As soon as we left the building, I took the glasses I had bought for Rei yesterday out of my pocket and handed them to the owner, receiving a strange look and a barely noticeable nod in response. Ayanami, in dark glasses and a light school uniform, looked a little funny, in my opinion, but for random passersby the image was just a little strange but explainable, after all, the sun was blinding mercilessly. And the red eyes no longer attracted attention.
Having put on my own glasses, I grabbed the handles of both school bags more comfortably and gestured for Rey to follow me. We walked slowly and, like yesterday, silently, although I don't think either of us felt any discomfort about it, rather the opposite. Again, the entire way, in the background, the security guards loomed annoyingly, showing their complete professional incompetence. But still, we reached the school calmly and with plenty of time to spare. But once inside, the first troubles arose, if that's what you can call whispers behind your back, like: "Oh, look! Robots are coming!" or "That crazy guy I was telling you about! And that one next to him!" and so on. Personally, I didn't care at all about the opinions of all these kids and it didn't affect me in any way. Honestly, who are they and who am I? So let them whisper, especially since I wanted to achieve such a reaction myself. Rey also didn't react to the whispers behind her back and silently walked to the classroom. There was almost no one there, except for the headman and a couple of girls with whom she was enthusiastically chatting, so our appearance even went unnoticed.
Passing by Rei's desk, I put Ayanami's schoolbag on it and sat down at the next one. Rei, without the slightest delay, repeated my movement and took her desk. A couple more seconds to get and put things away, and we almost simultaneously freeze, looking out the window, resting our heads on our left hands. And all this in complete silence, not even looking at each other.
After a couple of minutes, Hikari finally noticed our appearance and hurried over.
"Hello, Ikari, Ayanami," the girl greeted, standing a little awkwardly next to my desk and holding some piece of paper in her hands.
"Hello, Hikari," I replied in a blank voice, tearing my gaze away from the window and glancing at the class president. Rei didn't react to what was happening.
- Um... Well... - she hesitated slightly and handed me a piece of paper. - Here's the schedule of class cleaning duties, I put you at the end of the list. Do you have any objections?
I took the sheet and read it carefully. The classroom was cleaned in groups of two or three people, and Horaki put me in the group with Kensuke and Suzuhara. Well...
"Please put me in a group with Rey," I asked calmly, handing back the duty schedule and turning back to the window.
- Have you met yet? - Hikari seemed even happy.
- Yes.
"Okay, I'll put you together," the girl said enthusiastically and began to write something on a piece of paper with a pencil that she had taken from nowhere. "Then your turn will be next Thursday," the freckled girl smiled.
- Fine.
- Well then, if you need anything, just ask, - continuing to smile, the head girl waited for my nod and, shaking her pigtails, turned to her previous interlocutors. And a minute later, muffled but energetic whispers were heard from the group of girls, it was not difficult to guess who they were discussing.
The first lesson was social studies again. Frankly, I admired the teacher's restraint, because indifference is indifference, but one must be able to tolerate such blatant disrespect for oneself, from the students. Well, he is not that deaf and blind, and if what was happening was indifferent to him, he would sit at home on a well-deserved pension, but no, he comes here and lectures a crowd of noisy children, who do not even listen to him for the sake of decency. By the way, today he spoke about the Korean War, which happened after the Second Strike and the nuclear bombing of Japan, by both sides of the conflict. Very interesting, if, of course, you get used to the lecturer's style of presentation, and my classmates clearly had trouble with this. Which cannot be said about another area.
Since the class was connected to a single network via computers, people could chat with each other while sitting at different ends of the room. I don't know what Hikari's friends told them there, but already in the tenth minute of the lesson an anonymous question came to my computer: "Is it true that you and Ayanami are dating?" I expected something like this, though not so soon. Although I didn't expect to hear a question about piloting on the very first day either. Gossip, truly, spreads faster than the speed of light. Naturally, I ignored the question, just lazily glanced at it and went back to contemplating the landscape outside the window. For another twenty minutes, the female part of the class tried to wake me up by simply filling my laptop screen with messages, but then, seeing that I was not showing any reaction, they finally calmed down. During the break, no one approached me, not even Toji, although the latter was glaring at me from the other end of the class.
