Chapter 12: Of Misato's Second Search and Rei's Queer Meeting With Asuka's
Parents and the Albino Boy Accompanying Them
It was a unique thing for her to be able to wander freely for a while. Accustomed to a life of routine and solitude, the strange happenings befalling her over the previous weeks were quite singular, and, though it can hardly be said that she was thrilled to be randomly roaming the streets of Tokyo, it was at least something different.
For instance, the lenses and dye that she wore at Asuka's request - and now didn't care to remove - drastically altered the way in which others perceived her. Previously viewed as a girl of strange exterior, with blue hair, red eyes and freakishly pale skin, a slight change made her simply an attractive girl that happened to be beautifully pale. Though the change did not largely affect her dealings in school, as the children wouldn't be so quick to forget her previous appearence, her encounters with strangers on the street were greatly changed. For instance, no one would stare at her and then quickly look away, as if afraid of hurting her 'feelings.'
Though being an 'ordinary' person for all intents and purposes, interacting in an 'ordinary' way, was certainly out of the ordinary, but also fairly inconsequential (though obviously worth mentioning), and this complete revolution in attitude was secondary in her mind to the impossible mission she was currently undertaking.
This task in mind, she walked insipidly down the sidewalk with no particular destination, because she had no idea where to go and only the vaguest idea of what she was searching for. She was looking for a man named Ryouji Kaji with the idea that she would deliver a letter to him, but there were no further details as to where she might find him or even what he basically looked like. Asuka gave her a single hint before sending her off, but it was hardly helpful. How was she to identify one residence as being more 'cool' than any other when the criterion for this was completely unknown to her? Was there even a point to continue her mission if there was no hope of success?
Regardless, she had already asked many people about a man named Ryouji Kaji, but it seemed as though no one actually knew anyone else in a city as large as Tokyo. Her efforts showed no progress, and, though it seemed useless to continue, there was nothing else to do. Besides that, she didn't have any desire to return home.
"Do you know a man name Ryouji Kaji," she bluntly asked a young boy waiting at a traffic light, and he stared at her in innocuous confusion.
After a moment of non-thought, he shook his head shortly and said, "No," so she ignored him and walked past him, watching her as if expecting some kind of politeness, like 'thank you'. He expected to be thanked, though he had done nothing useful.
"Do you know a man named Ryouji Kaji," she said, this time asking a ramen stand owner. This was, incidentally, the same man earlier used by Misato in order to find the missing children.
"Can't say I do. What's a girl like you doin' out all alone lookin' fer a guy?"
She ignored him.
Next, she asked a man in a convenience store. "Do you know a man named Ryouji Kaji."
Looking up from a magazine, he seemed confused by the question. He replied after a pause, worriedly, "Is that your father's name? Are you lost?"
"No," she said over her shoulder, for she was already facing away, leaving before he could bother her further with his concern. It was disgusting.
The clouds parted to reveal the sun as she stepped through the automatic doors, and the azure cement was whitened in the sunlight. The fiery radiance of the sun was mildly unpleasant, as would be the bright cement if she looked down, avoiding it, and, though it was only a small discomfort, she suddenly desired to get to some secluded, shaded area, the sort that was rare to find in Tokyo at that early hour.
She found one right away, however, and it was even within seeing distance. There was an empty park right up the street and, scant minutes later; she was sitting comfortably in the shade of a tree, planning to get some well- deserved rest. Ironically enough, this tree stood next to a soon-to-be- famous pond - the same pond in which Asuka immersed herself just hours earlier. As Rei lay underneath, looking up into the multitude of leaves and branches, it occurred to her that her father was probably missing her.
His voice as he called out for her to 'wait' had seemed almost desperate, as if he was losing something that he valued dearly. It was annoying to her that he sometimes behaved that way. like a father, but not quite.
