In spite of the imposing first impression that Kodama had made back in her room, Asuka soon found the woman to be actually really agreeable. She was every bit as steely as she had first appeared, but the brunette also turned out to be very nice and respectful (almost to a fault, in fact) while possessing quite a witty sense of humour that wasn't annoying or bordering on offensive like Katsuragi's so-called jokes often were.

She was also Hikari's older sister, as it so happened. Which, after having spent a few minutes with Kodama, explained quite a few things already in regards to her friend's love of all things proper; in retrospect, Asuka realised that there was a very noticeable physical resemblance between the two sisters, to the point that the redhead kind of wondered how she hadn't managed to tell Kodama's relation to Hikari at a glance.

The distinct lack of freckles must have thrown her off.

In any case, it was safe to say that Asuka really liked Kodama Horaki. It was a breath of fresh air to be treated normally for once in a place in which she had been an exotic animal to stare at from afar at best, or a foreign intruder to be irrationally hated at worst. It also helped that the elder Horaki had been more than grateful of Asuka looking out for her little sister, and that she'd had no reservations about letting the redhead know. That had certainly accrued her many points towards staying out of Asuka's ever-growing shit list.

Which was why the young mercenary was a little bit upset to see her newly met acquaintance leave her alone in the canteen shortly after her meal had been presented to her. The brunette had justified herself by explaining that Hikari had apparently been quite shaken ever since the exploration party had returned from their mission, and that Kodama wanted to spend whatever scraps of time she could afford with her sister.

A completely reasonable sentiment, Asuka realised, but the redhead still couldn't help but feel a pinprick of annoyance at being abandoned when she was having such a good time. She felt a substantially bigger pang of envy at the sisterly concern that Kodama had shown for Hikari, though.

Asuka had never known what having a sibling could have been like, after all. Having someone with whom you could share your worries or that would be willing to help you whenever you were in a bad spot; sure, Mr. Kaji had done so for her whenever he could, but he couldn't always be there, not with the kind of hectic work schedule he had when Asuka was young, and even less so when their schedules stopped lining up when the redhead decided to enlist in the army.

At the end of the day, Maisie was probably the closest thing to a sibling that Asuka would ever know, and it was honestly pretty hard to imagine her oldest friend ever being capable of comforting her in times of need. Things tended to go the other way around more often than not, incidentally.

And speaking of which, Maisie still wasn't responding to her hollers at all, a fact that bothered Asuka to no end. After all, not only was she still worried about her friend, she was also bored out of her mind in the empty canteen, the sound of her chopsticks clumsily striking each other, the rice and the vegetables within her plate as she tried to eat being her only company at the time.

The redhead fought with her food for several minutes, a struggle that remained without a clear victor until the very end of the match, where Asuka bitterly decided to yield and leave a little less than half the ration on her plate. The food had been tasty (even if the she was sick and tired of rice, fish and vegetables) and it had succeeded in stopping her insides from devouring themselves to a degree, but Asuka wasn't in a proper mood to try and make the primitive Yamese way of feeding work.

'I never thought I'd say this, but I would honestly maim someone for a piece of dried meat around here,' the girl lamented, dreamily remembering the travelling man's most hated foodstuff. 'Oh, and a fork. For God's sake, I'd be willing to go on a killing spree for one of those!'

With a deep sigh that spoke of all the little things she couldn't have, the redhead pushed the bowl aside and, in light of her apparent lack of obligations for the time being, elected to busy herself doing something more productive: Asuka lost herself in thoughts that revolved around Maisie's sudden silence and all the information Ikari had given her, instead.

The former she quickly gave up on, continuing to produce no results she could call a success and lacking any real previous experience with silences that long. Much as she hated to admit it, there was little Asuka could actually do in regards to Maisie other than wait and hope for the best, considering that she didn't really know the first thing about how her relationship with the little girl even worked.

If the redhead's strange dream was to be believed, though, Maisie should be all right.

The latter topic Asuka had more difficulty with, if such a thing was even possible, but her troubles were not due to all the stuff that Ikari had deemed unimportant enough for her to know about, as one could have been led to expect. That knowledge, even if she honestly couldn't make heads or tails of most of it, she could handle. In fact, being aware of the fact that she was surrounded by such amazing enigmas in a land that she had expected little from actually made her whole body tingle with excitement, rather than the opposite.

No. Asuka's troubles stemmed from having claimed her intention to leave at any time just to get back at Ikari for being so annoyingly cryptic. It had been an unnecessary quip, and one that she didn't exactly regret making, but also one that the redhead wasn't at all sure about actually going forward with.

Because had Asuka claimed that she was fine with leaving the denizens of Akuro to their fates, she would have been lying. For all of their faults, these were the same people that had offered her a safe haven when she was in need of one, after all, and that was without counting the ones that had actually been good to her, like Hikari, her sister and Katsuragi. Or even Shinji, to a certain extent.

Besides, like she had previously said, leaving was clearly the cowardly thing to do. It was also the sensible thing to do, sure, but it wasn't like Asuka was going to be reaching her objective without taking a few risks here and there. What would she do if news of her escape ever got out, in a land where words such as loyalty and honour carried as much weight as opulence and connections did back home?

She would be finished, plain and simple, and her goals would remain unattainable.

And such a thing wouldn't do. Her feelings on the matter notwithstanding, taking a gamble on the woman that seemed eerily confident in the face of major adversity was probably the correct course of action. And Asuka could honestly think of worse ways to go than glorious battle if the worst happened and things didn't end up going as expected, anyway.

...Not that they were going to if Asuka the Red had any say in the matter, of course.

Her mind set, the redhead slowly uncoiled out of her thinking position and stretched the muscles of her back a little bit. She was satisfied with her decision, even if Asuka had the nagging feeling that Ikari had pretty much predicted the actual content of it some minutes in advance.

'Which is pretty damn anno-'

"A-Are you done, Sohryu-san?"

"GAH!" Asuka recoiled at the sudden voice, jumping so far out of her seat that she barely managed to maintain her balance. She quickly focused her gaze on the intruder to her thoughts, finding a pair of startled cobalt eyes staring back at her. "Shinji! The hell are you doing here?!"

"W-What do you mean, Sohryu-san?!" the young man replied, every bit as surprised. "You told me that I could sit!"

"I-I did?"

The redhead blinked, not having expected such an answer, and quickly checked with her memory.

'...Now that I think about it, I think someone did call my name. Maybe.'

"And why didn't you say anything?!"

"I did! You are the one who didn't answer!" Shinji shot back, his brow creasing a little. "Then I noticed that you were thinking about something, so I thought I'd wait until you were done."

"Of course," Asuka scoffed, quickly trying to deflect any responsibility for the misunderstanding. "I'm sure that you weren't ogling me instead, you pervert."

Shinji's expression darkened at the girl's words and he looked away, sourly muttering something under his breath. The redhead, for her part, smiled in satisfaction at seeing the young man react in such a manner.

The boy had broken away from his doormat tendencies during their prior meetings, if only for brief periods of time and after being subjected to severe annoyance, and it had been a guilty pleasure of Asuka's to try and rile Shinji up from time to time during their conversations. It more than helped to break away from the monotony of talking about her homeland and being subjected to question after question for an extended period of time if nothing else, and Asuka would admit to finding the boy much more interesting to interact with when he was angry, rather than his usual meek self; he was supposed to be a man, after all.

With a shake of his head and a dirty look in the redhead's direction, Shinji sighed and disregarded Asuka's comment without any more thought offered to it. An action that the young mercenary found to be unexpected, once again.

'Weird. That normally gets more of a rise out of him,' Asuka mused for but an instant, puzzled. 'Bah. Not important.'

"...Three days in bed and you're still the same." The raven-haired boy grumped, with a tinge of something else hiding behind his aggravated tone.

That 'something' being relief, as Asuka could very easily tell. She had gotten very good at reading Shinji's moods, after all (and much to her dismay), by pure virtue of their conversations offering zero intellectual challenge of any sort and there being a lot of time for her to be observant.

That being so, the redhead decided to play along.

"Of course I am. What did you expect?" Asuka replied boastfully, in a ham-fisted way meant to convey that she was perfectly all right. It worked, if the half-smile that appeared on the boy's face was any indication.

She then noticed that there was something else off about Shinji that day, other than him not biting into her verbal baits: he wasn't wearing his usual fancy clothing, but a common ensemble full of differently-coloured splotches that looked more like something a common working man would wear.

"What are you doing anyway, dressed like that?"

Shinji looked down at himself and his face coloured slightly, having just remembered that the state of his outfit was pretty terrible and in need of a wash. The boy sighed and scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

"I was cooking. I just finished for the day."

"Cooking?" Asuka parroted with a perplexed expression. "You can cook?"

For some reason, Asuka had quite a bit of trouble picturing Shinji among the pots and fires, probably because most of the cooks that she'd gotten to know in her life were either big and wide, or somewhat plump, none of which applied to the boy before her. Then again, she herself was only barely adequate at it, more skilled at campfire cooking than making a proper meal, so chances were that she wasn't the best person to identify a culinary adept, anyway.

It more than explained the smudges, though.

"...A little bit. There are more cooks working here, but I like to help in the canteen from time to time anyway," Shinji's eyes shifted towards the discarded bowl, eyeing it curiously. "I think that I was the one who prepared your meal today, actually. Wasn't it good?"

"No! It was, it was-!" Asuka began before she caught herself, just as she was about to say 'kinda tasty'. It wouldn't do for Shinji to be aware of the fact that he could cook pretty well, after all, or chances were that the next time he summoned her for a conversation it would be to speak at length about the finer points of Imperial cuisine.

And that would be a somewhat embarrassing topic for her to talk about, all things considered.

"Sohryu-san?"

"...I-I mean... It was decent."

"Weren't you hungry, then?" Shinji pressed, taking the girl at her word. "The bowl's still about half full."

"Yeah, that's right!" the redhead quickly agreed, finding a handy escape from the topic in the boy's words. "I already ate a bit before coming down so...-"

An escape that lasted about as long as it took Asuka's insides to offer an encore performance of their dragon's roar, letting the young woman know that her assertions were hers only as far as her body was concerned, and leaving a stunned Shinji open-mouthed and with no clue as to what he was supposed to say.

'Damn you, stomach!'

