Same time and place.
Misato Katsuragi quietly moved away from the balcony and only when she reached the kitchen did she allow herself to exhale.
Of course, eavesdropping is not nice, but Rei seems to be the only one whose questions Shinji is ready to answer honestly, without dodging and even if he doesn't like them. And yet the girl's nerves were on edge, one question was gone, but the answer certainly didn't bring much joy. After all, a child who talks about such things so easily, it's creepy. And is he even a child? Misato sighed sadly. Shinji could be called anything but a child.
Was she right when she took him in? Loneliness is bad, of course, but family... What's with the haste in decisions? After all, she once lived with Pen-Pen... After all, she really did...
The door of the large refrigerator clicked and the penguin that had just been mentioned appeared in front of the sad girl, who was leaning her back against the wall in a lost manner. Slipping out, he looked at the sad hostess for a few seconds, after which he croaked questioningly, amusingly tilting his head. A slight smile appeared on Katsuragi's face.
- Everything is fine, Pen-Pen, everything is fine. It's just that your stupid mistress is filling her head with all sorts of nonsense again.
- Wark!
- Yes, yes, I won't do it again, - the captain's smile became a little more lively. - You're probably hungry, aren't you? Let's go, I'll get you something...
***
The tape came to an end once again and the player clicked and began to play the tape in the opposite direction. However, before the first notes had even begun to sound, I stopped playing.
"You have to go to school tomorrow, right?" I said to the girl standing motionless next to me, carefully taking the earpiece out of her ear. Ayanami blinked and, following my hand with her signature, strange look, nodded slowly.
- Yes.
- Then it's time to sleep, otherwise you won't get enough sleep.
- Okay, - her face turned a little pink again, but I was not allowed to enjoy this sight, quickly turning to the door and going out into the room. Lovely... I smiled contentedly and, taking one last look at the stars, went into the apartment.
Ayanami was no longer in the living room. Nimble. Already knowing what I was about to see, I headed to my room and, opening the door, I was convinced that I was right. Rei, completely calmly and without a drop of embarrassment, was undressing next to her futon, already laid out on the floor just a meter from my own. The skirt had already been taken off and was casually lying on the floor next to the chair, apparently having slid off the latter, at that moment socks were being sent to the chair, also not deserving of being neatly folded, and a few more seconds later, the girl began to unbutton her shirt. After looking at this picture for a while, I chuckled and, turning around, went to look for Misato.
- Drinking? - I greeted the captain, entering the kitchen. - Good thing. - Katsuragi was indeed sitting at the table with a can of beer in her hands, and sadly drilling the space with her gaze. And opposite her... sat Pen-Pen, holding another... open, can of beer with his claws... Paragraph. The habit of perceiving the universe as it is, allowed me to stoically endure this picture and save face, but in general... it would have been better if I had called Misato from the hallway.
- Huh?.. What? - the girl returned to the world and turned to me in surprise. As my words sank in, Katsuragi's gaze became more and more meaningful, and when she looked at the can in her hands and the penguin with beer opposite... Damn, where's the camera? Aha!... Click. Click. Click. That's it, I'm now the author of an immortal work. I'll print it out as a poster and hang it on the ceiling. - Stop! Shinji! You bastard! It's all wrong! I'm not!...
- Facts, Misato, facts. I realized while I was cleaning that something was wrong with your kitchen, now I know who your main drinking buddy is.
- Give it to me immediately!!! - the girl rushed to snatch the evidence from me, but she attacked the wrong person. Having ducked under another attempt to seize it and holding the archicene device out of reach of the chief of the operational department, I continued the conversation without changing my calm intonation:
- So, why did I come? - Another evasion. - Will you be able to give Rey a lift to school tomorrow, or have you been rushed since early morning?
Misato, flushed and snorting, stopped her useless attempts to catch me and now glared at me angrily, while she seemed desperately ashamed.
- Pen-Pen is not my drinking buddy, he just took an empty can! - the sound of two hard objects touching each other came from the table, this is the aforementioned penguin, he put the aforementioned can on the tabletop, and the can clearly gurgled with its contents.
- I believe...
– S-i-i-i-in!!! – click. Another delightful shot that will warm my dark soul on long winter evenings.
While Misato was burning with shame and embarrassment, the bird who had set her up decided to quickly desert to his refrigerator, which he did with respectable efficiency.
- Don't get off topic, what about Rey?
- Well... - the captain snorted loudly, rewarding me with an offended look. - Of course, I'll have a rush job, but I think I can take her.
- Great, thank you, you're just a clever girl, - I turn towards the entrance. - Well, good night, we're going to bed already.
- Shinji... - I stopped and turned around. Misato was standing there with a tired and dull look. It was obvious that she wanted to say something, but time was passing, and the girl still couldn't bring herself to say it. Finally, sighing, she looked away and quietly muttered: - Go already... blockhead...
When I returned to the room, Rei was already lying covered with a sheet and facing my futon. The girl's clothes were still carelessly scattered on the chair, even her skirt was lying on the floor. Eh... I remember in the canon, Ayanami was also guilty of this attitude towards her things, but honestly, I can't give her a sermon now.
Having closed the door, I walked to the table and began to slowly straighten out her things, carefully hanging them on the back of the chair. All this time, Ayanami did not move, and only when I had already undressed myself, and, having put my clothes on the seat, walked to the futon, she quietly moved, looking at the result of my actions.
