouldn't be the best
way to establish a productive... working… relationship. “I’m
here,” he explained, “because of your Mother.”
-*-
All of Shinji’s bitterness was
forgotten. Father never talked about Mother. He himself could
barely remember her face. He didn’t even have a picture of her. “What are you
talking about?”
His Father said, “Yui gave her life in
the course of creating a better future for mankind. It’s the same goal I’ve
dedicated my life to since her death. I’ll try to explain as best as I can
about the Evangelion, the Angels, the Second and Third Impacts. About
everything. You may not believe me, but hear me out. If at the end you want us
to go our separate ways, I’ll go. Is that agreeable?”
Shinji wasn’t sure what to think of all
that; half the things he’d mentioned didn’t even make sense. What the hell did
Mother’s death have to do with the Second Impact? And Third Impact? But
there were so many other questions about her he had. This might be his only
chance. “Okay.”
It was dark out by the time his Father
finished his impossible story of otherworldly beings and Adams and secret
agencies and giant robots and Mother’s accident. Shinji didn’t want to believe
it. The whole thing sounded like something a nutcase on a street corner would
preach to passersby. And yet… his Father sounded sincere. The raven-haired
woman certainly wasn’t fazed by any of the outlandishness.
“I won’t make excuses for what’s
happened between us,” Father said, sipping his cold tea. “It’s too late for
that. I don’t think either of us would believe those words anyway. The simple
fact is that I need you.” Despite himself, Shinji felt his heart flutter. “I
here for you because you’re the only one who can take the last step in a
fifteen year plan hatched by your Mother and I: to defeat the Angels and save
the human race.”
Shinji was at a loss. “I don’t
understand any of this!” he shouted. “You’re mistaken! You want somebody else!”
“No, Shinji. I want you.”
He stood up and walked to the window. He
didn’t think to do so; he just didn’t want his Father to see his troubled
expression. “I can’t possibly fight in… in a giant robot! It’s insane! I
wouldn’t know the first thing to do!”
“We can train you,” Father replied, “and
you wouldn’t be alone. There’s another pilot your age that’d live with you if
you moved to Tokyo-3.”
“W-w-we’d live with you?”
And then his Father paused.
“Father?”
“No.”
-*-
Misato leaned against centripetal forces
as the VTOL banked over the river valley below. Commander Ikari paused as he
waited for the craft to finish its turn. When they leveled out, he started to
explain himself to her. "These children are going to be placed under
extreme stress," he began. "Over an uncertain period of time they'll
randomly face an enemy of unknown quality who they'll have to kill in
one-on-one combat. And, if they lose, the human race dies. The mental strain on
a professional soldier would be enormous. But on a fourteen year-old? We'll be
lucky if they aren't stark-raving insane by the end of the war.
"If we are to defeat the Angels, we
will need to send children to war in our place. However, I am not willing to
risk Shinji – or any of the other pilots for that matter – more than I have to.
When they aren't fighting or training they need a stable environment anchored
in a semblance of normality. They will go to school. They will have friends.
They will come back at night to a home.
"I want to give them an anchor,
Captain. That's why Shinji will live with you. That's why all of them will live
with you."
"What?!" Captain Katsuragi was
taken aback. "You mean Rei too? And Asuka?"
"Eventually, yes. Do you have a
problem with this request?"
'Request' my ass.
"No, no! I agree. It's something I've been thinking about, actually. And
it could help with unit cohesion. My only worry is if they all start fighting
with each other. Three teenagers in one small apartment? That's a recipe for
disaster."
"I see." He reached into his
uniform jacket and retrieved a secure NERV cellular phone. He dialed a number.
"Fuyutsuki? The major's apartment is too small to house the pilots.
...Yes. See to it." He put the phone away. "The matter will be taken
care of before our return."
"Uh, sir, what's going to happen to
my apartment?"
"Think of it as an early New Year's
bonus, Captain."