After social studies there were two math lessons, taught by a smart middle-aged Asian guy in rectangular glasses, here my classmates had no time for chatter and empty gossip. Although as for me, all the problems were elementary. Well, and during the big break a surprise awaited me.
As everyone began to disperse, gathering in groups based on interests or simply wanting to have lunch in the fresh air, Rey got up from her desk and came over to me.
"I'm going outside," the girl said, looking me in the eye. It was intriguing, because yesterday she had spent the entire big break in class...
"Okay," I started to get up.
- Are you coming with me?
- Yes.
Rey nodded, slightly tilting her head to the side and walking to her desk, she took her briefcase, apparently she wasn't going to give it to me now. More and more curious.
Under the interested and attentive gaze of the female, and perhaps male, part of the class, those who had not yet dispersed, we silently walked out the door.
Ayanami sat down on a bench near the main entrance and took a book out of her briefcase and began reading. It reminded me of something... Oh yeah, that's right. It seems that it was here, according to the series, that Asuka first spoke to Rei and offered to be friends. I especially remember this moment because Asuka first stood in such a way as to cast a shadow on Ayanami's book and thus attract her attention, and Rei, seeing this, without even raising her head, simply moved so that the sun would illuminate the pages again and so on two whole times. I remember that I was very touched by this picture then, although I was about thirteen years old and still very far from becoming the Prince of Darkness.
After admiring the girl for a few moments, I sat down next to her and reached into my own briefcase.
"Rei, would you like some apples or yogurt?" Ayanami looked up from her book and glanced at me, then at the bag of three green apples and two small bottles of drinking yogurt I was holding in my hands.
- Did you bring me lunch?
"Yes," Rey froze, not taking her eyes off my hands, and only after ten seconds answered:
"I'll have some yogurt," she said, and turned away, not toward the book, but simply to the side.
"Here you go," I hand over the indicated product, Ayanami, without looking at me, took the bottle.
"Thank you," I managed to bite into the apple when Rey said this and, I admit, I was surprised once again.
- Please...
After school, a black car, pretending to be an SUV, came to pick us up. Misato was driving. A very sullen Misato.
"Did something happen?" I asked after letting Ray go ahead of me and getting into the back seat myself.
"What makes you think that?" the captain muttered discontentedly.
"Misato, do you really want me to explain this, or are you going to answer?" I ask in a calm voice, fastening Ayanami's seat belt. Surprise flashed across the girl's gaze, but it quickly passed.
"I was in Rey's apartment," the captain answered even more sullenly and immediately became furious: "Can you imagine!? There wasn't even hot water there today! And the bandages?! Bloody bandages?! Rey, did you do your own bandages?"
"Yes," came the laconic answer.
- Xo!.. And today too?
- Shinji helped me today.
– Do you often not have hot water?
"No," and apparently realizing that the answer was not complete enough, Rey explained a second later. "It never happens."
Shock. The only word that can describe the state Katsuragi fell into. I had assumed something similar and almost gnashed my teeth, and Shinji inside, he was completely stupefied, and then he poured out a wave of pity for Ayanami and anger at his father. "Now do you understand why I feel this way about her?" A nod came from inside and another wave, this time, of tenderness towards the ruby-eyed angel.
"And when can Ray officially move in?" I interrupted the prolonged silence.
- Soon! I can't say for sure, but soon, Shinji, soon, - Misato's voice was full of determination. Determination and anger.
- That's good, but I think it's time for us to go to headquarters.
"Yes, you're right," Misato took a deep breath, grabbed the steering wheel more comfortably, and the car started moving.
The road to Geofront was calm, Katsuragi didn't rush, I don't know if it was because of Rei's injury or because the car itself wasn't conducive to reckless driving, but we drove quite civilized and carefully. Inside, nothing unusual happened either, except that Katsuragi almost got lost again, but fortunately Rei was with us, and she led us to the Science Department.
- Oh, here you are, come in, - Ritsuko barely turned her head at the sound of the door opening, waved her hand and turned back to the monitor, having managed to take a sip of coffee in the process. - I see you brought Rei with you... Shinji, wait a bit, I'll finish soon and we'll start the sync tests.
"Hello Ritsuko, I think we need to talk," Katsuragi greeted in a promising voice. "Hello Maya," she smiled without any transition at the girl in the beige uniform with the same triangular stripes on the sleeves as I had been given, sitting in the corner of the room at the computer.