Asuka, for her part, was painfully aware of the fact that she was blushing brightly enough to be used as a beacon for passing ships.

"O-Okay, fine." Asuka quickly rallied her thoughts and looked around the table for something else to pin her hopes on, her eyes soon stumbling upon the pair of damnable sticks that had troubled her so much before. Making a face, she bitterly wondered why she hadn't just gone with that for an explanation from the start and saved herself some embarrassment. "I was having trouble with the damn sticks and lost my patience. Happy now?"

"Your chopsticks?"

"Yeah, those things! I mean, you people make it look so freaking simple, but how are you even supposed to use them? And who was the genius that came up with the half-assed effort of using sticks to eat in the first place? It's not like the idea of a spoon, fork and knife is that complicated, for God's sake! And that's without getting into..."

Having been allowed a convenient outlet for her mounting frustrations, Asuka was ranting about the stupidity of chopsticks and many other weird Yamese traditions before she realised what she was doing, clearly intending (as it had been quite a few times before already) for Shinji to ultimately agree with her or face the consequences.

Unbeknown to the redheaded mercenary, however, Shinji wasn't really listening. He was mulling something over instead, apparently trying to recall some small detail or another.

"Wait a minute, Sohryu-san!"

Before, with a gasp of remembrance, he bolted from the table and out the door in a speedy fashion, leaving his hastily uttered words and Asuka's interrupted monologue floating in the air of the canteen.

Blinking, the redhead turned to stare at the door through which Shinji had disappeared like a bolt of lightning, allowing her mouth to close in the process.

'...And where the heck is that idiot going now?'

It took but a few minutes for Shinji to return, time that Asuka spent quietly fuming and thinking of appropriate punishments for the stupid jerk that had obviously ignored her and left her hanging like that. She had tore into people for less than that before, after all, and it wasn't like his position was going to save Ikari from the consequences of his actions.

Asuka's more than enjoyable efforts were brought to a halt when Shinji deposited a small and ornate wooden box full of engravings right in front of her, however. An otherwise mundane act that was made intriguing by how uncharacteristically smug the young man looked.

Or as smug as Shinji could get, anyway.

"Open it." The boy urged, his self-satisfied smile not budging an inch.

Curious, the redhead decided that she would delay her verbal execution for just a tiny little bit. As she grabbed the box and fiddled with its lock mechanism, though, Asuka still made sure to fix the raven-haired boy with one of her infamous glares.

"If this is your idea of an elaborate joke, Ikari, know that I'm gonna-"

But for the second time in a scant few moments, the young mercenary's words died in her mouth, her attention taken by the sight of three blessed items within the wooden container: a spoon, fork and knife, their metallic surfaces catching the light in a silvery glint that, to Asuka's biased eyes, was easily the most beautiful sight she'd witnessed in the last two weeks.

"These are western utensils!" Asuka heartily exclaimed, looking at the three metallic appliances as if they were made of gold. "Where did you get them?!"

Shinji's smile widened at her reaction, a response that would have given the redhead a nigh-irresistible urge to smack him on the back of the head in virtually every single other situation, but that didn't even cross her mind at that specific time.

"They were among some of the stuff Sensei left behind when he left. He wasn't all that good with chopsticks, either," Shinji explained good-humouredly, before nodding his head at the item he had presented. "You can keep the box. I don't think that Sensei will miss it or its contents."

"...You sure?" Asuka questioned, catching the wistful tone of the young man's clarification and instantly stopping in her gushing. "Isn't it like a keepsake or something?"

"It's fine," the boy deflected, reassuring the redhead with a shake of his head. "Sensei's always been a pragmatic person, so I'm sure he'd prefer for his things to be of use rather than have them collecting dust."

Asuka, for her part, stared inquisitively at her companion, measuring whether the young noble was actually being sincere with her words. And maybe she did so a tad too attentively, because Shinji quickly looked away, blushing slightly.

He did look honest and confident enough with his decision, however, and Asuka shrugged dismissively, letting the matter drop. After all, she could always thoroughly clean the utensils and give them back if she noticed Shinji regretting his choice, or something.

"Well... If you say so," the young woman conceded, grabbing hold of her previously discarded bowl and dragging it closer, much to the delight of her protesting stomach. "I guess I'll go ahead and help myself to what remains of my lunch, now that I have some civilized means of feeding myself."

"Go right ahead." Shinji replied, positioning himself comfortably on his seat and trying not to look at the young woman that was starting to chow down on her food, both out of politeness and a desire not to invoke her wrath.

However, it wasn't long before Asuka rekindled the conversation once again between mouthfuls of food, apparently not too keen about the thought of eating in silence.

"So... Any luck with remembering the name of your teacher?"

"I told you already, there's nothing to remember," Shinji shrugged, somewhat confused that the redhead was bringing up a topic that they'd already gone over in the past. "Sensei was always Sensei."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I was just hoping that maybe, just maybe, you would have remembered about a time in the past when you were rational," Asuka replied, waving a dismissing hand at the thought and bringing an annoyed frown to the boy's face. "A silly notion, I'm aware."

"I don't see why it's so important. If Sensei had wanted me to know his name he would've told me. You can always ask my mother if you're that curious."

"Right, that will go well. That's probably another thing that 'I don't need to know', I bet," her snarky response earned the young woman a questioning look from Shinji, which she waved away again. "Forget it. Anyway, is she always like that?"

"Who, mom? Like that, how?"

"Like that! You know?" Asuka set down her fork for a moment to allow her hands free movement, waving them from one side to the other to try and get her point across. "Weird, and serious, and jumping from one to the other without any freaking warning! Like that!"

Smiling thinly at both the description of Yui's actions and the... enthusiastic but inadequate motioning that accompanied them, Shinji fully understood what the young woman before him meant.

"Sometimes, I guess? She normally spends more time on the former, though. It's just how she is." Suddenly, the young man seemed to remember something and his smile became crooked. He continued talking after some slight hesitation... "Umm... S-She didn't try...?"

...before falling quiet once more, for some reason that Asuka couldn't quite follow.

"Didn't try what?" the girl pressed with her characteristic impatience.

A course of action that elicited the first of two usual responses from Shinji Ikari: backing out and recalling whatever it was that he was debating to share, much to Asuka's annoyance.

"N-Nothing. It's... not important."

"You know, you shouldn't say anything in the first place if you're going to leave the other person hanging like that." The redhead grumped, renewing her hold on her fork and making to continue eating. She stopped short of scooping the next load of rice, however, abruptly remembering one of the things that had been out of place with Ikari. "She called me a Tulip. Is that your not-so-important thing?"

Slightly surprised, Shinji brought his gaze to rest back on Asuka's face. He remained like that for a short moment, no doubt pondering the accuracy of the comparison that had been first coined by Yui Ikari, before the noticeable narrowing of the redhead's eyes let him know in no uncertain terms that dangerous things lay down that road.

"Y-Yeah, I guess." The boy agreed, quickly tearing his eyes to the side. "Huh... Is that all she did?"

"Well, yeah," Asuka answered, matter-of-factly. "What else could she do?"

'A lot of things' was the answer to that question, apparently. If Shinji's reaction of sheer relief was to be believed, in any case.

"G-Good. That's good," the young Lord breathed out, visibly far more relaxed than he had just been a moment before. "I guess that Horaki-san being close by kept Mom in check."

With the small amount of rice still suspended halfway to her mouth, Asuka blinked as she tried to figure out just what in blazes Shinji was talking about. The redhead quickly gave up on such effort, however, deciding that whatever it was, she honestly didn't want to deal with it at the moment.

She had enough on her plate as it was, literally and figuratively.

"...Okay? Damn, you people are weird."

What followed was a companionable silence that settled between the two of them, as Asuka finished the rest of her lunch in a few decently-sized bites. She kept an eye on Shinji as she did so, and noticed with little effort on her part that the boy had gone back to looking morose for some reason or another, something that Asuka wasn't willing to tolerate.

He should be thankful of being willingly allowed the privilege of her company, after all. Looking glum at such a time was nothing short of insulting.

'Besides, listening to whatever's troubling his comfy life should make up for what I owe him, right?'

Her mind set, Asuka grabbed hold of her fork and set it down on the table with slightly more force than was necessary. The gesture had the desired effect of making Shinji jump slightly, his attention completely on her once more.

"Okay," the redhead demanded, fixing her eyes on her quarry. "Out with it, Ikari."

"O-Out with what?"

"Are you stupid? With whatever's bothering you, of course! You look like someone kicked your puppy, for God's sake!"

Realising that playing dumb wasn't going to deter the redhead, Shinji's gaze fell to the side once more and he nervously brought a hand to the back of his head, falling back on his back up strategy.

"It's nothing important..."

Asuka, for her part, shot down the young man's attempts at evasion with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah, I know, it's never anything important, just like last time. But you're not pussyfooting your way out of this one, just so you know. Out with it, I said." Feeling confident enough in her control of the conversation, Asuka crossed her arms and reclined back before continuing. "I mean, it's not that I care, but you got me a fork, so fair's fair."

"B-But I didn't do that expecting repayment!"

"And I don't like debts, perceived or otherwise. You should know that already," Asuka continued mercilessly, further strengthening her position with every passing second. "Besides, cutlery aside, I also recently found out that you were keeping an eye on me as I recovered. That's all the more reason for me to help you with your little problem, whether you want me to or not."

Seeing that all the defensive lines of his verbal fort were quickly crumbling one after another, Shinji let out a big sigh and waved the white flag, surrendering himself to the circumstances. There was no stopping the hell march of Asuka Sohryu when she decided to get pushy, after all.

"Gee, that's really nice of you, Sohryu-san." He spoke sarcastically, narrowing his eyes at the girl.

"I know! Aren't you lucky! Being nice and understanding is an integral part of a heroine's job, you know?" Asuka leaned towards the boy and smiled, an evil and dangerous smirk that spoke of immeasurable pain that would befell the foolish; Shinji, despite what the redhead may think, was not stupid enough to test his luck any further. "I'm ready when you are, by the way, so it's your call on how hard you want us to go on this."

"Dear Lady, Asuka-chan!" a third voice suddenly cut in, in a teasing and irritating tone that Asuka was painfully familiar with, already. "Is that a proposal for some... torrid acts that I'm hearing? I didn't think you'd be so forward~!"

