Everybody's been in my face
Tellin' me I gotta make a change
All I ever hear day and night is "You better hurry up and get a life"
I need some direction - 'Cause the clock is tickin' away
Then a friend of a friend of mine
Says I've really been on his mind
And wants to go out and check out what the feelin's about
Says we have a deep connection - Well it sure is news to me

–Intuition, Natalie Imbruglia

Darkness. Sephirotic patterns. An incredible view to that known to them as the Black Moon or the Egg of Lilith, and to regular citizens, as the Geofront. Three members of the organization called NERV were participating in a routine meeting, wanting to be informed of every possible bit of news. Ritsuko was looking, for some reason, colder than usual. She had bags under her eyes and her voice was dragging on, as if she was getting more mechanical with age - or was simply growing lonely.

“Well sir, everything is going as planned. The reconstruction of the city is finally done, even with all the effort, money and equipment it took. The new teams for Section Two have been hired, and the other ones have been put on backup and their files are updated. The spare parts of the Evas have been installed, they’re fully repaired, and the Adam project is 31 completed. The latest tests you ordered are in the report,” Doctor Akagi concluded, standing at the other end of Gendo’s office.

“Good work, I will call you back when I have your new tasks at hand. You are dismissed,” he said simply, taking the report from her as she walked out.

Fuyutsuki leaned forward in his chair to look at it.

“Well, it seems he's answering better than before, instead of saying such incoherent things,” Gendo commented, flipping the pages slowly.

“I don’t think he was saying anything incoherent. I’m certain that he knows what he’s talking about,” Fuyutsuki contradicted.

“It is nonsense, and there is no discussion.” Ikari focused his eyes on a certain paragraph in one of the reports, reading word by word in a very careful manner. All of a sudden, his expression turned troubled and he appeared to get lost in thought. “I see there's still... issues with the subject. The experiment isn't progressing as quickly as it should. More of our treatment will be necessary if we want to speed up the process.”

Fuyutsuki slammed his hand on the desk angrily. “You can’t do that anymore! It's not going to get us anywhere! Do you have any idea of the consequences! Especially... to him... Things could get out of hand!”

Gendo shot him a spiteful glare. “The subject has to be conditioned. There is no better learning than from pain. We have no time left, Professor.”

The older man grunted unhappily and cursed him under his breath, then leaned back on the chair. “This is not going to be good, Gendo. He will get his revenge in the end, and innocent people will be paying for something they are not to blame of.” He sighed. "Just like during Second Impact..."

“If the Project is successful, that will not happen at all. We will have control over him all the time. We'll get back on schedule soon enough.”

Fuyutsuki grinned slightly. “You’re starting to talk like the Old Men of SEELE you hate so much,” he commented.

Gendo narrowed his eyes. “They are just fools; they think they know what they're doing, but they truly have no idea. They only underestimated the power of the Evas and NERV, and planned to use us as their tools to reach Instrumentality,” he opined.

Fuyutsuki shook his head slowly. “Isn’t that what you’re doing now?”

Gendo leaned back in his leather chair, and looked up the red Sephirotic drawings that shined in the ceiling, as if he was looking for an answer.

“Probably,” he finished.

Eva: Reborn
Chapter 10: Intuition
By Crimson Goddess

“Oh, you should have been there! He was so kind… How can’t you see it?” Hikari asked happily over the phone.

Asuka was plopped down in a pillow on the floor, looking at the TV upside down, and listening intently at her friend. She frowned slightly in disapproval.

“Hikari, he’s only a jock! I still don’t know how you can be so blind…” she replied, looking away from the TV.

“He’s not, Asuka! Really! You should have seen how he walked me home, even though I was one of the last persons that left. He didn’t mind one bit that it was so late,” the brunette commented dreamily.

Asuka snorted, and turned around, now lying on her belly. “Oh, please. That was the least he could do! If he hadn’t, he would be much more of an idiot than he already is.”

She heard Hikari sigh. “Come on… just admit it. Not many boys do that nowadays.”

Asuka grunted. “Okay, okay… Well, why don’t you ask him out and finish all this rambling? Get right into action!” she advised casually.

Hikari gasped, and Asuka could swear she was blushing heavily. “Of course not! Girls are not supposed to do that, you know! I mean… he should be the one to take the first step… and how do I know if he even likes me?”

