[X] Ask Shinji and Rei not to say anything about this, but stop short of telling them to lie on your behalf. (QM tiebreaker)
Rei raises an eyebrow. Is that an order?
[X] No
Rei falls silent for a moment. Very well, she says after some thought. Shinji, for his part, says he plans to mind his own business.
[X] Talk to Asuka about The World
The world needs her and Unit-02, duh. Asuka says even though
some people don't appreciate how hard she works, they'll come to recognize her when she saves the day like she always does. Probably. It hasn't really been working that way for her lately, has it? Asuka laughs bitterly to herself. What's wrong with everyone? Even Unit-02 hasn't been doing what she wants lately. Her date didn't even recognize her face. Maybe it's because she hasn't been wearing the eyepatch in public, but…it still sucks.
The date was boring,
thanks for asking, Misato. They went to an amusement park, and she ended up ditching him while he was waiting in line to buy concessions or something. He wasn't a bad guy or anything, but he was so stuffy and formal. And the complete lack of recognition of her face rubbed her the wrong way. She'd like to say she feels bad about ditching him, but she doesn't. He made Shinji seem interesting. Pretty much nothing else happened that night.
She just has to work harder. That's all. If she works harder everyone will see. They'll all see.
Asuka's expression darkens after this ominous pronouncement. Curiously, she doesn't ask about where you were the night of the wedding. She seems distracted. Asuka says she's going to practice her violin and shuffles out of the room. A few minutes later, you hear her playing.
It's hard not to feel worried about her.
[X] Shinji: Mood (QM tiebreaker)
You mentally prepare yourself to pick up the pieces from Shinji's meeting with his father, but to your surprise (and chagrin), Shinji says his time with Gendo was pretty much just fine. Not good, not bad. Adequate, satisfactory. They met up at his mother's grave and talked very briefly about the relationship between the three of them. Gendo didn't show him much affection or warmth, as expected of him, but Shinji wonders if it could be that Gendo simply doesn't know how.
He thought his father favored Rei, something he couldn't help but resent, but now he isn't so sure. Rei doesn't seem as close to Gendo as he thought. Shinji understood that his father cared deeply for his mother from this meeting. He always thought that Gendo didn't care about his mother, because he never kept any pictures of her or talked about her very often. But…
Shinji still doesn't understand why he threw away her pictures, though. He resents Gendo for taking those images from him. Gendo said that he keeps everything about Shinji's mother in his heart. That's enough for Gendo. But Shinji feels that's a little selfish. He can't even remember his mother's face.
Shinji feels ambivalent about the meeting. Nothing went wrong. His father didn't hurt him. He even revealed some depths to him that Shinji assumed he lacked. He's not a wholly bad person. But he didn't make much of an effort to reconnect with Shinji, either. It was easier to hate his father when Shinji assumed he was totally heartless and hated him, but now things are confusing.
There are a lot of things Shinji doesn't understand about his father. Maybe more than he thought. Shinji's obviously feeling conflicted about this.
You ask about how things are going with the girls. Shinji says he tried to make up with Asuka with an apology the other night. He thought it went well at first, though as you might be able to tell, she's still not happy with him.
You noticed a weird tension between him and Rei earlier. Shinji trails off after making some unintelligible sounds. It's nothing. Nothing happened. Shinji's lie is transparent, but no matter how much you press him, he absolutely refuses to tell you anything useful. The best you could gather was that whatever happened involved both Rei and Asuka, and that it happened while you were out with Kaji. You screw your face up in annoyance and try to cajole him as best you can, but no dice. Whatever it is, Shinji doesn't want to talk about it.
[X] Talk to Rei about Mood
Which is why you decide to go and ask Rei about it instead. You ask if everything is okay with her. You're concerned about how steamed she got over your liaison with Kaji and whatever is going on between her and Shinji.
Rei admits that she believes she is feeling angry, an emotion she's not very familiar with. She doesn't
sound angry; her voice is as monotone and phlegmatic as ever. Rei talks about her anger as if it's happening to someone else. She's not mad at
you, necessarily. Perhaps a little. She was concerned about your well-being.