The young woman slowly moved back towards her seat and turned to address the newcomer with a deep sigh, finding the Captain of the Akuro militia clad in her usual practice armour and cheshire smile.

"Oh, hey Katsuragi," Asuka replied, her dry tone speaking volumes about her thoughts. "What is it? Did your unending supply of alcohol finally die out? Here for a few hundred extra bottles?"

"That sentence doesn't make much sense, Asuka-chan," Misato deflected just as easily, before going back on the offence. "Strange, for you. Is it the heat of the moment, I wonder~?"

"You wish. What I said makes about as much sense as what you did," the redhead scoffed, pointing her thumb in Shinji's direction. "I have zero interest in imitating whatever goes through your dirty imagination with anyone, let alone with him."

"Is that so? Well I think that the lady doth protest too-"

The distinct sound of hands striking wood brought a premature end to Misato's words. The gesture, even if very far from being a loud slam, was enough to turn the gazes of the two women towards the person responsible for it.

Shinji had just stood up from his seat, his face hidden by the fringe of his hair.

"Excuse me."

Without any more words, the young man turned and hurriedly left. For a moment, Asuka thought that he was simply embarrassed by Katsuragi's usual bullshit and making a tactical retreat, but a closer look at his parting form quickly brought down that theory.

Shinji's right hand was tightly clenched, hard enough for the whites of his knuckles to be clearly visible. He was obviously pretty angry, and it didn't take the raven-haired young man much time at all to disappear from sight and further within the castle.

'...That's a first.' Asuka thought, blinking but not removing her gaze for a few seconds from where the boy had last been. Eventually, she turned to face Misato again, and found her staring at the same spot with a neutral look on her face.

"What was that about?" the young woman questioned, just the tiniest little bit concerned. "Did I hurt his feelings, or something?"

"I'm afraid that you had little to do with his bad mood, Sohryu," the Captain scratched the back of her head with a grimace. "Well... That attempt backfired horribly."

'Attempt? Backfire?' the redhead wondered, trying to figure out what exactly Misato was talking about.

She quickly abandoned those efforts and settled for the direct method, instead.

"...What's going on here?"

"Nothing that's your responsibility to clear, Asuka." Misato deflected once more, before shaking her head and turning her attention back to the redhead. "In any case, jokes aside: how're you feeling? Are you finished with your meal?"

The redhead narrowed her eyes at the older woman, both because she had failed to answer her question and due to her acquired familiarity with the woman's antics ringing alarm bells all over her thoughts.

"I'm fine on both accounts, what of it?"

"I'd like for you to help me with something, and to get you back in shape as soon as possible while we're at it," Misato spoke calmly, crossing her arms and falling into her commanding persona (much to Asuka's relief). "I gather that you are in the know about things already?"

"Yeah, I am. Invisible army of some sort marching towards here," Asuka replied, the sarcasm in her voice showing just how ridiculous she found the idea still. "Not what I had planned to find when I first came here, but it sounds fun."

"Yeah... 'Fun' is probably not the word I'd use to describe our situation, but hopefully it'll be as easy as that sounds," the Captain returned with a tired smile, before turning around and motioning for Asuka to follow her. "For now, though, come with me to the place where we sparred. I'll explain the rest once we're there."

"Actually," said redhead cut in, bringing Katsuragi to a stop. She then grabbed hold of the small wooden box she had been gifted and surreptitiously hid it within her clothes, confident in the fact that Misato had failed to notice it so far. "Mind if I take a moment to go back to my room? I've got something that I need to leave there."

Confidence that lasted for about as long as it took Misato to turn around once more, sporting her customary and irritating teasing smile.

"What, Shinji-kun's present? Sure, be quick and leave it somewhere safe. You know, among the important, important belongings?"

"...And exactly how long were you listening in on us, you nosy old woman?"

"Long enough to feel safe with mentioning that you should probably learn how to say 'Thank you' from time to time, kiddo," the Captain counselled, turning around and managing to make it to the exit of the canteen. "In any case, I'll go ahead and wait for you at the training grounds. Be there in five."

-]LotF[-

"...Okay, so let me see if I got this straight: you want me to face off against Miss Perfect over there?"

"If by that you mean the young woman that's kindly allowing you to take cover behind her walls, then yes, that's exactly what I said."

"And it's fine for me to do that?" Asuka pressed, the Captain's pointed stare bouncing off her like a harmless pebble. "Isn't the Lady going to, you know, throw a fit at me hurting her dearest?"

"You don't have to worry about that, Ikari-dono already agreed to the match. She said that, and I quote: 'The spirit of cooperation is well worth a bruise or two. Two in harmony surpass one in perfection.'" Misato cited, eyes closed and bringing a finger up like a lecturing teacher. She then grabbed hold of a practice spear from a nearby weapon rack and passed it over to the redhead. "And I agree completely with her. If Rei's going to be supporting the militia in an official manner from now on, we can't have the two of you at each other's throats when it matters."

Said redhead scoffed in response at her words, however, furrowing her brow and crossing her arms in indignation.

"I'm a professional. I won't let something as petty as personal dislikes get in the way of my job. Who do you take me for?" Asuka exclaimed loudly, jutting a thumb towards Rei in the same manner she'd done with her brother mere moments before. "Besides, the whole idea is silly. As much as I'm going to enjoy it, it's not like beating the crap out of Blue is going to make me fall in love with her, you know?"

"For once, I find myself agreeing with her, Katsuragi-san," Rei's cool and collected opinion came from the other side of the ring. "I see very little point to this exercise."

"Maybe so, but I say that it's better safe than sorry and that you'll use the practice anyway, Rei-chan. I don't need the two of you to like each other, but you do need to work out something good enough to allow the kind of teamwork that I expect out of every other militia member." The Captain smiled widely, bringing a hand to her hip in a show of confidence. "It may sound weird, but this exercise and some other similar ones have been effective at doing just that other times. I'm sure that they'll come through for me one more time!"

The two young women and future combatants shared a look at the words let out by their senior. Needless to say, neither Asuka nor Rei shared in the optimism of Misato Katsuragi, and the ominous sounding talk of future events that she had discretely shared filled the both of them with a distinct feeling of foreboding dread.

Not that such a small thing was about to deter the head of the militia, even if it was clearly written on their mismatched faces. She stepped forward and placed herself in between the two girls, before seriously starting to speak one more time.

"Standard rules apply, you two: no underhanded tricks, below the belt strikes or hitting your opponent while they're down. There will be no scoring for this session, and I'll keep the match going until one of you yields or can't keep on sparring." Misato paused, making eye contact with the two before she continued. "Let's have a good fight, understood?"

Both girls nodded their heads in agreement, with some reluctance. Asuka and Rei then made their way to their respective edges, looking to finish preparing for their unexpected sparring session.

Before long, the two of them were ready, and the feeling of dismay at what the future may hold found itself quickly replaced by a deep determination, and a need to prove themselves superior to their opponent.

"Do not worry, Sohryu-san," Rei spoke, her robes flailing slightly in the ambient wind and the foci on her wrists slowly beginning to hum louder and louder with accumulating mana. "I will be kind enough to lend you a hand up when we are done."

"Right," the redhead shot back, smirking confidently and putting her practice spear on a low guard. "Forgive me if I don't return the gesture when I'm done knocking you off your high horse, Your Highness."

From her position in the centre, Misato took the back-and-forth taunting to signify that the two young women were prepared. Wasting no time, she raised her hand high up in the air, and then brought it back down shortly after.

"BEGIN!"

-]LotF[-

Pushing herself upwards and off the ladder she'd been climbing, Misato Katsuragi arrived at her destination, the top of one of the wooden watchtowers of Akuro castle. Wasting just enough time on pleasantries for the previous occupant of the fortification, a sandy-haired boy that was busying himself with dutifully cleaning a long-barrelled matchlock, the Captain proceeded to peer attentively at the construction efforts that were currently underway all over the keep. The high vantage point offered her a privileged view of the status of the defensive emplacements all around, something absolutely indispensable for the proper planning of defensive stratagems.

As an added bonus, the height of the tower would also serve as a very good way of keeping their conversation out of range of prying ears. Almost assuredly an unnecessary precaution, but in light of their odds, Misato wasn't willing to leave even the smallest of details up to Fate.

"How are we doing?", she questioned, even as the woman tried her best to ascertain the answer by herself.

"We're ahead of schedule as far as the defences go, and we're finally finished with clearing the inner plateau and putting all the things in stockpile," the young man responded, not taking his eyes away from his work. "The training of the new recruits isn't going all that well, though."

"What's the problem?"

"Simply put, we don't have enough Tanegashima to go around," the boy explained, shifting his cleaning efforts to a few indentations on the wood around the barrel. "Our stocks were meant to equip the Watchers, after all, so that's around two hundred matchlocks tops. I've had Satsuma the blacksmith and everyone with even the slightest idea of working wood and iron producing new weapons day and night but, even then, I doubt that we'll break the four hundred mark with enough time for training to spare. And that's without going into the quality the rushed weapons will lack, of course."

"Quality isn't an issue right now, Aida," pausing in her scanning for just enough time to look at Kensuke Aida out of the corner of her eye, Misato firmly shot down his worried remark. "We just need the matchlocks to be able to fire five or six volleys at short-to-mid range, without much vertical deviation. They can fall apart after that for all we care."

The bespectacled young man put up his hands in response, offering an understanding smile.

"I know, I know, but I'm still worried about them blowing up in some poor sap's face, which is pretty much bound to happen at some point. There's nothing that can be done about that, though." Kensuke then stood up and grabbed hold of his unusually long weapon, putting it into firing position and scrutinizing the view with a knowing eye for a few seconds. With a throaty sound of satisfaction, he put it back down shortly after. "In any case, I'm just working on training those recruits that have previous experience with hunting for now, or that just show an affinity for firearms. The idea is to have this unit work with the militia during the opening stage of the battle, try to inflict as many casualties as humanly possible. They'll then fall back to the secondary position atop the inner wall, and rain down supporting fire on the melee while the militia do their thing."

Following the invisible line made by Kensuke's fingers towards the main part of the wall that was expected to receive the brunt of the enemy attack, the Captain silently nodded her agreement.

"And the others?"