Though he hadn't 'raised' her in the strictest sense of the word, he seemed to like to think of himself as her parent. He was, technically. Her understanding was that her father previously left the parental matters to her mother (an attitude that persisted stupidly even after her premature death) and, in his mind, the responsibility was still primarily not his. Rei was not bitter about this, of course, but his constant attempts to make up for the scarcity of their time spent together her by giving antiquated speeches and scolding her at every opportunity were always irritating. How was she to ever think him sincere?
About six months before, he had given her a seemingly random speech about boys, and told her in a stereotypical and outdated fashion that it wasn't proper for girls to date in High School - as if that had some relevance to her. A week or so later he scolded her for getting a failing grade in one of her classes, and grounded her, thinking that she would care. And so on. He always had the idea that he was her parent (though she didn't share the view), but his idea of parenting was merely to say and do things that sounded appropriate but made no sense in context. He was rarely aware of what the context actually was, however, so he could hardly say anything that was truly helpful. In short, he was a pseudo-parent, though apparently oblivious to this fact.
-
"I'm a little confused," the boy admitted, "You want me to pick a fight with your daughter?"
Asuka's parents walked somewhat hurriedly towards their destination with the silver-haired boy in tow, though they knew that there was only a remote chance that Asuka was still anywhere nearby.
Kyoko answered, "No, no, that's not it at all. We just need you to make sure she doesn't get away. If it's enough - just hold her down."
"But didn't you say I was supposed to challenge her to a fight? I don't see the point."
That is precisely what they had told him, and for good reason. The two parents had an elaborate plan of rehabilitation, previously unrevealed, which involved this boy. It was their good fortune to find someone so completely appropriate.
"Yes," Asuka's father said, "That's part of the plan, because, well, she's under the delusion that she's the 'worlds savior', a 'Pilot Errant' or whatever she's calling herself now. She's even done drawings of beasts called 'angels' that she wants to fight, and one of them was a boy with skin and hair like yours. The rest were all monstrous."
Kaworu was astounded by this information. "Really? You mean that she lives in a fantasy world? But she isn't schizophrenic?"
"No," Kyoko said, "She's perfectly sensible in every other way. Even when she's talking about her fantasies, you wouldn't know that they were fantasies if it wasn't so completely ridiculous."
He mulled over this a moment, and then stated, "I'm still confused. Why don't you get a person that's bigger and stronger if you just need someone to hold her down? Why pretend?"
"Because our plan is a little more complex than that," Kyoko explained, "We want to demonstrate to her that none of this nonsense she's written about is real, if we can, so we want someone that fits the look well enough."
"I don't really understand, but I guess you're lucky to have found me," Kaworu said, with a small smile. "Albinos aren't exactly common."
This statement was somewhat contradicted as they came upon an albino girl, resting in the shade of a cedar. Kyoko pointed at her, turning to her husband, "We'd better find out if that girl's seen anything. The vendor said that she was heading in this direction exactly."
He shook his head. "But that was yesterday. There's no way that girl could know anything unless she actually lives here in the park."
"Well, for all you know she DOES live here," Kyoko said testily, "It can't hurt to ask, anyway."
"Fine, fine," he muttered to himself, throwing up his hands, "Waste as much time as you want."
Kyoko rolled her eyes as she approached the girl, inwardly appreciating the irony. "Excuse me," she said kindly, gently shaking the girl awake, "Are you asleep?"
"No," came a whispered reply from beneath the girl's bangs.
Kyoko blushed slightly, regretting slightly the decision to bother the girl just to spite her husband. Nevertheless, she continued. "Um, we're looking for our daughter, and she's supposed to have come through here. She looks like this." Kyoko handed her a picture of Asuka - a school photo. "You haven't seen her, have you?"
"Asuka."
-
"You two realize how serious this is, right?" Asuka and Shinji sat in the back seat as Misato drove and scolded them, "Hell, girls Rei's age are often part-time prostitutes. Walking around in her school uniform like that..." Misato shook her head. "The odds aren't so good. You two really screwed up."
"That doesn't sound like such a big deal to me," Asuka protested, "It just means she'll have to turn down a few creepy businessmen or something."
"Rei isn't exactly... street smart," Misato said glumly, "I don't know how she'd react to something like that."