She mainly does not trust Kaji, largely because of how you taught her how to behave around Kaji and because of her unpleasant experience with him when they first met, and now you have evidently formed a close bond with him. Rei isn't ignorant of what you and he were up to. She has asked Dr. Akagi about these kinds of things. Put simply, Rei believes that your relationship with Kaji is improper. She's fairly certain that it violates NERV's general workplace ethics and that it is a massive security risk. Rei leaves this unsaid, but her personal dislike of Kaji is also clearly coloring her position.
Rei mostly seems confused and dismayed by your change in position towards the guy. This topic feels a little too complicated to get into with Rei at the moment. You explain that the animosity between you and Kaji was because you hurt him in the past and that you were pushing him away. You have decided to try to mend your relationship. Rei makes a confused expression. She does not understand why you have decided to change your relationship with him, given his general untrustworthiness. Rei confides in you in an even quieter voice than usual that she suspects he may be a spy. She does not have any evidence of this, though. Be careful, Major.
You force yourself not to laugh out loud and say you'll keep that in mind. You change the topic to what you actually want to know. What happened the other night?
Rei gives you a tired expression. It was Sohryu's idea.
"These rules are too complicated," Shinji groaned, slumping in his chair after Asuka's announcement that he'd overbid for the third time that evening. He morosely stared at his pitiful pile of taken tricks on the table to his left.
"Oh, shut up, idiot. The rulebook for mahjong in Rei's set is thirty-two pages long and I managed to learn those!" Asuka folded her arms and huffed before picking up the deck to begin another shuffle.
"I do not believe you have completely learned the rules to riichi mahjong," said Rei quietly, handing over her cards to Asuka.
"Try me," Asuka retorted.
"A player has declared tsumo with the following hand: two-three-four souzu, two-three-four manzu, two-three-four pinzu and a pair of sha. The tile called was the four souzu. The player is seated in the south. The hand is closed. There are no dora. Riichi was not declared, and they did not draw the last tile in the wall. What is the value of this hand?" Rei rattled this problem of her own devising off from the top of her head as if reciting from a textbook.
Placing a finger to her lips in thought, Asuka took a moment to think about the question. Then, with a haughty look, she began to answer.
"Okay, so these are all runs, right? And the wind tiles don't match the player's seat, so this hand is worth only twenty fu. And it's closed twenty fu hand, winning on a double-sided wait, so that makes one of the yaku pinfu. And this was a self-draw on a closed hand, so that's another yaku. So that's two han. And also, they have the same run in all three suits, so that makes another yaku, the three-color straight. Which is worth two han when closed. So that's four han, twenty fu, which is, um…what's the stupid scoring formula again?"
"Actually, Asuka, you—" Shinji began, but Asuka shut him down without mercy.
"How am I supposed to think with you yammering in my ear, idiot? Let me concentrate, Gott." Asuka turned to Rei expectantly, waiting for Rei to answer her question.
"The base value of a hand is fu multiplied by two raised to the power of two plus han, with payments rounded up to the nearest hundred," Rei recites monotonously.
"Right, so twenty times two to the sixth power is 1280, which rounds up to 1300 from the two chumps in west and north, and then 2600 from the dealer. So the payment is 1300/2600, for a total of 5200 points! See, I know the rules of that stupid ga—"
"Incorrect." Rei's verdict crushed Asuka's gloating with the force of a dropped anvil. Shinji couldn't help but wince.
"What, whaddya mean, incorrect, Wonder Girl—"
"Stipulation two," said Rei, giving Asuka an intense stare.
"Fine. What do you mean, Rei?"
"This hand is worth negative 8000 points. It is not a valid winning hand, as it only contains eleven tiles, not fourteen. Therefore, a penalty would be applied for gotsumo, a reverse mangan penalty with 4000 to the dealer and 2000 each to the others. You are incorrect."
"What, but, but that's a trick question!" Asuka spluttered, a vein pulsing in her temple, "That's not fair! Nobody would ever have less than fourteen tiles in their hand on their turn! This would never happen!" Her pitch rose higher as her indignation grew.