"They'll be practicing how to use a yari with Horaki-san. I'm not expecting miracles, but they should be able to form a decent spear wall between them and the enemy when the time comes, and make the job of the flanking units all that much easier."

Having had her full attention on her aide's explanation, Misato couldn't help but notice a slight shifting of Aida's tone towards the neutral. It was subtle, but fairly noticeable when compared with the usual bubbly backdrop that talk of guns or explosives always seemed to bring to the young man's voice.

Slightly worrying, to say the least.

"You sound troubled."

Kensuke, for his part, didn't even appear surprised at the effortless notice of his uncertainty. Instead, he shrugged dismissively, fixating his eyes on the spot he had pointed at a mere moment before.

"Yeah, well... I didn't exactly have an enjoyable time weeding out the ones that would get a matchlock and telling the rest to go grab a yari, to be honest." The young man admitted with a deep sigh. "I mean, most of those people have never held anything resembling a weapon for most of their lives, and our best bet for making it out of this alive involves pitting them face-to-face against an enemy that we don't even know? It's just..."

"It's going to be bloody, no doubt about that," Misato finished, opposing her companion's worry with a far more positive tone. "But as you said, it's our best chance at victory. Besides, the back of a spear wall will probably be the second safest spot on the entire battlefield so long as we do our jobs, and it will fall to us to try and lessen the power of the strike the recruits will have to endure as much as possible."

"And in slightly brighter news, I might just have the tools for the job!" Kensuke added as he pretty much pounced on the supply bag that he'd brought up the tower, his spirit suddenly emboldened once more."

A short period of frenzied rummaging later, and Kensuke proudly brought out his vaunted tool out of its container: a jet-black sphere, smooth and reflective of the sun's rays, with a thin cord of rope sticking out at the top.

A familiar and unsurprising shape, that Misato had seen many times before.

"Is that a firebomb?" Misato questioned, puzzled and in direct contrast to the young man's wide grin.

"Close, but not really. These little babies are something different that I've been working on for a while now."

"Different how?" the Captain narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the sphere for any differences to the weapons she knew but finding none. "It looks exactly like one of your usual firebombs to me."

"Maybe it does to the uninitiated eye, but when you get to the inside... it's completely different." Kensuke half-explained, allowing the tension to linger for several seconds longer than necessary and earning himself a narrow-eyed stare for very different reasons. "You see, Captain, these bombs are made of harder ceramic than usual and are also chock-full of gunpowder, rather than oil."

The Captain's ears visibly perked at the mention of the word 'gunpowder', suddenly taking a far keener interest in the hand-sized ball.

"...Go on."

"Gladly," the young man acquiesced, his grin somehow becoming even wider. "As far as usage goes, it works by lighting the fuse in pretty much the same way as a normal firebomb but, when the time comes, the gunpowder explodes and blasts tiny little pieces of ceramic all around it at the speed of matchlock bullets. It will shred through exposed skin and light armour with little effort, but I expect them to struggle a bit more against heavily armoured infantry. Regular firebombs might still be a better choice against those."

Kensuke's explanations were accompanied by exaggerated (and a bit too enthusiastic) mimicry, his words going up and well into the realm of unnecessary shouting by the end of it. It was honestly pretty funny to watch, but very much contrary to the purpose of having chosen the watchtower as a meeting spot in the first place.

It was nice to see some of the young man's usual antics making a comeback, though, so Misato settled for an amused smile rather than a chastising remark.

"You're having way too much fun with all of this, Aida."

"Well, I'm not thrilled about the idea of being invaded, but it's nice having a chance to put all my knowledge to good use." Kensuke replied good-humouredly, catching his breath and crouching to put the makeshift explosive back in its bag. "'Tis a pretty big part of what I do, after all."

Grunting in approval of Kensuke's words, the woman focused the conversation on the second important topic that she intended to pursue.

"So. What was your opinion on the sparring match?" Misato questioned, turning to eye the training field where she had been a few minutes before. "You did keep an eye out for it, right?"

"Of course I did," the sandy-haired man replied, holding up a thin, tubular device for the Captain to see before stuffing it back into the bag. "Did you, though?"

Slightly taken aback by the unexpected comment, Misato regarded her companion with surprise.

"...What do you mean?"

"I mean that you looked surprisingly out of it for having had two young women blast each other with spears and magic a few steps from you." Kensuke elaborated, standing back up and joining Misato at the edge of the tower. "Something happen?"

"And here I thought I'd done a good job of keeping it down," the older woman snorted, throwing away her half-hearted attempt at affectation. "Nothing gets by you, does it?"

"Of course not. How could I be the Captain's eyes without attention to detail?"

"Good point." Misato conceded, surrendering herself to the need for explanations with a deep sigh that spoke of equally deep troubles. "And in regards to me, well nothing much important happened. Just that I managed to screw things up with Shinji-kun even more."

"That so?" Kensuke replied offhandedly, almost as if he'd been expecting the answer. "You should just give him some space, then. He'll come up and speak with you himself when he's ready to do so."

A response that was quickly met with a sharp look from the Captain.

"Right. Because doing that's worked out so well in the past."

"With all due respect, Captain, Shinji's not a kid anymore," the young man shot back, his words slightly more severe than they'd previously been. "None of us are. I wouldn't be up here cleaning a matchlock or making explosives otherwise."

"Of course I realise-"

"No, you don't." Kensuke cut off through the Captain's rising indignation softly, but firmly. "If that were so, you wouldn't have organised that excursion behind his back. But you did, because deep down, and regardless of what you said to Sohryu every time she brought up the topic in the past, you don't think Shinji's ready for his responsibilities."

"And do you?"

"What I think doesn't matter for the purpose of doing my job. But if you must know, no, I don't think so," Kensuke admitted, catching Misato slightly off-guard. "I'm willing to let Shinji try, fail, and learn, though. Sheltering him from the hard decisions doesn't do anyone any favours."

The Captain scoffed softly in response, narrowing her eyes even further. If the metaphorical daggers that were being thrown his way affected him in any way, though, Kensuke didn't let it show.

"Easy for you to say."

"Sure, it is. That's why I'm actually saying so. In any case, your predictions for the fight were pretty much spot-on," the young man smoothly continued, switching moods and topics with practiced ease. "As you said, Sohryu put on a good show, both by proving that she's not all talk with a weapon and that she can think on her feet. It's true that Rei made the glaring mistake of falling into a predictable pattern by the end of things, but... Well, taking into account that Sohryu was at a big disadvantage from the very start, I have to give her credit for lasting as long as she did and managing to pull off a draw. I honestly can't think of many folks that would be able to top that."

Wordlessly agreeing to Kensuke's unspoken truce, Misato refocused on the topic as well.

"That's what I thought as well. I was considering having her lead one of the flanking units, and for Kodama to handle the other one."

"I don't think so," Kensuke quickly disagreed. "Putting my bias aside, it's clear as day that she's not leader material. Sohryu's too independent and too..."

"...Bitchy?"

"Your words, not mine. But yeah," the young man agreed with a shrug. "She might be a great fighter, and maybe even be capable of sound decisions under pressure, but trust and loyalty are not something that you earn in a single day, or even a week. Unit cohesion would be a mess, and that's a best case scenario."

"I see your point," Misato acknowledged without further argument, having already foreseen such a response. "So, you think Suzuhara is better?"

"As far as actual leadership ability goes? No. But the men respect him and his combat skills, even if he's younger than most. It's not perfect, but it's one less thing that can go wrong on that front."

Misato's response was little more than a soft throaty sound, her thoughts running through force compositions, placement and potential scenarios at rapid speeds.

"I guess that means that we'll be having Sohryu working under Ko-chan, then," the Captain mused aloud, thinking of the possible drawbacks such an arrangement could cause. "Hopefully that won't cause any problems."

"Eh, it'll be fine. I caught a glimpse of them earlier and it looked like they hit it off pretty well, so I'd say there are no worries on that side. For all her faults, Sohryu seems to hold those she considers friends in high regard, if Hikari-san is any indication." Kensuke then suddenly produced another small device from a hidden pocket, throwing it over and into the Captain's waiting hands. "She's pretty darn useful on the economic side of things, too."

Blinking in slight surprise, Misato took a look at the item she'd been lent, recognizing it instantly: it was an aqua-blue coloured spherical stone mounted on top of a circular golden coloured base, and fit snugly within her hand.

The woman met Kensuke's expectant look with a raised eyebrow, before flicking a switch at the base of the device and focusing her attention back on it. Before long, the surface of the stone began to glow with a pale sheen, before turning transparent and showing an image within, one that caught Misato somewhat flat-footed.

For it was a picture of one Asuka Sohryu, as she had been expecting, but said young woman was smiling broadly. Almost side to side, as a matter of fact, which considering that Misato had not seen even a fragment of that in all her time with the girl, was saying something.

Looking into the details, Misato guessed that the image had probably been taken shortly after Asuka's arrival, judging by the fact that the redhead was wearing the same armour from their first meeting, something that she had not done within castle grounds on most occasions ever since. The location was certainly one of the relaxing spots from the inner walls, as the flora and caged birds in the sides and background indicated.

All in all, Misato had to admit that it was a very good picture, a true testament to Aida's good artistic eye. And something that would have stayed at that had its existence not hinted at an affair that Misato would have preferred stay buried.

"Huh. Nice." The Captain commented half-heartedly, hiding her approval and lightly throwing the device back to its owner. She then fixed him with a sideways half-glare. "I thought you were done with your undercover picture business, though?"

Aida shrugged nonchalantly one more time, launching into a light-hearted explanation of his actions.

"I was, but then I decided to risk bringing it back a while ago for the sake of funding my research. The necessary materials for building all my toys and helpful devices don't come cheap, you know?" the young man launched the device into the air as he spoke, making it spin and deftly catching it in mid air a few times. "Besides, the men and women of Akuro could use every little morale boost in these trying times. Offering them the chance to acquire a beautiful picture of the people they admire is just my attempt at pitching in on the greater good."

"Spoken like a true merchant." Misato scoffed, considering what she should do with her newfound knowledge. It didn't take her long to come to the conclusion that, regardless of Kensuke's supposed good intentions, she honestly had bigger fish to fry for the time being. "Right, I'll keep it hush for the time being, greater good and all that. But just so you know, I'm not covering for you if this ends up blowing up in your face, Aida." Misato's warning was followed by a glare that a certain redhead would have loved to call her own. "Oh, and of course, I'll have your balls on a silver platter if word of you reverting to your old ways ever reaches my ears. So long as the pictures are taken like you did Sohryu's it's fine, but anything more intruding or improper than that and we'll be having words.Are. We. Clear?"