"Well she'd obviously just turn them down," Asuka said indignantly, "She's the First Children. She knows this isn't the time and place for that sort of thing."
Shinji saw this as an opportunity to make a stupid joke for some reason, and said with a tentative smile, "Does that mean you'd normally expect her to accept?"
Asuka grimaced, and rolled her eyes. "Just shut up Shinji."
-
"You know her?" the man exclaimed, "That's unbelievable! Where is she?"
The woman cleared her throat and gave him a side-long glance that clearly expressed, 'Be quiet and don't fuck this up.' "Could you please tell us if you know where she went from here?"
"She was never here."
"Oh. Well then." She cleared her throat nervously and turned to the man, who seemed oddly speechless, for support.
Rei spoke. "I am looking for 'Ryouji Kaji'. Do you know him?"
"Ryouji Kaji, you say?" she said, pausing in thought for a moment, "That name does sound familiar."
"Oh, enough of this!" the man shouted suddenly, shoving his wife aside, "You know where Asuka is, right? So you have to show us, as soon as possible. You've obviously seen her. You know her name."
Had Rei been one to find humor in a situation, she might have savored the irony of being disturbed in the very place whence she had retreated for solitude, but, as it was, she could only be annoyed. "I am busy."
"Yeah, you look positively swamped lying there in the shade like that. So what is it then? You want a reward I suppose? Fine." He took out his wallet and started counting out money, in a clichéd fashion.
"That will do," she said, and made as if to stand.
A previously unseen boy, about her age, came into view offering his hand and smiling widely. "Looks like we have a. couple things in common," he said suavely.
He was an albino as well, the first other she had seen in Japan, and she narrowed her eyes slightly in suspicion. His intentions were obvious - he assumed that, because they had those things in common, it was an excuse to share a few other things as well.
Rei ignored the boy's hand as she rose to her feet, instead turning to the older man. "How much?"
"All I have is 50,000 yen. That'll have to do," he said, in a practiced tone of finality.
"Yes," she said, "Follow me." -
"You don't understand, Asuka. Rei isn't a normal girl. I think she has a personality disorder or something."
"No, YOU don't understand." Asuka said, exasperated, then clearing her throat and tilting her chin upwards slightly, she arrogantly asserted, "Rei is a clone of Shinji's mother with bits of DNA from Lilith. She doesn't have a personality disorder. it's more like she isn't human."
"Right."
"Trust me," Asuka insisted, leaning forward between the seats, "She won't let some guy have sex with her. She may be weird. but she isn't stupid."
"Just keep an eye out. There's no use arguing about this now."
Asuka took a deep breath. "You know how idiotic this is, right? How are we going to find her like this?"
"I found you two this way."
"Well. we don't have to look for her anyway," Asuka said, and then, receiving no response, continued angrily, "I'm telling you it won't be a problem!"
Misato, taking this as the last straw, stopped the car with a drawn out screech and turned to face the girl with as much impassivity as she could muster, "Alright then, let's assume that you're right. Rei is a clone of Shinji's mother. Why don't you tell me exactly why it is they look nothing alike?"
"That's easy," Asuka said, smiling confidently, "Rei has red eyes and blue hair due to the complexity of the cloning process."
"That doesn't explain the fact that Rei's breasts are already bigger than Yui's ever were."
Asuka hesitated. "Well. the complexities of the cloning process."
"And Rei looks nothing like Yui anyway. Hey Shinji, you have a picture in your wallet, right?"
He blinked, and nodded.
"Show her."
The picture that Shinji handed to Asuka a moment later was of a short, smiling woman, flat-chested as Misato had already mentioned, wearing a traditional Kimono and standing next to a young Gendou. It was obviously a wedding photo of Shinji's mother, and there was no way to compare her to Rei physically.
Asuka examined the photo thoughtfully, shrugged. "I blame SEELE for this."