Asuka sat immediately, and sounded very surprised. “Mein Gott! It’s impossible to tell you’re my best friend! Haven’t I ever taught you anything at all?”

Hikari’s tone was offended. “Actually, no. You haven’t ever done anything but insult Toji when I talk to you about him, much less give me some advice or something,” she complained.

Asuka held her chin in thought. “Oh, well. That may be true, although it was to be expected of me to prevent you from doing such a mistake as falling in love with… him, but now that it already happened…” She sighed in defeat. “Well, what are best friends for?”

Hikari got excited once again. “Really? So you’re going to help me?”

“If I do, you’ll have to follow my rules. And I’m very blunt with things like this, I must say,” she warned. “My best plan would be a direct attack. When he’s unaware and defenseless. So, you could call him out of the classroom saying that some teacher summoned him and then when he turns around after he closes the door, you make your passionate attack and…”

“Asuka!” Hikari shouted embarrassedly, interrupting her. “I can’t do such a thing, I mean… that’s just so improper…”

Asuka sighed. “That would be in my opinion the best way of finding out if he likes you. If he runs away from you, he doesn’t. If he stands there dumbfounded, more than he already is, it means he likes you. It’s the best, easiest and fastest way,” she explained, matter-of-factly.

Hikari seemed to be regretting her decision to ask her friend for help. “Oh, Asuka… I think you’re too different from me to ask you this kind of things… I mean, would you do something like that?”

Asuka smiled proudly. “Of course. It never fails to catch a prey.”

Hikari thought for a moment. “Would you have done that to Shinji?” she asked suddenly.

Asuka laughed a bit. “Of course. He would have stood there trying to believe if it was dream or not, and I would have just laughed at his face for a while, but it would have worked anyway,” she imagined.

“We’re too different, really. I’m not like that.” She doubted for a moment before going on. “How… how did it happen?”

Asuka arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

There was silence for a moment. “Well… Shinji and you… you know… how was it? How did you find out that he liked you, and vice versa?” she inquired.

Asuka was truly taken aback, and she considered the question for a moment. “That was different.”

Hikari seemed a bit angry at her way to avoid the subject and not help her; she imagined something totally different than what Asuka advised had happened, and her pride didn’t let her admit it. “How can it be different? I bet you were as afraid about it as I am.”

Asuka looked up in thought. “It is different in the sense that we were a girl that had just woken up from a comatose state, and a whiny, helpless and depressed boy.”

Shinji stopped in the middle of his trip with the laundry basket in hand, and frowned slightly at Asuka, obviously offended by her accusation. She just grinned and blew him a silent kiss, making him roll his eyes and continue his way.

Hikari’s tone dropped considerably. “Um… I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have…” she trailed off.

“Bah, don’t worry about that. Just do what I told you,” the redhead concluded.

Hikari growled. “That’s a definite no, Asuka. I’m not fond of that idea at all… I think I’ll stay in the ignorance for now.”

Asuka sighed. “If that’s what you want… still, you should give it a tr…”

“NO! Thank you very much! Bye!” Hikari finished annoyed, and hung up the phone.

Asuka just heard the beeping of the line and looked at the phone curiously, then hung it up as well.

‘Argh! This is getting her nowhere. If those two don’t move up by their own, I’ll have to take it in my hands…’

Asuka heard the washer being started, and then Shinji passed by again, the basket now empty. She eyed him carefully, before smirking to herself. He frowned slightly.

“What? Are you planning something evil with the whiny, helpless and depressed boy?” he asked, looking at her disapprovingly.

Asuka smiled. “Old times, my dear… old times,” she explained, standing and taking the basket from his hands, placing it on the floor. She embraced him tightly and gave him a quick kiss. “I had just something in my mind… something you are going to help me with.”

He returned her embrace and looked down at her in suspicion. “I don’t like that guilty look. As long as no one gets hurt…”

“Ahhh, I can’t assure that, but what I can assure is the happiness of one of the Tokyo-3 newest young couples.”

A shudder traveled down Shinji’s spine.

Misato woke up in a familiar dirty room. Strange, she didn’t remember when she had come back. Then again, she never remembered when she had come back after a hangover. The last thing she had registered was the music in a ballroom, but after that, everything was blurry.