"Hello, Captain Katsuragi," she squeaked embarrassedly and bent even more in front of the monitor.
"What should we talk about?" the green-eyed blonde asked without turning around.
"About something important," Misato smiled even more, emphasizing the words with her voice.
- Hm?.. - Akagi finally turned around and met Katsuragi's gaze. - Can't this wait?
- No.
"Okay," the doctor stood up, hiding her hands in the pockets of her robe. "Maya, give Shinji the contact suit for now, I'll be back soon."
The women walked out the door, and Maya stood up uncertainly.
- Um... Hello Shinji-kun, my name is Maya Ibuki, I am the administrator of the technical department of NERV and the operator of "MAGI". You probably heard me during the battle, I reported the synchronization data, - the girl smiled a little shyly. She was quite pretty: pleasant facial features, an ideal figure, dark brown hair and a short neat haircut with bangs. The girl was certainly beautiful, although not quite to my taste.
- Nice to meet you, Maya-san...
- Just Maya is fine.
- Okay, Maya. As far as I understand, today I have to undergo some kind of synchrotests? I would like to know in more detail what this means?
- Well, you'll just sit in the contact capsule and synchronize with Eva, and we'll start taking readings from the instruments.
"Let's say..." I turned my gaze to Rey, who was standing silently a little behind me. "And how long will it take?"
- Well... I guess, as Dr. Akagi decides...
"I see," my indifferent voice seemed to make Maya nervous.
"I'll bring you a contact suit now," the girl squeaked and jumped out the side door.
- Ray, you've already taken the synchrotests, haven't you?
- Yes. But only at the first stage of synchronization... - for a moment it seemed to me that Rey wanted to continue, but she did not dare. Well, I can cheer her up a little...
- And the second stage?
- Two weeks ago, I tried to pass the second stage for the first time. There was an accident.
- Are the injuries from there?
- Yes.
We stand. We look into each other's eyes. Rey's gaze expresses nothing. Even in the very depths there is an icy armor of calm and indifference. I wonder if it is the same with my gaze or does she still see a reflection of my feelings?
"And how long did the sync tests usually last?" I broke the silence, and at the same time changed the subject.
- From two to four hours, as Dr. Akagi decides.
- I see, - well, let's see how comrade doctor manages to shove me into LCL for four hours, I think it will be fun.
Hmm... Maya is taking a long time to get here, and Misato and Ritsuko are late. Well, everything is clear with the gentlemen department heads, Misato is most likely enthusiastically brainwashing Ritsuko about Rei's living conditions. But where did Maya disappear to? I doubt that the jumpsuit is somewhere far away, or was the girl among those who heard my conversation with Gendo in the hangar? If so, then everything is also clear. She is probably eavesdropping at the door and does not dare to enter, I scare her.
- Ray, what business do you have in Geofront today?
- None, - I raised an eyebrow questioningly. Ayanami looked away. Very interesting... However...
- Thank you, Ray.
- For what? - That's it. The gaze returned to me again, and in the depths of the eye there was surprise.
"For keeping me company," I said, turning to the computer monitors myself, breaking eye contact. The room fell silent again.
Quick footsteps were heard in the hallway, and a few seconds later, the front door swung open. The first to enter the room was an annoyed Akagi, and behind her, in her footsteps, walked a focused but clearly pleased Misato. The other door, where Maya had gone, opened immediately, thus confirming my guess. The girl in the beige uniform smiled shyly and slipped into the room, holding something rubbery and dark blue in her hands.
- Shinji, aren't you in your jumpsuit yet? - Akagi was "surprised", glancing at me. - Let's get dressed quickly and let's begin, - all this was said in an absolutely peremptory voice, if the real Shinji were in my place, he would have dressed before he realized what was happening. From the depths came a shameful sigh, half with sad agreement and a slight tremor in relation to the doctor. Funny...
- Not so fast, doctor. I have a few questions first.
"All questions later, there's a locker room behind that door, go change," Akagi waved towards another door at the end of the room with her hand, in which a lit cigarette was already smoking.
"Doctor Akagi," my voice instantly became arctic cold. "I think I made it quite clear that I want to hear answers to my questions first."