The rest of this conversation would perhaps be entertaining to recall (and though I personally wouldn't think so, others certainly would), but I regret to be forced to admit that no proper history of it has been maintained. In any case, it is known that Misato next went to the ramen stand owner (who was getting quite used to these inquiries) in her search for Rei. Asuka, still sitting in the back seat, knew very well that Misato's line of questioning would be fruitless (due to the fact that Rei's hair was currently dyed a different color - something that Misato was unaware of), but didn't try to intervene, as she was in no hurry to find the girl herself. She obviously didn't want the girl's mission to be interrupted before completion.
"Have you seen a girl with blue hair come by here?" Misato asked hurriedly, "She's an albino."
"Hey, didn't you come by here before?" the man stepped from behind his booth and approached the vehicle, and noticed Asuka sitting there. "Looks like you found that other one."
"HAVE YOU SEEN A GIRL WITH BLUE HAIR?" Misato said slowly, teeth gritted, leaning further out the window. I suppose she was beyond politeness at this point.
"Are you okay, Misato?" Shinji asked timidly.
The owner, taken aback, answered, "Well, can't say I have. I saw an albino, least I think I did, but none with blue hair. She was lookin' for someone too. Christ, y'all playing hide-n-seek gone crazy er somethin'?"
Misato responded heatedly, I assume, because the idea that they would be engaged in something so frivolous must certainly have irked her at that particular moment. I'll admit that, again, the rest of this conversation is unknown to me, but one would assume that Misato's reaction to this idea, given her obvious lack of patience by this time, would be considered amusing by some. Regardless, Misato obtained the information she required, and the three of them sped towards the pond, where Misato hoped to find Rei and put an immediate end to the whole affair.
End Chapter 12
A note from the writer - I am getting near the end of this story now, and there will likely be only a few chapters left, depending on a few things. Anyway, I'm currently considering three different endings; feel free to give me your opinion of which is best with a review, email, or whatever.
1) The obvious, Asuka has a breakdown and Shinji is there for her.
you can imagine the rest. :3
2) The less expected Rei/Shinji ending, of which I will reveal no
details. ^_^
3) Another A/S ending, but this one with Rei as matchmaker.
It was a unique thing for her to be able to wander freely for a while. Accustomed to a life of routine and solitude, the strange happenings befalling her over the previous weeks were quite singular, and, though it can hardly be said that she was thrilled to be randomly roaming the streets of Tokyo, it was at least something different.
For instance, the lenses and dye that she wore at Asuka's request - and now didn't care to remove - drastically altered the way in which others perceived her. Previously viewed as a girl of strange exterior, with blue hair, red eyes and freakishly pale skin, a slight change made her simply an attractive girl that happened to be beautifully pale. Though the change did not largely affect her dealings in school, as the children wouldn't be so quick to forget her previous appearence, her encounters with strangers on the street were greatly changed. For instance, no one would stare at her and then quickly look away, as if afraid of hurting her 'feelings.'
Though being an 'ordinary' person for all intents and purposes, interacting in an 'ordinary' way, was certainly out of the ordinary, but also fairly inconsequential (though obviously worth mentioning), and this complete revolution in attitude was secondary in her mind to the impossible mission she was currently undertaking.
This task in mind, she walked insipidly down the sidewalk with no particular destination, because she had no idea where to go and only the vaguest idea of what she was searching for. She was looking for a man named Ryouji Kaji with the idea that she would deliver a letter to him, but there were no further details as to where she might find him or even what he basically looked like. Asuka gave her a single hint before sending her off, but it was hardly helpful. How was she to identify one residence as being more 'cool' than any other when the criterion for this was completely unknown to her? Was there even a point to continue her mission if there was no hope of success?
Regardless, she had already asked many people about a man named Ryouji Kaji, but it seemed as though no one actually knew anyone else in a city as large as Tokyo. Her efforts showed no progress, and, though it seemed useless to continue, there was nothing else to do. Besides that, she didn't have any desire to return home.
"Do you know a man name Ryouji Kaji," she bluntly asked a young boy waiting at a traffic light, and he stared at her in innocuous confusion.