She grunted as she lifted her head a bit and the pain made itself known, not that she wasn’t used to it, but it had been a bit sudden. She looked up at her alarm clock to see that it was past one in the afternoon. She had missed work… wait, there was no work today.

Now she remembered. Yesterday had been the performance of the kids at school. She had gone there secretly, but wasn’t received as she had expected. First, the guards had told her that she couldn’t enter the party if she was not a student. Then, the trucks of beer she had ordered had been rejected as well. Finally she had had to use her NERV authority, but they hadn’t minded about that at all.

The last memory that came to her mind was of her, hiding under one of the tables and drinking several beers while the chaperones looked for her all over the ballroom as discreetly as they could.

Misato forced herself to walk out of bed and took a quick cold shower that shook the sleep out of her, then ate the leftovers of breakfast that Shinji had placed in the refrigerator.

Pen-Pen walked to her with a pleading expression, as he had been utterly neglected the last few days except for the brief moments when Shinji served his breakfast, and the fights he had with Asuka to get the remote control and watch what he wanted.

Misato smiled at him and took him in her arms, then plopped down in the couch. It was strange that the children where nowhere to be found, but it was better now that she could have the whole house to herself.

Today would be nice day, after all.

“I insist, this is pointless!” Shinji complained for the nth time, being dragged by Asuka through many of the stores that formed the newly repaired Tokyo-3 mall. She didn’t pay any attention and kept looking for the store she had seen the last time she had come.

“I already told you, this is the only way! I’m not going to put up with this crap of watching them avoiding each other instead of stepping forward! Even while I want that ape away from my friend, I prefer to see her happy instead of suffering for him twenty-four-seven,” she explained, then stopped suddenly causing Shinji to collide with her back and fall backwards.

“Ah!”

She just stood there counting the stores with her finger as he stood up narrowing his eyes and rubbing his painful backside. She smiled widely and took his wrist again, getting back to her run. Finally, they arrived at a very small store that was filled with all kinds of chocolates, balloons with inscriptions and colorful cute stuffed animals all over. She put her hands on her hips in triumph and looked at him proudly.

“See? I told you I knew it was here. Asuka Langley Sohryu is never wrong!” she declared.

Shinji clutched at his chest as he wheezed and tried to catch his breath. “Asuka… I… don’t… know… what you… want to… do… here,” he said between his panting.

Asuka smiled and grabbed his arm. “Don’t be silly. This is all part of the plan,” she explained.

She looked around for a moment. It was so small inside that barely ten people would fit in comfortably, mostly because of all the teddy bears and stuffed toys that were around. There were at least three stands with balloons that said ‘Happy Birthday’, ‘Be Mine’, ‘I Love You’, ‘Happy Anniversary’ and such. The counter was full of chocolates wrapped in colorful papers and ribbons, and there were some decorated cards, paper and envelopes at the end.

“Good afternoon. How can I help you?” asked the brunette woman on the other side of the counter.

Asuka knelt down to look at the merchandise that was placed at the bottom, then smirked after revising her mind for anything that might be lacking in the plan. Finding nothing, she just shrugged and stood up again.

“I want two of those decorated papers with envelopes and two of those packages with chocolates,” she informed.

The woman got them out of the counter and received the money Asuka gave her, then bowed slightly and handed the small plastic bag where the items had been placed. Asuka did not even look back; she just turned around and walked out, too focused on her plan to care about politeness, so Shinji just thanked the woman and walked out behind her.

“Will you finally explain me what we’re going to do?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The redhead sighed. “Oh, yeah… Here’s the thing…”

The morning sun raised in the horizon, brightening considerably the houses and buildings that formed the magnificent city of Tokyo-3. The reconstruction had been completed, and now everything looked as peaceful as always. The streets had been repaired, so the traffic had gone back to normal.

When Shinji and Asuka arrived at school they did not see anything out of place. Rei was looking out the window as always, and they noticed Yumi sitting beside her. Hikari was talking to a group of girls, seemingly about the party. Kensuke’s desk was a mess due to the excessive wires and equipment he was editing the recording with —or as he put it, ‘giving it the final touches’— and Toji was sitting in front of him wondering why the school wanted to have the party in a film.