"Crystal. You don't have to worry about that, though. Not fourteen anymore, remember?" Kensuke casually shot back, earning himself an exasperated shake of the head and a muttered comeback that he chose to ignore. He then gingerly put the strange device in with the rest of his things, and found Misato preparing to depart by the time that he rose up. "Where are you heading now?"

"Hikari's workshop. She should be done with our two proud warriors by now," the Captain replied over her shoulder, grabbing hold of the ladder and quickly stepping downwards. "Continue the preparations and keep me posted on any changes in our schedule. I'll see you later."

-]LotF[-

The sun shone brightly over the city of Tokyo, the heat and humidity of the days of summer making the people of the proud city that weren't lucky enough to capture a spot of shade swelter under the blazing star above. Complaints and encouragements were shared in equal measure from the trading district and all the way to the castle, and the usual lively buzzing that would reach Tokyo's keep shifted to a lethargic moan barely strong enough to be audible to someone paying attention.

Not that the three young people hastily making travel preparations fit into that description. The two male parts of the equation ran back and forth from the barracks to the castle walls, bringing in supplies and weaponry to a trio of waiting pegasi at the behest of their mistress, one not to be contravened.

"Musashi, Keita! Hurry it up!" Mana Kirishima barked at her compatriots, fighting the last of the latches that she needed to fasten. "Raiden's ready, and the wind's going to shift on us if we lose any more time!"

"Easy for you to say," the dark haired boy shot back, barely managing to precariously balance the contents of his arms. "Want to try lifting one of these, you slave driver?"

"Hey, who are you calling a slave driver?!"

"You have to ask?! Maybe the one that's standing around while we do all the work?!"

"I'm not standing around, I'm organizing our stuff!" Mana protested, turning around with her hands on her hips. "Lady knows I can't leave that to either of-!"

Further criticism died in Mana's mouth, her eyes widening as she stared past Musashi and caught sight of a svelte young woman quietly watching the proceedings from the door to the battlements. Realising that she'd been noticed, the woman smiled and stepped forward and onto the wall proper, her greyish eyes twinkling with mirth and flowing, black hair dancing with the light breeze.

"You two are as loud as ever, aren't you?"

"C-C-Captain Yayoi?!" Mana stammered, watching Captain Tsubasa Yayoi, the beautiful woman that she'd been actively looking to avoid that day, steadily walking closer. The Captain made a beeline for the still recovering young brunette, her eyes pointedly taking note of the almost finished preparations and her amiable expression fading away as she did so.

"So, you're truly leaving," The Captain stated, all cheerfulness now completely gone from her voice. "Honestly, you're unbelievable, Mana. To think that I had to find out about your plans from Kurusu-san. Is this really the kind of thanks a teacher should get from her star pupil?"

"I'm sorry, it's just that..." the young girl quietly responded, her eyes falling to the side and suddenly feeling quite a few years younger. "I was sure you'd try to keep us from leaving, Tsubasa-san."

"Of course I would. We have our orders, after all," Tsubasa replied, matter-of-factly. "You do realise that going against those is going to ruffle some feathers, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know." Mana admitted, before balling her fists and raising her eyes once more. "But I can't just sit here doing nothing! The people of Akuro need help, and we're the Skyguard! Isn't it part of our duty to protect those in need? To uphold the justice that had been so lacking in Yamato in the past?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

"Then why aren't we doing anything?!"

"Because the Empress wishes it so," Tsubasa retorted sternly, crossing her arms before her. "Upholding the law and pursuing the wicked might be an important part of our duties as Skyguard, but we are the Empress' spear first and foremost. We smite her enemies if commanded to, but stay back and shield her when required as well, just like we've been ordered to. It's all there in our oath of fealty, remember? I hope you do, because you're supposed to take it the day after tomorrow in light of your mission's positive evaluation." The Captain's eyes then moved from Mana to the three pegasi in the background, looking at their owners and the conversation with growing curiosity. "Then again, and judging by your current plans, am I correct in thinking that you don't plan on going ahead with it?"

For the second time the young brunette's eyes met the stone floor, a deep feeling of shame threatening to overflow from within. Mana remained as such for several seconds, bearing the judging stare of someone she had almost considered a mother figure for the longest time, and trying to think of a response that didn't sound too much like a betrayal.

Her efforts proved unsuccessful.

"I-" Mana eventually muttered, her words sounding much weaker than she would have wanted them. "I'm sorry, Tsubasa-san. If swearing my oath means turning a blind eye to what I've seen, then I can't do it."

"I expected as much." The Captain commented, her words coated with a faint sharpness. She then turned her attention to the two boys that had stealthily moved to flank Mana on both sides. "What about the both of you? Musashi, Keita?"

Both boys shared a short and meaningful look, quickly reaching an unspoken agreement and turning to address their mentor. Keita was the first one to speak, his ever-present smile never leaving his face.

"Wherever Mana goes, we follow."

With Musashi immediately hooking a thumb in his partner's direction.

"What he said."

Captain Yayoi raised an eyebrow at their response, though whether the slight movement was due to approval or disregard, the pair couldn't tell.

"Even if it could land you in trouble by association?"

Without any need to contrast opinions, both young knights nodded their head resolutely and almost in sync. Mana, for her part, had her own head shifting back and forth between the two boys, a noticeable blush that was equal parts shock and embarrassment taking over her cheeks.

"G-Guys! What are you saying all of a sudden?!"

"That's just how it is," Musashi shrugged, awkwardly shifting to look in the other direction. "You might be a pain sometimes, but you're still the squad leader."

"Our fortunes rise and fall together," Keita added from the other side, chuckling softly. "I think that's what Musashi's meaning to say."

"Guys..."

No sooner did she speak that Mana quickly hid her expression behind her hands, even if her efforts proved very much inadequate at hiding the relentless flushing of her face. Shortly after, the young brunette began to weep quietly, the sounds quickly alerting her two friends even if it was clear that her mood wasn't a sorrowful one.

"Hey, hey... are you crying?" Musashi ventured, halfway expecting the brunette to latch onto him like old times. "Aren't you a bit old for that?"

"Don't be silly, I'm just fifteen! And it's you two's fault in the first place for saying stuff like that out of nowhere!" Mana replied, sobbing softly but still managing a wide grin behind her hands. "You're never too old for a good cry, anyway."

"Well..." the boy shrugged, returning a smaller smile. "Guess you got a point, there."

"...Such loyalty." The Captain suddenly intruded, her words sounding a bit less stern than they'd previously been. They were still just as effective in bringing attention to her, however. "But after seeing that, I guess there is little for me to do but give you my blessing."

"You- You'll let us go?"

"Do I really have a choice? It's clear that forcing you to stay right now is only going to be delaying the inevitable, anyway." Tsubasa justified drily, narrowing her eyes at the trio as if daring them to prove her wrong. When none of the three rose to the challenge, the young woman allowed her features to relax. "Although to be honest, I can't say that I'm completely against your actions, either. Worrying about the plots and power games of the Lords certainly has its merits, but I don't agree with holding back the entirety of the Skyguard to defend against whispers and lies. It's simply not good for morale."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you haven't been the only one to denounce our orders, Mana. There's a growing faction that believes we should be doing something, anything, and even though they haven't yet been as proactive as you three, I'm well aware that it's only a matter of time until the murmurs grow stronger and into proper action. Especially with the current state of the country."

"That's..." Mana began before cutting herself off, her expression turning somewhat pained. "I didn't know. It sounds like hard work for you, Tsubasa-san."

"Yes, indeed. That sounds about right," the Captain agreed with a deep sigh, before waving a dismissive hand at the topic. "In any case, I'll come up with something for dealing with your ceremony, so don't worry. And while you're still not standout members of the force, it'll probably be better for you three not to show up around Tokyo for a while, just in case."

Shaking her head at the enthusiastic nodding that answered her request, the older woman allowed herself a good-humoured smile. After all, and her own personal feelings aside, it was hard not to be swayed by her star pupil's sheer spunkiness.

"Still, it's a bit shocking to see you being this adamant, Mana. Is there some other reason why you want to so badly go to Akuro?"

In the blink of an eye the young brunette stopped all of her exuberant movement, suddenly becoming tense all over and turning so stiffly that she could have very well creaked. Staring straight at an eerily smiling Tsubasa and caught flat-footed by the sudden question, it was all Mana could do to try and deflect it with her own sweetest smile, never mind the fact that it had never worked on Tsubasa of all people in the past.

The return of her luminescent blush wasn't helping matters, either.

"O-Of course not! Why would there be?"

A tilt of the Captain's head and a face caught between disbelieving and amused were all the answer Mana received, doing little to ease her worries. A defeated sigh from Musashi's side further inflated her quickly rising dread.

"Drop the silly act, Mana, you're not fooling anyone. Besides, she knows already."

"W-Wha-!?" Mana exclaimed, turning to the boy in question with betrayed fury written all over her face. "M-Musashi, you traitor! What are you doing babbling to the Captain about that!"

"And what was I supposed to say?! It's not like you were subtle!" the boy defended himself, equally as hotly. "I mean, daydreaming so hard that you walked into a closed door three times in under an hour? No wonder Tsubasa-san came to me asking what was wrong with you!"

"Okay, okay, let there be peace, you two," the Captain interrupted affably, putting herself in between the two warring parties before things could escalate into another of their usual arguments. "You don't want to bring any more attention to yourselves, right?" Tsubasa then turned towards the younger brunette with an encouraging smile. "Besides, Mana: there's nothing wrong with a girl that follows her heart, you know?"

"B-But I'm not, though! This is just for purely professional reasons!" Mana frantically protested, lips pressed into an indignant pout. "Shinji-kun being there is just a side benefit."

Chuckling softly at the girl's antics but deciding not to pursue the teasing any further, Tsubasa shook her head and walked closer to the group, taking a small item out of a pouch at her side.

"I see, I see. Sorry for doubting your integrity, Mana, I guess I should have known better than to question my star pupil." The Captain spoke, gently taking hold of the brunette's hand and passing the small object to her. "In any case, and since you're clearly not going to be changing your mind, at least take this."

