Hello

a soft word in morning air, spoken so casually through a gently smiling facade. Shinji knew facades, and the gleam in his new vice captian’s eyes gave him no comfort.

Hello.

At the time, he had no idea what the word meant. A greeting, maybe. The sound of a snake slithering up to its prey, perhaps. How was he to know such a simple word would doom him, all those around him, and cast that gently smiling face into shadow.

At the time, it had been only a word from a man he didn’t know nor like much at all.

“Hello, Captain.” in the sweetest voice possible, face displaying kindness, and the eyes contradicting, no matter how well hidden. He knew the deception when he saw it.

“Yo.” another soft greeting in early morning, before a swish of white and black, easy steps down a long corridor, followed closely by another pair of feet.

Such a simply greeting, leading both into the jaws of a beast.

Owari