"Nevertheless, your failure to notice such a fundamental aspect of this hand demonstrates that you do not yet completely know the rules of riichi mahjong. Which is what I was trying to say." Rei's dispassionate pulverization of Asuka's ego only incensed her more. She whirled on Shinji next.
"Why didn't you say anything, stupid?" she spat, her red hair flying wildly.
"I…tried to," said Shinji, frowning, "But you wouldn't listen."
"Well, you should have tried harder. Mahjong is stupid anyway. Look, if you jerks keep subjecting me to that then I should be able to play you two in skat without you whining constantly. At least skat makes sense. Not my fault you didn't want to play a fun game, like knüffeln."
"We don't have enough players," said Shinji, "and knüffeln makes no sense."
"I've seen Pen2 play cards before. He can probably learn. And knüffeln is easy. You're just stupid."
"You said knüffeln requires negotiating tactics. Pen2 would not be able to participate in such negotiations, as we cannot understand him. I do not want to play a game with him if he would be at such a disadvantage," Rei said with an unusual gravity in her voice.
"Whatever."
At that moment, the phone in the kitchen began to ring. Rei stood and excused herself, grateful for the opportunity to escape what could be another argument. While Shinji and Asuka had managed to begin reconciliation with a heartfelt apology on the former's part, Asuka had still been prickly all evening as she grumpily attempted to herd her two roommates through a game of skat.
On the other end of the phone was Major Katsuragi. She sounded distinctly ill.
"Ey, 'shup Rei. Howzit hanging?" came the Major's slurred voice. Rei was not unfamiliar with the Major becoming inebriated, but the experience was always a little unpleasant. Still, it was what made the Major distinctly herself, and the Major was her superior officer, so Rei tolerated it.
"Major, are you alright? You sound unwell," Rei could not hide the concern in her voice.
"Nah, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine! I'm great. I'm jusht calling to letcha know not to wait up for me. I'm out drinking with Kaji and I'm not sure when I'll be home, alright?"
Rei knit her eyebrows together in confusion. Why would the Major willingly be spending time with her least favorite person? This was cause for alarm. Perhaps the Major's judgment was greatly impaired.
"Are you sure you are alright?" Rei asked.
"I'm fine, Rei. How're Ashuka and Shinji doing?"
Rei chose her words carefully, "We all ate dinner not long ago. Sohryu returned from her engagement early, as he was 'a colossal bore, even worse than the two of you put together'. She has not been harmed. Ikari is also fine." She opted to leave out the deeply tedious arguments they (mostly Shinji and Asuka) had been having over their games of skat.
"Oh, that'sh a relief."
Rei decided to see if she could perhaps convince the Major to come home in a timely manner, as this was really quite worrisome.
"I can stay up until you return. It is not a bother to me." Even in Rei's head, this line of persuasion fell flat. Once the Major had decided to do something, it was awfully difficult to change her mind.
The Major's voice became more serious. "No Rei, you don't have to do that for me. It's important you get a bunch of sleep 'n' stuff. Kids need to go to bed on time. Seriously, don't wait up."
Rei frowned. It appeared that this situation was out of her hands. "Understood," was the only response she could give, along with a plea to be careful. Rei did not trust Kaji even one bit. She hoped he would not try to pump the Major for information, or worse, harm her. He had a habit of asking uncomfortable questions around NERV HQ. Her home. Rei did not care for invaders in her home, be they man or Angel.
"Alright, I will. Love you, Rei."
Rei hesitated. It was customary in this situation to return the sentiment. She did feel great affection for Major Katsuragi. But expressing it in such a reductive and misleading manner was something Rei was not used to. Nevertheless, Rei wanted to make her sentiments known.
"…I love you too. Good night." Rei hung up the phone, feeling as if she had somehow done something wrong. The source of this guilt remained unclear after a minute of contemplation, and so she decided to move on to more rational thoughts.
She emerged from the kitchen where Shinji and Asuka were waiting for her to retake her seat at the table. Shinji had a small red mark in the center of his forehead, suggesting Asuka had flicked him there, hard.
"Who was that?" asked Asuka.
"The Major called to let us know she is unsure when she will be returning home, and that we should go to bed on time."