The item that was pressed into Mana's hand was an ornate ring, wide enough to fit around a female finger like hers. Its band was silvery in colour and it had a dark blue octagonal gem encrusted on top of an elaborate base, big enough to be noticeable but not large enough to be cumbersome or overtly gaudy. Even if she couldn't tell what sort of stone it used, Mana could infer that it was expensive.

Mostly because it was a ring that the young girl very much recognized.

"Huh? I-Isn't this from-?"

"Yes. Think of it as a charm for good luck and safe travels on their behalf. They're the reason I decided to ask around about your plans in the first place, just so you know." Tsubasa shifted her hands and gently put them around Mana's face, recalling the girl's attention from the jewel and back towards her eyes. "I would also like to echo their sentiments, while I still have the chance. The world is a dangerous place for people as young as you, and unless you keep a constant vigil for peril, you'll never see it coming until it's too late."

Mana smiled at the Captain's concern, moving closer and putting her arms around her and into a tight hug.

"Of course, Tsubasa-san! We'll be careful."

"Thank you, Mana, that makes me feel a bit better." The Captain admitted, returning the hug and staying put for several seconds. Eventually, she parted slightly, affectionately ruffling Mana's hair and smiling at the two boys that were trying their hardest to give them some amount of privacy. "Nevertheless, I'd like to request Musa-kun and Kei-kun keep an eye on Mana for me, please? You know how reckless she can be from time to time."

"Hey!" the young girl blurted out, quickly breaking the hug. "I-I'm not-!"

"Leave it to us, Chief," Keita nodded reassuringly. "We'll make sure that she doesn't go in over her head."

"Somehow."

"Whaaaa-!" Mana stammered, looking from one of her friends to the other with a comically betrayed expression. "...You're not supposed to agree that quickly..."

Following that, some laughter was shared at Mana's expense and, after some light-hearted back-and-forth banter, the trio of neophyte pegasus knights finally took to the skies, their journey northeast temporarily disguised as a routine patrol route.

Captain Tsubasa Yayoi followed the retreating specks with her eyes until the distances involved no longer made it feasible to do so. With a worried sigh, she then turned around and made for the gate back to the keep and the workload that no doubt was awaiting her.

But the young woman had barely made it past the threshold when a deep, unexpected voice made her jump slightly, quickly snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Did you hand her the ring?"

"Stop that! Do you get a kick out of making me have heart attacks, or something?" Tsubasa growled, narrowing her eyes at the tall male that had decided to hide in the shadows for no other apparent reason than to annoy her. "But to answer your question, yes, I gave it to Mana just like you wanted. I don't see why you couldn't have given it to her yourself, though."

The shadowy figure offered nothing but a single nod in response, before turning around and briskly leaving through a side door and towards an unknown destination, much to the Captain's chagrin. Left to her own devices once more, and having added a healthy dose of irritation to her worries, Tsubasa rolled her eyes and refocused on her duties for the day.

A task that would no doubt be easier said than done.

"...Men."

-]LotF[-

"Thank you for your concern Asuka-san, but I'm fine, really," Hikari Horaki tiredly replied to the question that had been on everyone's minds since a few days before. The young woman then continued to gently scrub at her arm, the warmth of the bath water effortlessly washing away the accumulated dirt of a hard day's work. "I just haven't been sleeping all that well lately. It's really nothing to worry about."

Her redheaded friend shot Hikari a disbelieving look, submerging her body into the blissful heat as much as she could with a cast around her right arm. A dislocation suffered during her latest mock-fight that the younger Horaki had seen fit to not heal immediately via her abilities.

"You do realise that saying it's nothing to worry about has the exact opposite effect on people, right, Hikari?"

The brunette didn't offer an immediate answer to Asuka's rhetorical question, instead closing her eyes and sighing deeply, the displaced air creating small ripples on the water's surface.

"Hey, I'm not going to bug you about it if you don't want to," Asuka quickly added, easily inferring that the topic in question wasn't high on Hikari's list of wants. "It's just that it was your first time watching the results of actual combat, and I've seen people coping badly with that stuff before. I don't want my friend going through that on her own, so just know that if you want to talk, you can tell me and I'll do what I can."

At that, the brunette raised her eyes once more with a relieved breath, this time sporting a small smile on her face.

"Thanks, Asuka."

The young mercenary nodded, mostly satisfied, although she didn't miss the fairly noticeable hint of melancholy lining her friend's words. Not that there was much of anything that she could do about that without Hikari being cooperative, short of finding something else to talk about that would end up lifting her spirits.

Easier said than done, considering the situation of the castle town and that Asuka herself had been sleeping and out of the loop until just recently. Thankfully for the younger Horaki, however, Asuka Sohryu wasn't a woman known for giving up.

Determined, the redhead scoured her mind for topics she could use and, surprisingly, came up with something far quicker than she had expected. The fact that inspiration had struck from something Hikari had just said probably had something to do with that.

"Hey," Asuka said, smirking confidently. "You didn't use the '-san' this time around."

"Huh?" Hikari looked back at her friend weirdly, considering what she meant until her brain caught up with her unintended mistake. "Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

The redhead quickly cut off the rushed apologies with a wave of her good hand, indicating that she didn't mind in the slightest.

"It's fine, it's fine! I actually prefer it like that, honestly. All those honorifics that you guys are so stubborn with sound pretty silly to me." Hikari blinked, not really following the logic behind Asuka's words. Seeing this, the redhead elaborated. "I mean, friends should just call each other by their names, right? The whole honorific thing makes it sound like you're keeping people at a distance, or something."

Now fully understanding what her friend was saying, the brunette sighed softly and shook her head.

"Sorry, it's just customary. I didn't want for it to come across like that, though."

"No worries. Can you to try and drop them when you're talking with me, though? I'll feel more comfortable like that, I think, and I'm sure that you'll be thinking the same before you can realise."

Bringing her gaze to the side and grabbing hold of a lock of wet hair between her fingers, Hikari pondered the proposal for a few moments. It wasn't long before she reached a decision, nodding at her friend with a smile.

"Okay, if you want me to; Asuka."

"Good girl." Asuka smiled back.

The sudden sound of a sliding door and footsteps coming closer cut into any further attempts at conversation and, curious, both young women turned to look at the source of the disturbance.

"Oh, Horaki-san, Sohryu-san. I didn't realise that the bath was in use," said disturbance spoke, clad in nothing but a cloth towel and a small patch covering their left eye. "Would you mind my joining?"

"I-Ikari-dono?!" Hikari all but jumped up at the sight of Rei Ikari, splashing water all around her. Still in shock, the young brunette quickly looked between the waiting Lady and her friend (who was now openly scowling at the new arrival), before her survival instincts took hold of her actions. "D-Don't worry, my Lady, I was just leaving! You can have my spot!"

"There's no need for you to-"

"Please, I insist, Ikari-dono!" Hikari hastily cut her off, bringing up the sweetest smile she could muster. "I would love nothing but to stay a bit longer, but I've got so many things that I have yet to do before the day's over! By all means, don't worry about myself and use this opportunity to relax, my Lady. G-Goodbye!"

Her words resounding within the bathing area, the drops of water left behind by her movement barely had enough time to rejoin their brethren before Hikari Horaki was out of the room, the sliding door closing behind her equally as quickly.

Blinking as she stared at the shut door and listened to the faint sounds of Hikari frantically making her exit, Rei eventually sighed sadly and slowly made her way towards the water.

"...Wow. She totally ran away," Asuka drily commented with a raised eyebrow, as Rei discarded her towel and made her way into the bath, making herself comfortable in the water. "Shame on you, Blue; you scared her off."

Grabbing hold of some nearby cleaning utensils, the bluenette started in on her brushing before properly responding to the redhead.

"I would wager that Horaki-san was more scared of your usual reactions than anything else, Sohryu-san."

"Bite me," Asuka shot back, scoffing. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Bathing, obviously."

"I can see that. Don't you high and mighty nobles have a bath of your own, though?"

"No, we don't. That would be an unnecessary expense, which I believe is answer enough." Pausing in her scrubbing for a second, Rei made eye contact with the young woman in front of her before she next spoke. "I imagined that you would have already inferred as much, Sohryu-san, or have you already forgotten the debacle of your first day in Akuro?"

Asuka winced in embarrassment at the words, the event that Rei was referring to suddenly and unwillingly making it to the forefront of her mind.

"...I had until you brought it back up. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

For a fleeting moment, Asuka considered getting up and leaving Rei alone in the baths, but that course of action was quickly and ruthlessly shot down. Not out of any desire to tolerate the young Lady's presence (or even worse, willingly spend time with her), but rather because doing so could be easily interpreted as Asuka running away from the situation.

And that just simply wouldn't do. Not around her nemesis, and certainly not at that time.

And so, Asuka remained inside of the warm bath water for far longer than she had initially intended while Rei went about keeping up proper hygiene. Asuka was fairly confident that her fingers would end up wrinkling because of her actions, but that was a low price to pay all things considered.

A much bigger problem presented itself when Asuka realised that there was surprisingly little to do in a bath once you were done cleaning yourself. At least, when she had company and humming or singing weren't much of a viable option.

In her hidden boredom, the redhead couldn't help but sneak some glances at the bathing bluenette, swiftly determining with some surprise that what hid under Rei's loose fitting clothes was a lithe body just like her own, albeit less muscular and with slightly more generous proportions (annoyingly enough). The part that drew Asuka's attention the most was certainly the girl's pale skin, however: smooth and with nary an imperfection that she could spot, almost like a doll's, and very soft to the touch from what she could tell.

Asuka would hardly consider herself plain but, despite her best efforts, there was only so much she could do to take proper care of many parts of her body. Her own skin, for instance, was a far cry from Rei's after years of heavy workouts and rough travelling, and she seriously doubted her mane could ever compete with the sheer silkiness of her counterpart's hair.

To be completely honest, it made the girly part of her seethe with envy, on top of all her other Rei-related problems.