After a moment of non-thought, he shook his head shortly and said, "No," so she ignored him and walked past him, watching her as if expecting some kind of politeness, like 'thank you'. He expected to be thanked, though he had done nothing useful.
"Do you know a man named Ryouji Kaji," she said, this time asking a ramen stand owner. This was, incidentally, the same man earlier used by Misato in order to find the missing children.
"Can't say I do. What's a girl like you doin' out all alone lookin' fer a guy?"
She ignored him.
Next, she asked a man in a convenience store. "Do you know a man named Ryouji Kaji."
Looking up from a magazine, he seemed confused by the question. He replied after a pause, worriedly, "Is that your father's name? Are you lost?"
"No," she said over her shoulder, for she was already facing away, leaving before he could bother her further with his concern. It was disgusting.
The clouds parted to reveal the sun as she stepped through the automatic doors, and the azure cement was whitened in the sunlight. The fiery radiance of the sun was mildly unpleasant, as would be the bright cement if she looked down, avoiding it, and, though it was only a small discomfort, she suddenly desired to get to some secluded, shaded area, the sort that was rare to find in Tokyo at that early hour.
She found one right away, however, and it was even within seeing distance. There was an empty park right up the street and, scant minutes later; she was sitting comfortably in the shade of a tree, planning to get some well- deserved rest. Ironically enough, this tree stood next to a soon-to-be- famous pond - the same pond in which Asuka immersed herself just hours earlier. As Rei lay underneath, looking up into the multitude of leaves and branches, it occurred to her that her father was probably missing her.
His voice as he called out for her to 'wait' had seemed almost desperate, as if he was losing something that he valued dearly. It was annoying to her that he sometimes behaved that way. like a father, but not quite.
Though he hadn't 'raised' her in the strictest sense of the word, he seemed to like to think of himself as her parent. He was, technically. Her understanding was that her father previously left the parental matters to her mother (an attitude that persisted stupidly even after her premature death) and, in his mind, the responsibility was still primarily not his. Rei was not bitter about this, of course, but his constant attempts to make up for the scarcity of their time spent together her by giving antiquated speeches and scolding her at every opportunity were always irritating. How was she to ever think him sincere?
About six months before, he had given her a seemingly random speech about boys, and told her in a stereotypical and outdated fashion that it wasn't proper for girls to date in High School - as if that had some relevance to her. A week or so later he scolded her for getting a failing grade in one of her classes, and grounded her, thinking that she would care. And so on. He always had the idea that he was her parent (though she didn't share the view), but his idea of parenting was merely to say and do things that sounded appropriate but made no sense in context. He was rarely aware of what the context actually was, however, so he could hardly say anything that was truly helpful. In short, he was a pseudo-parent, though apparently oblivious to this fact.
-
"I'm a little confused," the boy admitted, "You want me to pick a fight with your daughter?"
Asuka's parents walked somewhat hurriedly towards their destination with the silver-haired boy in tow, though they knew that there was only a remote chance that Asuka was still anywhere nearby.
Kyoko answered, "No, no, that's not it at all. We just need you to make sure she doesn't get away. If it's enough - just hold her down."
"But didn't you say I was supposed to challenge her to a fight? I don't see the point."
That is precisely what they had told him, and for good reason. The two parents had an elaborate plan of rehabilitation, previously unrevealed, which involved this boy. It was their good fortune to find someone so completely appropriate.
"Yes," Asuka's father said, "That's part of the plan, because, well, she's under the delusion that she's the 'worlds savior', a 'Pilot Errant' or whatever she's calling herself now. She's even done drawings of beasts called 'angels' that she wants to fight, and one of them was a boy with skin and hair like yours. The rest were all monstrous."
Kaworu was astounded by this information. "Really? You mean that she lives in a fantasy world? But she isn't schizophrenic?"
"No," Kyoko said, "She's perfectly sensible in every other way. Even when she's talking about her fantasies, you wouldn't know that they were fantasies if it wasn't so completely ridiculous."