Asuka's expression immediately morphed from curiosity to anger and confusion. "What? Don't tell me she won't be back until morning!" Asuka narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"I mean, she's just out with Mr. Kaji, right? Why would she be out all night?" Shinji asked.
"Are you stupid? That's why!" Asuka was raising her voice now, a sour expression on her face. Shinji merely shrugged at her, while Rei sat back down, trying her best to not engage with this. It was an area neither of the other two pilots felt they could have a civil conversation with Asuka about.
Shinji wisely decided to change the topic. "Who's the next dealer? Is it you, Asuka?" If nothing else, Shinji could fill the awkward silence now hanging over the trio.
"It's Rei. Deal the cards, or whatever." It was as if all the fire had gone out of Asuka. Slumped over the table, leaning her chin on her hands, she watched Rei pick up the deck and start dealing.
The next few hands passed uneventfully, with Asuka winning one and Rei winning two. The fervor Asuka played with had ebbed away, and Rei was slowly catching up to her score. Shinji had also finally managed to win a hand after a drought.
"Hey Shinji?" said Asuka in a soft voice, not looking up from the scoring sheet, "Wanna kiss me?"
"Huh…? What?!" Shinji dropped the cards he was holding. Rei fixed her gaze on Asuka, a gesture Asuka opted to ignore entirely.
"A kiss. You know. You've never kissed anyone, right, Shinji?"
"No, I haven't…" Shinji nervously shifted his gaze between the two girls' faces. Asuka's bored and slightly curious expression contrasted sharply with Rei's alert gaze and inscrutable frown.
"If you can win this next game, I'll let you kiss me," said Asuka, pushing the scoring sheet to one side.
Shinji flushed, and he shrank back in his seat. This had to be one of Asuka's mean tricks. After all, she'd spent most of the last few weeks barely being on speaking terms with him. That she'd invited him to play cards with her at all still felt surreal. "Why?" Shinji asked cautiously, again eyeing Rei's unsettlingly intense face.
"Because I'm bored. This game is getting boring. I'm up by almost 400 points and you have no hope of catching up because you suck at this. Rei's barely treading water. Let's make this interesting. What's the matter, afraid to kiss a pretty girl on the anniversary of your mom's death?" Asuka's voice took on a mocking tone, "Is she watching over you in Heaven?"
"I mean, no, not really, it's just—" Shinji began, but Asuka persisted in her needling.
"Oh, you're just scared, then."
"I'm not afraid of a little kiss!" Shinji protested, clenching his fists.
"Well then, good luck," Asuka said, plunking three cards in front of him, "You'll be the soloist."
"Sohryu, I am ready to help you defeat Ikari," Rei said with uncharacteristic steel in her voice as Asuka put down the skat cards.
"Hm. Actually, scratch that. We're going to play a Ramsch contract. It's every woman for herself," Asuka flashed a cheeky grin at the increasingly unamused Rei.
"Um, what's that?" Shinji asked, "You never taught us that."
"Oh, I guess not. It's not in the official rules. You could call it a forbidden contract. Basically, the person who takes the most tricks loses. Unless you take every trick. That's a Durchmarsch, and you win if you do that. Otherwise, you lose. I'm obviously not going to lose, so the other winner gets to kiss me."
"What if Rei wins, then?" asked Shinji with clear confusion. Asuka rolled her eyes in response.
"Then I guess she gets to kiss me, and you don't. Sucks to be you. And if there's a Durchmarsch, I guess the winner gets to decide what happens. Are you two in or are you going to wuss out?"
"…I'm in," said Shinji with a quiet determination, trying not to think about the ramifications of what he was getting into.
"…then I will also participate," Rei said, picking up her cards, uncomfortably aware of the ramifications of what she was getting into.
"Great. There are no trumps in this deck other than the Bube, in the same order, Kreuz, Pik, Herz and Karo, rest of the cards are still in the order Ass, Ten, König, Dame, Nine, Eight, Seven. None of the point values matter or anything. Just try to take as few cards as possible. Or take all of them, but I doubt you'll be able to do that."
"Understood," came Rei's reply.