'Yet another thing that I'm not good enough at,' the young redhead inwardly sulked, her mind instantly reminded of her appalling performance some time before. 'How am I going to become a world-renowned heroine like this? How am I going to put her to shame when the time comes if I can't get that far? This isn't how it was supposed to go!' Asuka's blue eyes then focused sharply on her bathing companion, all pretext of subtlety thrown to the wind, and her left hand balled into a tight fist on her lap. 'And why does she get to have such stupid luck in the draw, anyway?! She's a damn noble! It's not like she did or suffered through anything to deserve it! This is so unfair...'

"Please refrain from staring so intensely, Sohryu-san," Rei abruptly spoke, making the redhead jump in surprise. "It is uncomfortable, and I have no interest in the connotations of such an act."

"C-Connotations? The hell are you talking about?" Asuka replied, covering the embarrassment at being caught and her depressing train of thought with her usual antagonism. "I don't swing that way, not that there's anything wrong with it."

The enmity behind her discourse was met with the frigid wall of Rei's usual indifference, however, the bluenette continuing on her efforts with no sign of having even heard Asuka's words. A fact that, coupled with the downward spiral of her thoughts, left the young mercenary feeling more angry and frustrated than she had been in a very long time.

Anger that she saw very little reason not to take out on its source.

"It must be so nice, though, being able to live such a cushy life. Having no worries other than busying yourself with menial tasks and keeping everyone at your beck and call." Asuka's scathing remarks caused Rei to stop in her actions, her red eyes slowly turning to regard the redhead. Opportunity that Asuka used to turn up the heat further. "I mean, that brother of yours and your mom at least have that whole 'ruling the land' thing going for them, but what do you even do around here, other than pamper the guy and creep people out?"

Her words filled with malice, Asuka fully intended to bait Rei into an argument or, even better, an actual fight, the consequences of which were somewhere in the back of her mind and being completely ignored. The young redhead had a single objective at that time: to veer her mind off the awfully familiar path that it was taking, no matter what.

But, much to the redhead's chagrin, such a development didn't actually come to happen.

"You may be right, my current efforts are clearly lacking," Rei replied, her expression turning pained and disgruntled. "It's no wonder that Mother is losing her patience with me. In most aspects, I am little more than a hindrance to her and Shinji as I am."

"H-Huh?"

"I am hopelessly behind where I should be," the bluenette continued, unaware of Asuka's shocked reaction to her agreement. "That must be why you so easily wrestled control of the initiative from me during our spar. No matter what Katsuragi-san says, it was clearly your victory, and-"

"Victory?! Don't give me that crap!" the redhead furiously interrupted, quickly standing up and towering over a stunned Rei. "It's obvious that the only reason I even managed to lay a finger on you is because you were an idiot, so save your goddamn pity! I've got the best military training in the world and plenty of combat experience, but none of that matters because of you assholes and your magical bullshit! I am the useless one in this place!"

Asuka's words reverberated all over the small room, followed shortly after by the sound of her heavy breathing. Her hands were balled even tighter than they had been before in a clear sign of the unrelenting nature behind her fury. The redhead, however, couldn't tell at the time whether she was angry at Rei for daring to think her pathetic enough to deserve her pity, or at herself for blurting out her insecurities at the one person she didn't want to appear weak before.

'Goddamit, Asuka. You and your big mouth.'

Seconds passed without any further word from either woman, lost in thought as they were and not really daring to look at each other for fear of complicating the situation even more. The both of them remained as such until, eventually, the shroud of heavy silence was pierced by an eerie and terrifying sound. One that would take years to fade from Asuka's psyche:

The laugh of Rei Ikari.

"...Is that so?" the young Lady spoke slowly and gravely as her mirthless chuckles died off, her eyes hidden by the fringe of her hair. "It would appear that we are both useless, then."

Rei's assertion went without argument, for the redhead found herself unable to act or speak, and barely able to even think, in the face of something that she had deemed to be about as likely as Shinji growing an actual backbone.

"But that doesn't necessarily have to remain so," the bluenette continued, a determined glint passing through her eyes as she pushed herself up and out of the bath under Asuka's flabbergasted scrutiny. "As such, I would like to make a proposal to you, Sohryu-san. One that should prove beneficial to us both."

Finally managing to regain enough control over her brain functions to push Rei's bizarre behaviour out of her mind, the young mercenary's expression shifted towards wary interest, the shock having proven enough to erase most traces of her previous near-murderous rage.

"...Speak."

"Let us continue sparring from here on out, even after fulfilling Katsuragi-san's instructions," Rei explained, walking back to the clothing racks with Asuka a few steps behind her. "It is clear that my approach to fighting intelligent opponents lacks... finesse, and you could certainly use more experience in facing magic users."

"Yeah... That trade looks heavily skewed in your favour, Blue," Asuka replied with a shake of her head, having considered the offer for a few seconds. "After all, other than the people in this place, what are the chances of me finding myself in front of another of you overpowered weirdoes? You yourself said that mages are very rare, remember? And I don't think that whatever Katsuragi's doing is everyday knowledge, either."

"Magic users are not common, indeed, but we simply don't know what we'll be facing in our future encounters with the Apostles. We cannot be too careful."

The redhead narrowed her eyes at the bluenette's response, not having failed to identify an important-sounding term that she was unfamiliar with.

"...Apostles?"

"Yes." Rei confirmed, turning to look at her curiously, "Did Mother fail to mention them? What we met in the underground facility and what we believe was controlling you would both be part of such a group."

"Yeah... She didn't tell me anything about that." Asuka crossed her arms, eyes narrowing at the memory of her conversation with Yui. "Then again, she didn't say much of anything other than: 'That's not for you to know at this time.'"

"...I see."

The young woman went really silent after that, although it didn't take someone of Asuka's intelligence to tell what was going through Rei's head. After all, 'I hope I haven't messed up' was pretty much written all over the face of her nemesis.

It wasn't long before the bluenette shook herself out of her worries, however, quickly focusing back on the topic at hand by throwing Asuka an expectant look.

"Do we have an agreement, then?"

Asuka contemplated the offer for all of one second, before slowly nodding her head in assent. She would take any opportunity to mend her earlier mistakes, after all, and having the chance to cave in the face of her nemesis while she was at it was a welcome extra to the offer, as well.

...

...Or would that be 'rival', now?

"I guess we do," Asuka replied, before fixing the young Lady with the most intimidating look that she could muster. "But just so you know, next time's not going to go like the last! I'm going to crush you so hard and so quick you'll have trouble telling up from down for three days straight!"

"I would expect nothing less after your consent, Sohryu-san," Rei coolly shot back without the slightest hint of panic. "To give our agreement anything less than your best would be nothing short of insulting."

Asuka scoffed at the other girl's demanding response, although a well-hidden feeling of relief also washed over her at the return of her usual high and mighty attitude. Quietly and without paying much attention to the other, both girls changed back into their clothes and prepared for whatever the day had left to offer them.

-]LotF[-

Far into the depths of Akuro castle, a woman worked tirelessly within an expansive chamber known only to a select few. Full of advanced gadgets and machinery, the soft whirring of functioning electronics filled a chamber that was several times taller than the typical Yamese room, and that housed several large and prominent cylinders on its side connected to a myriad of wires and assorted equipment.

Keeping her work space well-lit with bright and white lighting in order to combat the effects of toiling late into the night as much as possible, Yui Ikari pored over lines and lines of code and data flashing by through three different screens, effortlessly taking in all of it with an analytical eye and a serious visage.

A pair of beeping sounds suddenly caught the woman's attention, and she stopped the flowing of the symbols with a flick of her finger. Yui then turned towards a far bigger screen mounted on a side wall and, noticing a red dot blinking in and out of existence on its edge, brought it to life with the push of a button.

Smiling softly, the Lady of Akuro was happy to see a man with a well-trimmed beard and glasses appear on screen: Gendo Ikari, her significant other.

"Finally. I've been trying to get through for quite some time now, dear."

"Sorry, Yui," Gendo offered, pinching the bridge of his nose with a deep sigh. "The meeting took longer than expected, for all the overall good it did."

"Colour me surprised. The Lords and Ladies squabbling about petty arguments, as per usual?" Yui scoffed, shaking her head. "Useless, the lot of them. I sometimes pity the Empress for having to sit and listen to their vainglorious blather for days on end."

"Today's conference was not without its merits, however. I heard talk of a Skyguard squadron heading north when I was preparing to leave. A trio that were supposed to take their oath shortly, from what I gather."

"Kirishima? Now that's some good news." Keeping an ear on the conversation, Yui went back to her previous task of perusing the stream of data. "Ah, youth. So utterly naïve and idealistic to fall under the sway of a few honeyed words; did she take the object of our interests with her, perchance?"

"I haven't been able to confirm, but everything points to it still resting in place."

"Is that so? Regrettable, but I'll accept such an easy recruitment as the boon it is, even if she won't be at her full capacities for the foreseeable future." With a flex of her fingers, three sizable windows containing pictures and descriptions of mechanical hardware appeared before Yui. She looked at them intently for a few seconds, before dismissing them as quickly as they'd been summoned. "Kirishima should have other potential uses, either way."

On the screen and out of the corner of her eye, Yui noticed her husband grab hold of a comfortable chair and sit down on it, propping his elbows on top of his knees and entwining his fingers together in front of his face. He was now in what he had many a time described as his 'plotting pose'.

She couldn't help but smile at the familiar sight.

"That is about all of the official news I have to report from the Capital."

"What about the interesting ones, then?"

"The reactionary faction is making big statements lately. Crowing and denouncing of the new ways, as usual, but with an increased amount of veiled slights against the Empress and call backs to the so-called 'mistakes' of the war against the Empire. It looks like they are spoiling for a fight, suicidal as it may seem."

Yui stopped in her work long enough to throw a sideways glance at her husband.

"You suspect their involvement?"

"It is likely," Gendo confirmed with a nod of his head. "The faction's forces are not proportional to their bravado, otherwise. Someone must be offering support from the shadows for them to feel so confident."

"I agree, we're headed for an interesting political conflict. Being prepared and choosing our moves carefully when the time comes will be of vital importance." Yui smiled slyly at her husband. "Make sure to keep on practicing your Shogi strategies with Kozo-kun at every opportunity, dear."

"I will, although I'm sure that he would always prefer to face you in a match, rather than me." Gendo smiled back, although much more conservatively. "Speaking of, how are the preparations coming on your end, Yui?"

Yui's teasing smile vanished as quickly as it had come, replaced by a resentful scowl.