However, as they gave a couple steps and were about to start the plan, the bell rang and everyone went back to their seats to start the day’s lesson. As always, the teacher related one of his experiences back in the days of Third Impact, and more than one student had fallen asleep. Yumi was trying to get Rei’s attention by messaging her, but she was not paying attention at all.

As the lunch bell finally rang, Asuka and Shinji exchanged a knowing glance, and went to separate ways immediately. Asuka ran out into the hallway, while Shinji knelt down and hid behind his desk. A moment later, Asuka’s scream of pain and something hitting the floor were heard all over the classroom, and everyone ran out to see what was happening. Shinji moved on as fast as he could, making sure that no one was looking, then ran out the hallway trying not to be noticed.

Asuka was holding her head and screamed at people when they tried to help, until Hikari could finally make her way through all the students and knelt beside her.

“Asuka! Are you all right? Let’s go see the nurse!” Horaki suggested immediately, helping her stand up, and telling the crowd to move away. Most of it simply shrugged and dispersed, going back to their normal activities.

Shinji sighed in relief and walked back to the classroom to pick his bento box, then walked out with both of his friends to have lunch on the roof as they always did.

As they arrived at the infirmary’s door, Asuka finally started walking by her own even though she still struggled a bit. Hikari looked at her very concerned and knocked the door once again, getting no response.

“Don’t worry… it seems she isn’t there… let’s just go back to the classroom,” Asuka proposed, taking Hikari’s arm and walking in the opposite direction.

“But you have to see the nurse! It could be something serious!” Hikari complained as she was dragged all the way.

“It was just a headache, I told you! It already got better. I just need to rest a while in the classroom,” Asuka contradicted.

Hikari doubted for a moment before catching up and walking beside her. “Okay, but you’ll just rest. No going out before you get checked by someone to see if everything is all right.”

When they entered, there wasn’t anyone else inside. Even though Rei always ate at her desk, it seemed Yumi had convinced her to go take some fresh air instead of sitting like a statue all morning. As Asuka sat on her desk behind Hikari, her eyes suddenly snapped wide open and she pointed at the compartment of the books of Hikari’s desk. Hikari looked at her a bit puzzled, then decided to follow her finger and checked inside. She was very surprised when she noticed there was something that hadn’t been there when she left.

She extracted a small envelope closed by a sticker of a heart, and a small box wrapped in red shiny gift paper.

“What… what’s this?” Hikari asked, analyzing it.

Asuka lifted her head immediately. “Open it! It must be a secret admirer!” she said excitedly, encouraging her friend.

She swallowed and gave it a look before opening the envelope and reading loudly the short letter that was inside.

Dear Hikari:

I just wanted to tell you that you mean a lot to me. I’m sorry that I’m saying it in a letter, but I just can’t find the words when I’m in front of you. I wanted to know if you felt the same for me, so I wanted to invite you to the Night View Tokyo—3 restaurant tonight at 7PM to have a nice dinner. I’ll be waiting for you, but if you don’t show up I’ll understand.

Sincerely,
Toji Suzuhara.

When she finally finished, she was as red as Asuka’s hairclips. Asuka cursed a moment before regaining her excitement. Hikari just stood there, still trying to believe if her dream had become true.

“That’s amazing! I can’t believe the jock finally decided to move his lazy ass and ask you out! You have to be there, Hikari!” Asuka said cheerfully.

Hikari didn’t move from her shock. “I… I… I can’t believe this… How could this happen…?”

Asuka frowned slightly. “Oh, don’t tell me you’re just going to freak out and say no, now! This is what you wanted, and this is what you got, so you’re going to go to that date even if I have to take care of all your make-up and wardrobe!” she declared.

Hikari blushed even more and held the letter firmly. “Of course I’ll go… I wouldn’t miss it for anything!” she affirmed happily.

“Well, your crown will help a lot here. I think you won’t need me for the personal appearance, but the attitude is something else. You’re going to be my apprentice for today!” she said proudly.

Hikari nodded decided and put the letter in her bag, before the redheaded girl started working on her friend’s personality.

Asuka’s headache was quickly forgotten.

“Aw, come on! You can’t be like this forever!” Misato complained to Ritsuko, who was ignoring her completely.