"…Right." She looked out the
VTOL's window, taking in the devastated countryside. "But my concern isn't
with floor space. It's with the human element. Shinji is your son."
"I’m under no delusion that I can
repair my relationship with Shinji. If you’ll pardon the cliché, I’ve burned my
bridges. But I can still see to it that he has a good home.” Gendo looked
uncomfortable. “Do you understand?”
Misato did.
-*-
Shinji sounded hurt. "Live with...
her? Why not you, Father? Why come all this way?"
"I have responsibilities, Shinji.
NERV is a worldwide organization. While it's primarily mission is to defeat the
Angels my own role is largely political. I spend most nights aboard a
suborbital jet, hopping from one corner of the planet to the other trying to
keep NERV afloat. If you moved in with me you'd be moving into an empty
apartment."
That and Ritsuko’s bedroom stunk of
tobacco. Owning your own place was always a perk when bedding women, even
mentally unbalanced women you’d probably have to put down at some point.
“It’s not ideal, I know, but life never
is. We make do with what we have until we build something better. We can’t run
away from life because it’s unpleasant. If we run away then we’ll never be able
to build that better life.”
“I won’t lie to you. This will be the
hardest thing you’ve ever done in your life. It may well be the last thing you
ever do with your life. But the world needs you, Shinji. I need you.”
“Will you come to Tokyo-3? Will you
pilot Eva?”
“…yes.” He turned around. “Yes, I’ll do
it.”
Off to his side, Commander Ikari heard
Captain Katsuragi let out a breath. He himself hadn’t been so nervous about the
outcome. He caved, Gendo thought to himself. Surprise, surprise.
“Thank you, Shinji.”
Shinji looked exhausted. Gendo
empathized. This was the longest he’d spoken with Shinji in… well, either life.
“I imagine your uncle has been skulking around outside for a while now.
However, if you feel up to it, I was wondering if could play your cello for the
Captain and I. All of us could do with some music, I think.”
“Yeah,” agreed Shinji, “I think we
could.”
-*-
Misato stifled a yawn as she stood up.
Shinji’s relaxing music had almost lulled her into sleep. Today had been a long
day and she wasn’t even supposed to start work until tomorrow!
“Shinji,” she said, on her way out the
door, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He bowed. “Goodnight, Misato.”
Later, back in the VTOL, Misato regarded
the dozing form of Gendo Ikari with a curious eye. He was an interesting man,
to be sure. Cold but realistic. Not a great father but NERV could do worse for
a Commander.
As she watched, a smile slowly crept
across his face.
He looks like the cat that caught
the canary, she thought.
Misato closed her eyes. Definitely
not a man to cross.
-*-
Gendo Ikari relaxed, satisfied that he’d
put on a good show for all involved. Everything had gone according to the plan.
Shinji was… open, at least, to his wishes. He’d at least be able to use him
against the Third Angel. After that? He wasn’t sure. This was new territory;
though Shinji was still Shinji and Gendo was still Gendo, despite what Yui told
him and his dea-
Stop it! Don't think about that!
His knowledge of the Children’s
activities during the next year was spotty. The last time around he hadn’t
figured Katsuragi’s reports would be of much use to him besides providing a
ballpark estimate of Shinji’s and Asuka’s mental conditions. He hadn’t looked
at the little things. That had been Yui’s department.
There would be changes to everyone’s
lives. What would be the point of this second chance if there weren’t? He
couldn’t control them all. The world was too chaotic for that. He could,
however, guide change’s hand.
Pushing together the First and Third
Child would be a fine place to start. Shinji would be good for Rei. In fact, if
things went right, he could kill three birds with one stone. Rei would adore
him (and respect him) for giving her a new, better life. Shinji would
get his surrogate family and, for the most part, leave him alone. But their
raven-haired guardian? She would be the sweetest plum of all.
Gendo Ikari smiled to himself.
Captain Katsuragi was going to make an
excellent doll.
-*-
end part 02
-*-