He mulled over this a moment, and then stated, "I'm still confused. Why don't you get a person that's bigger and stronger if you just need someone to hold her down? Why pretend?"
"Because our plan is a little more complex than that," Kyoko explained, "We want to demonstrate to her that none of this nonsense she's written about is real, if we can, so we want someone that fits the look well enough."
"I don't really understand, but I guess you're lucky to have found me," Kaworu said, with a small smile. "Albinos aren't exactly common."
This statement was somewhat contradicted as they came upon an albino girl, resting in the shade of a cedar. Kyoko pointed at her, turning to her husband, "We'd better find out if that girl's seen anything. The vendor said that she was heading in this direction exactly."
He shook his head. "But that was yesterday. There's no way that girl could know anything unless she actually lives here in the park."
"Well, for all you know she DOES live here," Kyoko said testily, "It can't hurt to ask, anyway."
"Fine, fine," he muttered to himself, throwing up his hands, "Waste as much time as you want."
Kyoko rolled her eyes as she approached the girl, inwardly appreciating the irony. "Excuse me," she said kindly, gently shaking the girl awake, "Are you asleep?"
"No," came a whispered reply from beneath the girl's bangs.
Kyoko blushed slightly, regretting slightly the decision to bother the girl just to spite her husband. Nevertheless, she continued. "Um, we're looking for our daughter, and she's supposed to have come through here. She looks like this." Kyoko handed her a picture of Asuka - a school photo. "You haven't seen her, have you?"
"Asuka."
-
"You two realize how serious this is, right?" Asuka and Shinji sat in the back seat as Misato drove and scolded them, "Hell, girls Rei's age are often part-time prostitutes. Walking around in her school uniform like that..." Misato shook her head. "The odds aren't so good. You two really screwed up."
"That doesn't sound like such a big deal to me," Asuka protested, "It just means she'll have to turn down a few creepy businessmen or something."
"Rei isn't exactly... street smart," Misato said glumly, "I don't know how she'd react to something like that."
"Well she'd obviously just turn them down," Asuka said indignantly, "She's the First Children. She knows this isn't the time and place for that sort of thing."
Shinji saw this as an opportunity to make a stupid joke for some reason, and said with a tentative smile, "Does that mean you'd normally expect her to accept?"
Asuka grimaced, and rolled her eyes. "Just shut up Shinji."
-
"You know her?" the man exclaimed, "That's unbelievable! Where is she?"
The woman cleared her throat and gave him a side-long glance that clearly expressed, 'Be quiet and don't fuck this up.' "Could you please tell us if you know where she went from here?"
"She was never here."
"Oh. Well then." She cleared her throat nervously and turned to the man, who seemed oddly speechless, for support.
Rei spoke. "I am looking for 'Ryouji Kaji'. Do you know him?"
"Ryouji Kaji, you say?" she said, pausing in thought for a moment, "That name does sound familiar."
"Oh, enough of this!" the man shouted suddenly, shoving his wife aside, "You know where Asuka is, right? So you have to show us, as soon as possible. You've obviously seen her. You know her name."
Had Rei been one to find humor in a situation, she might have savored the irony of being disturbed in the very place whence she had retreated for solitude, but, as it was, she could only be annoyed. "I am busy."
"Yeah, you look positively swamped lying there in the shade like that. So what is it then? You want a reward I suppose? Fine." He took out his wallet and started counting out money, in a clichéd fashion.
"That will do," she said, and made as if to stand.
A previously unseen boy, about her age, came into view offering his hand and smiling widely. "Looks like we have a. couple things in common," he said suavely.
He was an albino as well, the first other she had seen in Japan, and she narrowed her eyes slightly in suspicion. His intentions were obvious - he assumed that, because they had those things in common, it was an excuse to share a few other things as well.
Rei ignored the boy's hand as she rose to her feet, instead turning to the older man. "How much?"
"All I have is 50,000 yen. That'll have to do," he said, in a practiced tone of finality.