In the control room everyone was busy but Misato, who had finally gotten rid of all her work and was drinking her coffee while leaning against one of the computer panels. Maya was typing on a keyboard beside Ritsuko, and they seemed to be running a test to the MAGI. The Commander and Sub-commander had left a while ago, saying that there were more important matters to attend. The Evas had been repaired from the damage, so there weren’t as many things to do as before.

Misato grunted in frustration and slammed the empty mug in the nearest desk. “Argh, Ritsuko! Don’t be so immature about this. Adults solve their problems by talking and not by playing deaf!” she said angrily.

Ritsuko sighed deeply in annoyance. “Major, I have nothing to discuss with you right now. There are many tasks I need to finish before noon. I would appreciate if you left me alone,” the Doctor replied in a monotone voice.

“Stop! Dammit, this isn’t going to solve anything. You’re just making it more difficult!” Misato complained.

“When you stop talking about things that you don’t know about, I’ll stop treating you as a child,” she concluded.

“Ritsuko, I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true and you know it. The only one that doesn’t want to realize that is you. You’re letting yourself be used, and I’m only trying to help you stop doing that by putting some common sense in that head of yours,” the Major explained, without raising her tone.

Ritsuko slammed her fist on the keyboard. “That’s enough! You want to hear it? Fine! I am letting myself be used. I know I’m being used, and still I’ll keep doing it. I don’t care about anything else. Thank you very much for trying to save me, but I don’t need your help!” she said furiously.

All the people in the bridge crew were looking at her with surprised expressions, but upon noticing her embarrassment they just looked back at their monitors like nothing had happened.

Misato sighed and turned to walk out. “Okay. But don’t say I didn’t try,” she finished, finally leaving the room.

No words were spoken there for a long while.

“What the hell?” Toji said loudly when they had just entered the classroom after the bell had rang and they were waiting for their old teacher to come back. He was holding an envelope closed by a heart-shaped sticker, and a box of chocolates in the other hand.

He read the note as fast as he could, and his jaw hit the floor hardly, but luckily for them, everyone else was too busy with their own conversations to pay any attention to them.

Kensuke had disappeared after lunch to go to the principal’s office, and finish the arrangements of the videos, so only Shinji was there to watch his amazement. He read it over and over again, too surprised to articulate any words.

Shinji arched an eyebrow. “What does it say?” he asked curiously.

Toji just kept babbling incoherently for a moment before regaining some sense and handling the letter to Shinji. He read it and looked very shocked as he advanced, but when he got to the end he finished as surprised as Toji.

“I can’t believe it…” Shinji confessed.

Toji just nodded in agreement. “Me neither… I never imagined… her…”

Shinji blinked, and then went on. “Are you going?” he inquired.

Toji kept silent for a moment. “Well… yeah…”

Shinji smiled widely. “That’s great! You’ve got to get ready for tonight, then,” he supposed.

Toji nodded again in acknowledgement.

“Argh, why are you so dense!” Asuka asked, hitting Shinji softly in the arm. “I told you not to do something so stupid! If she hadn’t been mesmerized with what it said she would have noticed!”

“I’m sorry!”

Asuka frowned. “Damn, just because I don’t know kanji. Never send a man to do a woman’s job!”

“I’m sorry!”

She glared at him. “Stop apologizing already. Just don’t forget that those little details are what makes the story different. You should have known that Toji wouldn’t have written something with a grammar like that, or even a clean kanji.”

Shinji sighed. “At least it’s already done, and they believed it. Is this the end of your plan?” he asked hopefully.

Asuka crossed her arms. “Oh, fine. Don’t come with the most beautiful girl of the world to finish up my hookup plans. You never trust me with anything,” she complained, looking away.

Shinji took her hand and looked at her apologetically. “It’s not that! You know I do trust you… it’s just that I get the feeling that we’re going to get caught…”

“Nah, we won’t. If it all goes as planned that won’t happen at all,” she assured him.

“I just hope you know what you’re doing,” he said uncertainly.

She grinned broadly. “When don’t I know what I’m doing?”

As they got home, Asuka immediately dropped their bags and got ready for their plans. Shinji was still uncertain about what she wanted to do, but there was no way out. What she said was to be followed without arguing, and that was something he had gotten used to. Playing Cupid wasn’t very appealing to him, as he had had trouble even with his own relationship, but somehow Asuka seemed to know what she was doing. The confidence he lacked, she had in huge quantities. It made them a more or less balanced team after all.