Everyone froze, looking at me in amazement and fear, Maya even moved away a little. That's right, it's not often you meet a fourteen-year-old teenager whose gaze shows a long-standing habit of ordering and killing, of course you won't see this habit there, not the same experience, but you will subconsciously feel the threat, and my voice will help you. The only exception was Rey, she looked at me indifferently as before, although now she also looked at the faces of the other participants in the performance.
"Okay, Shinji. What do you want to know?" Akagi was the first to pull herself together.
- For starters, this, - I pressed my finger into the plaster on my forehead, under which there was a deep wound. - I remember before the fight you said that phantom damage is not dangerous and only Eva will suffer.
- Yes, I said that. And I repeat now: Eva's damage must not be transmitted to the pilot, under any circumstances. But I can't explain what happened to you, it contradicts all our calculations. This, by the way, is one of the reasons why we need to conduct synchrotests, we need new data for analysis.
- In other words, all your calculations turned out to be absolutely useless, and you don't know shit about the capabilities of the Eva. Funny... - Akagi almost choked with indignation, but I didn't let her say anything. - Can I die from damage to the Evangelion, as I understand it, you don't know either?
"No..." the doctor muttered.
- Excellent! Simply magnificent! I am delighted, - I commented in a calm but full of sarcasm and mockery voice. And again, without giving the doctor a chance to interject, I continued: - The second question. Armament. A single knife hidden in the shoulder pad - is that normal? And who came up with this shape? Eva doesn't need it to open cans on a hike, but to fight, it should be a combat dagger, curved to cut better and larger in size, otherwise it's not a weapon against Angels, but just a toothpick. Now the color. This green-violet glamour is terrible, don't disgrace yourself and don't disgrace me, repaint Eva-01 black, or at least gray. We are not in a comic book or a second-rate manga. The fourth question. Why does Eva need a horn? It would be fine if it were armored and thick, so that you could butt with it, but this wretchedness that is there now... I don't understand at all how it survived. Remove it. And the last thing. Let me explain right away, I am not a guinea pig to sit in a capsule for four hours a day. An hour a week. If it is not enough for you, it is not my problem, if you want more, pay extra. That's all I have.
The entire tirade was delivered expressively, but in a completely cold and emotionless voice, and my face reflected a slight carelessness coupled with disappointment in the scientific luminaries of NERV.
The effect was amazing! You had to see the faces of Misato, Maya, and especially Akagi. It seemed to me that no one had spoken to the doctor "like that" for a long time, if such a thing had ever happened. However, the doctor's indignation, which reached the point of silent amazement, was not the only reaction. Maya looked from me to Akagi in fear, unconsciously covering her mouth with my contact suit, the girl's eyes were almost wet, but surprise prevailed over other feelings here too. Misato's facial expression was generally difficult to define unambiguously, on the one hand, she clenched her teeth furiously, so that even her pursed lips turned white, on the other, her eyes, like the doctor's, were bulging, although they reflected a mixture of admiration and pleasure in addition to indignation. What the head of the Operations Department felt and how to react, it seemed, even she herself did not understand. From my inner world I could hear Shinji's Homeric and hysterical laughter, mixed with sobs and lamentations that he hadn't thought of this in canon.
"Anything else?" Akagi said defiantly a minute later, looking at me angrily and involuntarily crushing the cigarette filter in her right hand.
"That's all for now," I answered with the same indifference in my voice, calmly looking into Ritsuko's eyes.
- "Bye"?
– If I have any more questions for the Science Department, you will be the first to know.
Ritsuko finally pressed the cigarette and it broke into two pieces, falling as a smoldering flame onto the floor.
"Don't you think, Lieutenant Ikari, that you're forgetting yourself a little?" the woman said through clenched teeth.
- Not at all, Doctor. If I am the pilot of the Eva, then I will behave accordingly, after all, I will fight inside it. And I have absolutely no intention of looking like a clown, - Akagi was about to answer something sharp, it clearly flashed in her gaze, but alas, our dialogue was interrupted by Misato:
- THAT'S IT, QUIET!!! Stop it both of you! Shinji, we get it... And Ritsuko, he's right! Eva-01 really does look funny in that purple and green coloring.
- Shh... - Akagi, turning away from me, took a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and, taking one out, lit it.