"Yes," she said, "Follow me." -
"You don't understand, Asuka. Rei isn't a normal girl. I think she has a personality disorder or something."
"No, YOU don't understand." Asuka said, exasperated, then clearing her throat and tilting her chin upwards slightly, she arrogantly asserted, "Rei is a clone of Shinji's mother with bits of DNA from Lilith. She doesn't have a personality disorder. it's more like she isn't human."
"Right."
"Trust me," Asuka insisted, leaning forward between the seats, "She won't let some guy have sex with her. She may be weird. but she isn't stupid."
"Just keep an eye out. There's no use arguing about this now."
Asuka took a deep breath. "You know how idiotic this is, right? How are we going to find her like this?"
"I found you two this way."
"Well. we don't have to look for her anyway," Asuka said, and then, receiving no response, continued angrily, "I'm telling you it won't be a problem!"
Misato, taking this as the last straw, stopped the car with a drawn out screech and turned to face the girl with as much impassivity as she could muster, "Alright then, let's assume that you're right. Rei is a clone of Shinji's mother. Why don't you tell me exactly why it is they look nothing alike?"
"That's easy," Asuka said, smiling confidently, "Rei has red eyes and blue hair due to the complexity of the cloning process."
"That doesn't explain the fact that Rei's breasts are already bigger than Yui's ever were."
Asuka hesitated. "Well. the complexities of the cloning process."
"And Rei looks nothing like Yui anyway. Hey Shinji, you have a picture in your wallet, right?"
He blinked, and nodded.
"Show her."
The picture that Shinji handed to Asuka a moment later was of a short, smiling woman, flat-chested as Misato had already mentioned, wearing a traditional Kimono and standing next to a young Gendou. It was obviously a wedding photo of Shinji's mother, and there was no way to compare her to Rei physically.
Asuka examined the photo thoughtfully, shrugged. "I blame SEELE for this."
The rest of this conversation would perhaps be entertaining to recall (and though I personally wouldn't think so, others certainly would), but I regret to be forced to admit that no proper history of it has been maintained. In any case, it is known that Misato next went to the ramen stand owner (who was getting quite used to these inquiries) in her search for Rei. Asuka, still sitting in the back seat, knew very well that Misato's line of questioning would be fruitless (due to the fact that Rei's hair was currently dyed a different color - something that Misato was unaware of), but didn't try to intervene, as she was in no hurry to find the girl herself. She obviously didn't want the girl's mission to be interrupted before completion.
"Have you seen a girl with blue hair come by here?" Misato asked hurriedly, "She's an albino."
"Hey, didn't you come by here before?" the man stepped from behind his booth and approached the vehicle, and noticed Asuka sitting there. "Looks like you found that other one."
"HAVE YOU SEEN A GIRL WITH BLUE HAIR?" Misato said slowly, teeth gritted, leaning further out the window. I suppose she was beyond politeness at this point.
"Are you okay, Misato?" Shinji asked timidly.
The owner, taken aback, answered, "Well, can't say I have. I saw an albino, least I think I did, but none with blue hair. She was lookin' for someone too. Christ, y'all playing hide-n-seek gone crazy er somethin'?"
Misato responded heatedly, I assume, because the idea that they would be engaged in something so frivolous must certainly have irked her at that particular moment. I'll admit that, again, the rest of this conversation is unknown to me, but one would assume that Misato's reaction to this idea, given her obvious lack of patience by this time, would be considered amusing by some. Regardless, Misato obtained the information she required, and the three of them sped towards the pond, where Misato hoped to find Rei and put an immediate end to the whole affair.
End Chapter 12
A note from the writer - I am getting near the end of this story now, and there will likely be only a few chapters left, depending on a few things. Anyway, I'm currently considering three different endings; feel free to give me your opinion of which is best with a review, email, or whatever.
1) The obvious, Asuka has a breakdown and Shinji is there for her.
you can imagine the rest. :3
2) The less expected Rei/Shinji ending, of which I will reveal no
details. ^_^
3) Another A/S ending, but this one with Rei as matchmaker.