“Well, this is all we need. Let’s go!” Asuka ordered.

“What? Now? We won’t even get changed or something?” Shinji asked, surprised.

Asuka narrowed her eyes. “Why do you want to get changed? It’s not like we are the ones that will go on a date,” she developed a grin. “Or are you going to take me to dinner?”

Shinji gasped. “Oh… no… I mean… If you want to… I’m sorry… erm…”

The redhead sighed. “Oh, silly ol’ Shinji,” she murmured, walking out of the apartment.

It was now the time of the date. Asuka hadn’t practically moved from the couch, having talked all afternoon on the phone with a nervous Hikari who asked for tips and advice desperately.

Finally, they made their way through the streets and entered the restaurant; under the looks of a disapproving waiter who didn’t seem to like the fact that they were wearing school uniforms. His dislike increased when they told him they wouldn’t order anything yet. The young couple arrived a moment later, and sat in a position where the conspirators that were nearby could observe them. Asuka and Shinji had to hide their faces behind the menus when they passed by, but other than that, their plan was going exactly as they had wanted it to.

“They’re here. Can we go now?” Shinji whispered nervously, separating the menu from his face a bit.

Asuka frowned slightly. “Of course not!” she whispered back. “We have to stay and watch that everything goes just fine!”

The conspirators lowered their menus now that they had passed and were in one of the seats beside the windows overlooking the city, and didn’t seem to be saying anything. Both of them were blushing terribly, and had picked their menus just a moment ago. As they ordered, Shinji came to a sudden realization.

“Asuka! Who’s going to pay for all this!” he whispered loudly.

Asuka was taken aback, and blinked several times. “Well… I… I… The jock should pay! He’s the boy after all!” she attempted to get some defense.

Shinji shook his head. “They think each other made the invitation, so I doubt any of them brought money! We’ll have to pay for what they eat!”

“Oh, scheiße! Did you bring any money?” she asked, desperately checking her pockets.

Shinji checked his as well. “No… I didn’t bring anything…” he said worriedly.

“Hmm… NERV IDs! That’s it! You have yours, don’t you?”

He shook his head once more. “I didn’t bring anything… all of them were inside my bag.”

Asuka shifted in her seat nervously. “Misato… she could get us out of this… Oh, no, she’s working late…” she remembered.

“What do we do now?”

“We’ll have to run home and come back before they’re finished,” she said, standing up discreetly, not to be noticed by a certain couple.

All the passersby gave them strange looks as they ran at full speed back to their home. They hadn’t stopped to say anything or to look around, considering the little time they had left. When they finally arrived, apart from receiving a curious look from Pen-Pen, they had a rough time finding their IDs, so they took a while. The trip back to the restaurant didn’t go as expected.

They were too tired to run, so they had started walking at a very slow pace. They imagined that Toji and Hikari would take a while to order, so they didn’t rush too much, and instead tried to recover from the previous trip.

“I hope we get there on time,” Asuka commented.

“Knowing how much Toji eats, I think they’re going to be in there for a while,” Shinji replied with a smile.

“If they get expensive I’m gonna have to take desperate measures. The only money I could save in this time and it’s all going to the cause of that couple… I would be glad if it was someone else and Hikari, but nooo… It had to be the jock…” she complained, putting her arms in the back of her head and sighing in resignation.

Shinji looked at her curiously. “If you don’t like them going out, why do you do all this?”

“It’s not easy to see your friend wondering if he will ask her out every day and night. I’m just helping them give their first steps…” she explained.

Shinji grinned. “Oh, yeah. You worry about them giving first steps when you can’t give your own,” he teased.

Asuka frowned. “What! Who gave the first step here, Third Child? It was me, naturally!” she contradicted.

“You? Yeah, saying go away every five minutes sure is a first step,” he argued.

She cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, please. Whining and running away from me every time I moved was great first step too—” she was cut off as she tripped with a small crack that was on the floor, and fell righy on her face. Shinji looked at her and immediately knelt down beside her.

“Asuka! Are you all right?” he asked in concern, helping her stand.

They both watched in slow motion as the Asuka’s wallet went rolling down the street, and only stopped when it fell down one of the large openings of a sewer that was not far from them. She crawled there trying to stop it, but it was too late. The girl could only hear the splash as it hit the bottom of the hole.