"Shinji, go get changed and let's finally start these sync tests," Katsuragi fixed her gaze on me, however, it was impossible to tell that she was very angry, rather the captain was working for the audience and I was almost sure that at the last moment she missed the word "fucking", or something similar.
"Yes sir, Madam Captain," I replied, continuing to play completely unperturbed, and, going up to Maya, took the jumpsuit, after which I headed towards the door indicated earlier.
The thought arose to ask Rei for help, after all, I am not familiar with the structure of the suit, there seem to be some valves, and there are no usual zippers. Having thought about it for a couple of moments, and also imagining the possible reaction of both Ayanami herself and the witnesses, I still decided to cope on my own. No, Rei would of course agree to help, and the embarrassment of nudity is completely alien to her, but I did not want to once again heat up the situation with Akagi, at least now. The "brave" doctor can try to somehow ruin my life, and most likely will even try. And so, quite clearly expressed my interest in Rei, and she, after all, is listed in the Science Department, if I am not mistaken of course. And even if I am mistaken, then all the same Akagi regularly conducts various experiments with her to create a pseudo-pilot and there is absolutely no need for me to give reasons for worsening the conditions of these experiments.
Already in the locker room, I realized that help, generally speaking, would not hurt me. Because the jumpsuit had to be opened somehow beforehand, or rather stretched, since climbing into it through the neck hole was, to put it mildly, not comme il faut. But never mind, I managed, although a bad feeling remained. But swearing over such trifles as the lack of instructions would have been complete childishness.
- Have you finally changed your clothes? - I ignored the question as rhetorical, silently closing the door behind me. - Okay, Maya, take Lieutenant Ikari to the entry capsule.
- Ah... Okay, Akagi-sensei! - the girl clearly didn't want to be near me, but the doctor's authority was stronger. So, Maya pulled herself together and turned to me: - Let's go, Shinji-kun, I'll show you how to get to Eva.
I nodded silently, still the same, and, glancing at Misato and Rei's faces, followed the girl. A few turns, an elevator, a corridor, and here I am again in the Eva hangar.
Well, hello Yui. Yeah, my Eva doesn't look so good... There's no chest armor, instead there are some wide bands of some unknown material with rivets, wrapped around the body like a bandage. The arms are also wrapped, apparently the muscle tissue there has exceeded the calculated value in volume and there was no suitable armor in the warehouse. Well, at least the helmet is in place, which means the skull didn't burst from the pressure of the brain. He-he...
While I was climbing into the capsule, Maya squeaked something unintelligible, which seemed to be a wish for good luck, and fluttered back to Akagi. The seat belts in the seat-lodgment... Still weren't there. Hmm... I wonder, it seems like the accident with Zero happened two weeks ago and as I understand it, Rei received most of her injuries precisely because she couldn't buckle up, so did the Great Genius Akagi, who is also NERV's chief scientific thinker, not think to bother with a small modification of the pilot's seat, and I mentioned the belts before the fight, here it's a matter of ten minutes' work! I wrapped the seat with harness and that's it, because it's unknown when the next Angel will attack, so why wait for the factory version with built-in belts? Although it's not a fact that this factory version has already been ordered, but let's not think too badly of the doctor. Bye...
As soon as I settled into the cradle, Katsuragi's voice came from the speakers:
- Shinji, are you ready?
- Yes. But there are still no seat belts here, you are doing a bad job, gentlemen students.
"Why students?" Misato asked in genuine surprise.
- Well, we are an institute, which means students, I haven't met any teachers here yet... - there was silence on the other side, the kind that happens when the brain is working hard. Finally, the silence was broken by Misato's quiet but expressive verdict:
- You bastard.
"Cheeky," Akagi agreed with her.
"Is this how you acknowledge that I'm right?" I asked with a slight interest in my voice.
- NO! - Misato barked into the microphone. - And stop chatting! Let's begin the synchronization procedure!
A few moments later, the hatch cover hissed into place, the capsule began to move smoothly, stopped, and LCL gushed inside.
Lilith's blood did not cause any negative feelings this time either. By the way, I wonder if LCL is delivered to Germany to Eva-02 for Asuka's training directly from here, or can it still be produced without the Angel's body? However, it is not important now. From Akagi's office, commands to begin synchronization were heard. Well, Shinji, shall we begin? A nod came from inside, and the next moment, the capsule lit up with all the colors of the rainbow.