We lie down. I listen to Ayanami's quiet breathing and feel her attentive gaze on my back. The girl, it seems, is not thinking about falling asleep, but another twenty minutes and the calm of the situation will make itself known. And indeed. No more than ten minutes passed, and the blue-haired girl's attention began to weaken. Another ten and the scarlet eyes closed, and then the sound of breathing changed. She fell asleep.
Well, it's time for me to go too, and at the same time I'll see what else I can try to restore in the energy shell.
The morning passed routinely. Having gotten up earlier than both sleeping beauties, I, with some difficulty, nevertheless prepared a normal breakfast of fried potatoes and salad, as well as a school lunch for Rei. The burns on my hands were uncomfortable, but bearable. The wound on my chest was from the same opera. The worst thing was that I couldn't take a shower with it, otherwise, if you hold your body in one position and, if necessary, turn only with your whole body, there was almost no discomfort. And some amount of spiritual energy still "spilled", which is why the regeneration of damage noticeably jumped, although for an outside observer it was almost unnoticeable.
Having finished cooking, I brewed myself some fresh tea and now sat in the kitchen, slowly rolling the cool and sweet drink around on my tongue. It would seem that the terms "brewed" and "cool" do not go together very well, but ever since my first life I have not liked hot drinks, and therefore I have long since learned to brew them so that when diluted I get a barely warm liquid. Simple diffusion and heat exchange, and no magic. My thoughts were busy sorting through possible options for further events in my mind.
First of all, I had to decide what outcome I wanted to bring the dialogue with Gendo to, which would happen with about a seventy percent probability. I didn't believe for a second that he would give me all the materials on Ikari Yui's death. Most likely, he would try to give me nothing at all, limiting himself to an oral story, but then I would have to break him off, otherwise I would get out of character. And then the options... It could lead to a conflict and a break in cooperation. Elementary.
The degree of conformity to the image is one hundred percent.
The benefit is to get more preferences for resuming cooperation, but in essence it is zero, because Gendo cannot give me anything that I need.
You can swallow it and come to terms with it... Well, it's not even funny.
The degree of conformity to the image is zero.
The benefit is also zero.
The conclusion upon implementation is progressive clinical idiocy in one, separate Prince of Darkness.
So, something in between is needed, with psychological pressure on citizen Ikari Sr. and his obligatory deception for at least half of the real information, since without this it will be implausible. Is it feasible? Easy.
I had already imagined how the verbal skirmish would develop in this scenario, almost in detail, however, there was another option. There was about a thirty percent probability that Gendo would push the materials onto me through third parties, and he himself would not want to meet. And in principle, this option was also very real. In fact, the percentages depended only on how much and what information about me the agents would put on his desk, and the interrogation of the employees who had contact with me would also be of no small importance. So I figured it out rather roughly... Oh well, we'll decide...
While I was thinking, I didn't miss the moment when Misato came out of her room, so I was ready for her appearance in the kitchen. The captain was a model of a female officer from a picture. Everything was pulled up, buttoned up, combat paint, insignia were shining, even the not quite uniform jacket rather emphasized the overall composition than spoiled it. In a word - good! Only the redness in her eyes and small, carefully painted over, shadows under them, give away that the girl clearly did not get enough sleep, and in general was exhausted from work.
- Son, good morning. Have you been sitting here long?
- About an hour and a half.
- Lark.
"Actually, I'm a night owl, but if necessary, I can get up at any time of the day," I stand up, go to the stove and start filling a plate for the girl.
"Happy," Misato sits down on a chair and, picking up a cookie from the saucer, begins to thoughtfully twirl it between her fingers.
- The usual. And yes, good morning, - I put the plate in front of Katsuragi.
- Pff... - a smile appeared on the girl's face, and her nose inhaled air with obvious pleasure.
- Bon appetit. I'll go wake up Rey.
- Uh-huh, - they mumbled to me, already chewing the first piece. And already being in the corridor I heard the next remark: - Sweet couple...
Ayanami really had to be woken up. The girl was snoring so sweetly and generally looked so cute that I felt like a blasphemer. But what can you do? Duty is what it is. True, you can wake someone up in different ways, so I allowed myself a little weakness and did it by starting to stroke the girl's head. This blue-haired miracle resisted for about twenty seconds, but when I began to gently tickle her earlobe, she couldn't take it anymore.
- Shinji? - ruby eyes focused on me in surprise.
- It's time to get up, Misato is already waiting.
- I see, - the gaze dropped, and the girl herself began to rise. Again a wrinkled shirt with one button in the navel area and white panties, a bra, I personally hung it on the back of a chair yesterday. And still no reaction. Although the eye is pleased. A strange feeling...
Taking the girl by the arm, I help her to stand up, after all, it is not very convenient to do this with a cast on one arm. For my help, they honored me with a long look, eye to eye, but kept silent.
"Do you need help?" There were almost no bandages left on Rey's body and the question was indeed relevant.
- No, I can handle it.
- Okay, then I'll wait for you in the kitchen.
Ayanami nodded and turned to face the chair.
We ate in silence. Then Misato got her daily "relaxing" cup of coffee, and we drank tea. The farewell was also somewhat crumpled, "goodbye", "good luck" and that's it. Except that he handed Rei the dark glasses she had forgotten again. The fact that I then followed them from the balcony to the car meant nothing.
There was nothing to do. There was no point in working with the energy shell. Watching TV - even less. Or maybe playing chess? They were somewhere...