“No! The ID’s in there!” she said loudly.

Shinji was still analyzing her all over. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need a doctor?”

Asuka stood up as fast as she could and brushed the dust off her skirt. “I’m fine… Now what are we going to do? We’ve just lost all the money I had in there!”

Shinji looked down in thought. “I don’t know… Misato is our only hope now…”

Asuka shook her head. “Remember that when she’s working late, aside from coming back home in a horrible mood, she always says that we can’t bother her with anything that isn’t an emergency.”

Shinji sighed. “It seems your plan didn’t work out as we thought it would…”

Asuka looked away. “Well, not even I am perfect! We can… we can get down there and get the wallet back…” she proposed with an apologetic expression.

“That would be far worse… Look, just let’s get back to the restaurant and talk to Hikari and Toji…”

Asuka thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Well, what else?”

“They’re still there…” Shinji said, looking at the couple in the distance, that was talking a bit more freely than they were before.

“You know what? We still have a chance. Even if it means our instantaneous deaths,” she commented.

Shinji looked at her in suspicion. “Another plan… please, no…”

Asuka glared at him before going on. “Yeah, I know you love me. What we can do is call Misato from the restaurant phone and tell her to talk to these people so they give them a free dinner, and everything will be fine.”

He shrugged. “What can we lose?”

They walked to the nearest payphone that was close to the restrooms, before they remembered they actually didn’t have money. They cursed themselves for leaving their cell phones at home just when they needed them the most. They walked to the first waiter they saw, who was unfortunately the one that was still eyeing them disapprovingly.

“Sorry, sir, but… can we… use one of your phones? It will be only a moment…” Shinji asked shyly.

The man rolled his eyes and looked at them from head to toe wondering if he should laugh or kick their asses out of the restaurant, but the latter seemed more appealing in this case.

“So you come here dressed like that, sit in our tables, don’t order anything, go away running, come back all covered in dirt and still think you can use our phones. Very funny. Walk of this place before I tell the security teams to do it for us!” he almost shouted, although the people inside didn’t seem to notice.

Asuka walked to him furiously. “What the hell did you say? You don’t even know who we are! We work at NERV, and just wait for me to get in my Unit 02 again! I'll find out where you live and then I’ll step over your house!” she shouted as a pair of strong men dressed in black took both of her arms and dragged her outside. Shinji sighed and walked behind them willingly.

Asuka ended up tossed on the floor outside, and Shinji only helped her stand up as she still was insulting the waiter.

“Argh, dammit! Now we can’t talk to them either!” she said angrily.

“Well, I was wrong. This could get worse…”

Asuka shrugged. “The only certain thing is that it can’t get any worse than this, can it?”

As to respond her answer, the sound of a thunder in the sky resonated before strong drops of cold rain feel over their heads. She stomped the pavement furiously, then joined Shinji in a slow walk, looking for a dry place where people would actually let them in.

“Don’t worry. We still have time to go to the Geofront and get back here!” the Japanese boy said, trying to cheer her up.

Asuka just wrapped her arm around him as he did the same, then sighed. “Shinji, not even you would buy that.”

He looked down. “Well… I just hope they’re having a good time…”

When they passed by the place where Asuka had fallen minutes ago, the rain had gotten considerably stronger, and they were completely wet and cold. They didn’t say anything, lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly, they noticed that the sewer had flooded and water was emerging from it, besides other things carried by it such as a coin and a wallet…

“A wallet!” they shouted in unison, and ran to get it the faster they could.

The water took it in the opposite direction and was going quite fast, so it wasn’t so easy to keep the pace. Suddenly, an empty and crashed can of soda that was in the middle of the way made it collide and the water flowed towards the street. Asuka narrowed her eyes, making it a challenge, and got in the middle of the traffic, getting honked at by many irate drivers.

“Asuka!” Shinji shouted immediately.

He heard several cars crashing, then starting thinking the worst and ran to the source at full speed, not caring about the other cars himself. He sighed in relief when he saw Asuka laying on the ground with the wallet in her hands, and looking around the cars that had crashed quite confused.

“I got it! Shinji, I got it! We have to go back to the restaurant!” she shouted energetically, standing up and running beside a panting Shinji.

“Do you think they’ll let us in?” he asked doubtfully.