"Everything's progressing smoothly, that bastard Iruel won't blindside me a second time. Losing hold of Matarael was a hard enough blow as it was." The Lady skimmed her fingers over the surface of the screen a few times, bringing up a clear overview of Akuro castle and the defensive planning for Gendo to see. "The defences are mostly in place and I'm preparing a warm welcome for whoever's coming to pay a visit. I'm expecting it to be Sachiel."

"Yes, Sachiel would be a good candidate for a frontal assault." Gendo nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly over the bridge of his hands. "However, Zeruel would be as well."

"Impossible." Yui quickly shook her head, shooting down the idea and fighting back a shudder. "No matter how well or for how long he fooled us, there's simply no way Iruel could have gathered enough resources to summon that monster."

The serious man nodded his agreement with a grunt.

"And what of Hachiman?"

This time, it was Yui's turn to sigh profoundly and rub her eyes.

"Hachi's proving problematic, that's what I meant by 'mostly' before. It continues to reject Rei as its controller and, judging by the recent synch tests, I honestly see no chance of that state of affairs changing anytime soon." Yui shifted her eyes to the side, looking at the huge cylindrical container that housed an orange giant. "It's getting to the point where I'm going to be forced to have Rei sortie out with Zero."

"With the Dummy system?" Gendo questioned, the pitch of his voice rising slightly from its familiar monotone. "If the system couldn't handle a failed experiment, Zero and Rei won't stand a chance against something like Sachiel."

"...I'm well aware of that. Which is why Shinji will need to take Hachi's reins."

"NO!"

The unexpected and loud shout startled both Yui and Gendo out of their discussion, and the two turned towards the source of the disruption. Standing in the threshold of the room's entrance, Rei Ikari looked at her mother with eyes caught between shock and betrayal, clad in a white and black form-fitting outfit and dripping a few drops of a syrupy amber liquid from all over her suit and body.

"Rei? What are you doing here?" Yui asked, quickly reigning in her surprise. "You shouldn't be done with the simulator yet-"

"Please, Mother! Give me one more chance!" Rei cut her mother off, quickly walking over with a fist over her chest. "I can do it! I'm sure that if I try harder I'll manage to reach out to Hachi somehow!"

"...What's gotten into you these days? You've been uncharacteristically pushy ever since your eye healed."

"I...," the girl began, before stopping herself and breathing in, thinking carefully of the way in which to justify herself. "I just want to be of use to you. And I want to keep Shinji safe."

"You are useful, Rei, and we all want to make sure nothing bad happens to Shinji," her mother replied with a small sigh. "But that doesn't change the fact that there's nothing you can do if the unit itself won't open up its side of the sync."

"But-!"

"No buts! As much as I commend your desire, there's little reason to vie for the impossible at this juncture," Yui cut the bluenette off, making full use of her motherly aura. "Shinji has proven to be a viable partner for Hachi, and there are simply no possible alternatives available. I have my concerns about doing this too, but we have to look at the bigger picture." Yui paused for a second, her eyes seeking Gendo's support. "Wouldn't you agree, dear?"

"Actually, I believe you should allow Rei this wish, Yui."

The Lady turned fully towards her husband's image with a raised eyebrow, not having foreseen such an answer.

"...Et tu, Gendo? I just explained why it's a waste of time to try."

"Perhaps, but the human spirit has been shown to push through astronomical odds by strength of will before," Gendo continued, undeterred. "Rei looks more driven than I've ever seen her, and I have confidence such a thing could be just what she needs to form a bond with Hachiman."

"In fiction's romantic and often inaccurate retelling of historical facts, you mean? I'm afraid that, realistically, determination can only bring man so far in most situations, dear, and this is just one such situation. And your insistence sure shows that you won't be the one pulling all-nighters to change the configuration in-schedule if the sync goes wrong, as it will." Yui scoffed, crossing her arms as if to ward off a two front assault, and narrowed her eyes at her husband. "Besides, have you forgotten how harmful trying to force a sync could potentially be?"

"I haven't. I don't think I'll ever forget it. And that's all the more reason why I don't want Shinji anywhere near Hachi if I can help it," Rei softly replied, bringing Yui's eyes back around with her words. Words uttered in a faint volume that had an effect many a time greater than their power would imply on the elder Ikari, further increased by the way in which Rei had unconsciously taken to hugging herself. "Please, Mother. I know that to you, the only person left in the world with second-hand experience in managing these... monsters, I probably sound like a petulant child, but if Shinji is really fated to take up Hachi's reins I must know that I did everything in my power to prevent it. Please, Mother, I'll beg if I have to."

Caught off-guard by her daughter's continued atypical behaviour, Yui found herself at a loss on what to say or do, which was really uncommon for her. It took Rei beginning to kneel down on the floor for Yui to conclude that the bluenette was as serious as she sounded, and to snap into action.

"Oh, for the love of- Rei! Stop!" Her daughter complying with the command for the time being, Yui pinched the bridge of her nose and put the few seconds that she'd been allowed to good use by taking stock of the options available to her. Or rather, the lack of said options. "Fine, you win, have it your way, but I'm stopping the sync at the very first sign of trouble. We simply can't afford to have you out of commission at this time, Rei."

The Lady's accepting words brought a wide smile to her daughter's face, of the sort that the bluenette only allowed herself within the comfort of her family, and rarely even then. It was truly a sight to behold, and Yui honestly wished that she'd been in a proper mood to better appreciate it.

Such a thing was not to be, however.

"I'll be there after we're done finishing things here, dear, so go prepare the sims in the meanwhile. C1 should be an adequate challenge for someone so willing to prove themselves, and we'll move onto the sync test afterwards."

Having issued her commands once more, the elder Ikari turned to resume her important talk with Gendo, but she quickly noticed that Rei wasn't going anywhere. A few seconds later and the bluenette was still standing in place, eliciting a questioning look from Yui.

"Um... Mother?"

"What is it now, Rei?"

"...C-Could I speak with Father for a few minutes before we start?" the bluenette voiced quietly, not wishing to irritate her mother any further. "It would help me be more at ease."

Yui's eyes bored into her daughter with the force of a pair of suns in response, trying to unsubtly coax the bluenette into forgetting her request and the lost time that would no doubt be associated with it. Rei remained stoically in place, however, although whether that was due to a bout of bravery or a fear that her mother would pounce at the slightest hint of retreat like a hungry predator was up for debate.

"You're such a daddy's girl," the elder Ikari eventually replied with a deep sigh and a distinct lack of humour, nodding her head in agreement. "Very well, we're not so strapped for time that I can't allow a bit of bonding time between you both. I'll forward the connection to the terminal in the training room, but that's after we're done discussing important matters, understood? Go do as you've been told until then."

"...Yes, Mother."

Rei bowed respectfully and turned around, disappearing through the gates shortly after under the watchful gaze of her parents. Gendo was the first to speak up after the young woman was out of sight, his voice admonishing.

"C1? You're being too hard on Rei, Yui."

"And you are being too soft," Yui sharply rebuked Gendo's chiding, narrowing her eyes almost to a glare. "The matter of Hachi won't be solved by something as trifling as trying harder, and you know that, Gendo. I'd rather you don't allow sentiment to get in the way of the practical issues at hand, such carelessness has already cost us dearly."

Whether her heated reminder had an actual effect on the man Yui couldn't tell, because Gendo stuck to his unflappable expression as well as he always did. A trait that she normally didn't mind (and that she'd always found both attractive and useful), but that was doing very little for the good of her nerves at that moment.

"I'll keep that in mind, Yui."

"Good." The Lady settled, taking a deep breath and refocusing her thoughts and mood on the task at hand. "On that note, I want you to start restoring Masakado to proper combat readiness as soon as possible."

"Masakado?" Her husband echoed, curiously. "But we don't have the means to make use of it."

"You leave that to me. Focus on your part of the work, and make sure that the Empress and her lapdog don't catch wind of your actions."

"That will be hard to accomplish," Gendo grunted, his eyes closed in thought. "The minister has eyes everywhere and he's obviously keeping watch on all of the territorial Lords. That's especially true for us, though, due to your history."

"Yes, but he's not infallible, we both know that. I don't expect it to be simple, but that's why I'm requesting the refit and reactivation with so much time." Yui's words then shifted, taking on a softer and more worried tone. "Be careful, Gendo, but get it done."

"..."

Gendo, for his part, nodded his head silently, visibly mulling over a topic of worry. A topic that Yui had little problem figuring out since, after so many years, she could read the stoic man like a book.

"He chose his own path, you'd do well to remember that."

Gendo snorted derisively, his own response somewhat biting.

"Not without a sizable push towards it, if I recall."

"...Perhaps," the brunette admitted, wincing slightly. "But you know what could have happened if we had not."

"...Yes, I know it all too well." Gendo pushed up from his chair and back into a standing position, taking off his glasses "If that will be all, I'd like to speak to Rei as soon as possible. Tomorrow will be another long day, I'm afraid."

"Yes, that will be all. There are many things I have yet to finish, myself." Yui agreed, her tired face making some space for a small smile. "Maybe next time we can have a nice chat without having to worry about all of this stressful stuff."

The woman's efforts were mirrored by her husband, a rarity in and of itself even in the most relaxed of situations.

"Unlikely."

"Yeah. Very much so." Yui sighed sadly, hovering her finger over her workstation and preparing to allow her daughter's wish. "I love you, dear."

"Me too. Sleep well, Yui."

With those parting words the screen went black, the connection having shifted elsewhere and leaving Yui Ikari alone in her workspace just as she'd been several minutes before. In stark contrast to said moment, however, the woman's mind was unfocused and ablaze with a myriad of conflicting thoughts and hardly capable of the kind of work she'd been initially intending to continue at the end of the conference.

Accurately foreseeing that the blockade on her capacities wasn't going to be lifted any time soon, the woman gave up on her efforts and sat down on a comfortable chair that had seen very little use over the years. Making time as she waited for the father-daughter bonding to end, Yui's thoughts quickly devolved into a downward spiral matched only by the screaming of her muscles and the itching of her eyes.

Sensations that would accompany her for the rest of that night, and many others yet to come.

"So much burned, so much ruined. And in the end, it was all for naught," the Lady of Akuro lamented, covering her face with her right arm. "Fuck you, Iruel."