She smiled. “You’d be impressed of the wonders a NERV ID can do!”

They didn’t mind about the rain anymore, even when it was still hitting them so hard. They were only focused on going back to the restaurant and completing their mission as they had planned. When they finally got there, they laughed looking at each other made a mess.

Asuka’s hair was totally wet and messy, the bow of her uniform was undone and clinging to the sides of her shirt, her socks were dripping from the excess of water and her shoes were full of mud. Shinji was no better: his shirt was adhered to his body, his pants were covered by mud all over and his hair was as messy as Asuka’s.

They could make out the figures of Toji and Hikari still inside, and the angry waiter rolling his eyes and walking towards them with an annoyed expression. As soon as he arrived Asuka flashed him the NERV ID proudly.

“So, what do you say now? Surrender to the power of the mighty Asuka Langley Sohryu!” she said smirking.

The guy sighed in exasperation. “Miss, I’m not going to repeat it again. Leave the establishment, or I’ll have to call the authorities.”

“What?” Asuka analyzed the card. To worsen their luck, the picture had gotten ruined and it was too blurry to make out more than an orange spot.

“Argh, scheiße!” she shouted angrily, and then started muttering in German under her breath.

Shinji bowed apologetically and took Asuka’s hand forcefully, dragging her away from the man, who just frowned and turned her back to her, then walked inside.

“Asuka… you didn’t have anything else planned, did you?” he asked shyly as they walked back home.

She blushed and didn’t look up. “Well… actually… as long as those guys don’t mess up…” she hesitated for a moment. “Come here.”

They walked for a while, not minding about the rain anymore now that they could get more wet that they were. Asuka led him to a small hill where he hadn’t been before, as this was placed more inside Tokyo-3 than in its outskirts. It wasn’t raining anymore, but it was obvious it had a moment ago. She sat in the mud not caring about getting dirty, and minutes later they saw a pair of figures that sat a much lower than them.

“At least something went as planned,” she said, holding his hand and leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Hmm… I wonder how they solved the restaurant problem.”

She gulped as many images, all off them including washing the dishes and getting yelled at by the waiter. She shook them away and tried to imagine the best. She couldn’t keep thinking about it, though, as the sky they were contemplating was soon filled by colorful lights as the fireworks she had ordered were finally working. Shinji smiled and looked at her.

“It seems it wasn’t that bad after all,” he commented, leaning forward and kissing her. When they broke, he noticed the mischievous grin that had appeared in her features.

“It could if we want it to…” she said mysteriously.

Shinji felt the sudden need of standing up and running for cover, but he decided it was safer just to stay where he was. She took the pile of mud she had collected in the last seconds and threw it right at his face, then stood up and walked back a few steps to prevent any attacks.

“Augh! Asuka!” he complained, wiping the mud off his face the best he could. He grabbed another pile almost out of reflect and threw it to her, making it land on her side.

Soon the small piles became bigger and bigger and the game became more of a war, making them end up completely covered by mud, lying on the floor and looking at the fireworks still exploding, and chuckling loudly. They only realized how loud it had been when the shadows they had been observing walked to them and studied them curiously.

“Asuka? Shinji?” Hikari asked surprised.

They both sat up straight and started giving them excuses and apologies, but none of them understood what they were saying.

“Hey! One at a time, guys!” Toji said, making both of them shut up.

Asuka sighed and looked up at her friend. “Hikari, I’m sorry… I didn’t think about who had to pay and I’m sure I got you into a lot of trouble… I should have thought about it before…” she said apologetically.

Hikari looked at her like she was totally crazy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about… Toji paid for the dinner… Why should you pay?” she asked.

Asuka was taken aback. “Erm… ah, well… you see… I just thought that this jock wasn’t going to pay… so I wanted to make sure you were fine… you know,” she stammered.

Hikari tilted her head to the side. “Well, he asked me and all, but I brought money to pay anyway…”

Toji nodded. “Yeah. I invited her, so I paid. That’s what gentlemen do.”

Asuka decided to better leave it as it was, and disappear before it got worse.

“Hmm… Okay… we got to leave now. Misato is waiting for us for… a briefing!” she managed to say, as she and Shinji broke into a nervous run down the hill.

Hikari and Toji looked at each other mischievously and started chuckling.

To be continued…