"Uh, okay, got it."
The hand began. And like so many skat hands before it, it was over in what felt like an instant. The cards fell onto the table and…through some miracle, Shinji had managed to take no tricks at all. Asuka took three. And Rei finished in last, with seven. Asuka looked at Shinji's empty place and whistled, impressed.
"Well, well, well, looks like we have a Jungfrau. Fitting for you, really," Asuka said, rising to her feet.
Shinji frowned, vaguely aware she'd managed to insult him somehow even in the act of congratulating him for winning. Out of curiosity, he peered over at Rei, who was sitting completely rigid at her seat, boring a hole in him with her crimson gaze. Her face remained inexpressive, but it was more than obvious that she was displeased by the outcome of the hand. Shinji gulped.
"You brushed your teeth, right?" Asuka asked, stepping closer to Shinji.
"Yeah…" Shinji stood up, his heart pounding in his ears. Was this really happening? Any moment now, he was going to wake up, or Asuka was going to laugh in his face for taking the bait.
"Then here I come." Asuka had closed the distance between them before Shinji could fully process what was going on. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, neither of them making the first move. Shinji closed his eyes. That's what people do when they kiss, right? His face burned. He felt sweaty. Why was he feeling so sweaty? Did Asuka notice? Why was she taking so long? Was it because he was so sweaty?
He opened his eyes to peek at Rei, who had begun staring intently at the pile of cards she had accumulated. It began to dawn on Shinji that this was a very dangerous situation he had wandered into. Was Rei okay? Should he—
"Stop breathing, you're tickling me," Asuka grumbled, breaking his train of thought. Shinji only could let out a grunt of confusion. Asuka made an annoyed growl and proceeded to pinch his nose shut so tightly Shinji only barely suppressed the urge to squeak in pain before Asuka shoved her mouth over his own.
It was…wet. It was the only thought that went through Shinji's head. Asuka forcefully pressed her lips firmly into his. It hurt more than he'd anticipated it would. She also pushed her tongue into his mouth, a sensation, while not entirely disgusting, was unpleasant. What was he supposed to do again? Asuka just stood there, pressing her face more and more tightly into his. The situation reminded Shinji of lampreys, or at least it would have, if his brain was receiving enough oxygen to think of a suitable metaphor. He began to feel his consciousness beginning to black out.
He finally managed to tear himself away from Asuka and gulped down oxygen. He felt dizzy. He wiped his mouth and looked at the two girls in front of him, panic rising in his stomach. Asuka was also wiping her mouth with a dark expression, while Rei remained seated at the table, looking on at the pair of them with obvious worry written on her face, her lips parted slightly.
"Ugh! Ew! Ew!" Asuka said, bolting towards the bathroom. The sound of the faucet running.
"Are you alright, Ikari?" Rei asked quietly.
"I…" Shinji wasn't sure. He'd managed to kiss one of his two admittedly attractive roommates, but he'd clearly managed to do such a bad job of it that she would probably never speak to him again. His lips felt bruised. At least Asuka hadn't hit him. "I think so…?" he finally responded.
"I see," said Rei, then began shuffling the cards.
Asuka began making exaggerated coughing and spitting sounds, followed by the sound of gargling. She emerged from the bathroom looking oddly tired. "Definitely shouldn't kiss just because I'm bored," she muttered to herself, before looking over at Rei and frowning, "What are you doing?"
"I would like to play another game with the same terms," Rei said simply, and began to deal the cards.
"Uh-uh, no way am I kissing that loser again! It was disgusting! It was horrendous! It was the worst!" she pointed at Shinji, who winced at each insult.
"Then you will have to prevent him from winning," said Rei, "Unless you are afraid?"
Asuka only made a low growl in her throat and plopped down in her seat with such violence it slid a few inches back across the floor. She looked at Shinji and assured him that if he managed to win another kiss from her, she would kill him with her bare hands.
"Stipulation five," Rei said automatically.
"Doesn't count, he's not part of this agreement," Asuka said testily.
"…you are correct, but I object to threats of violence in general."
"Whatever."
Once the cards were dealt out, the game began and ended just as quickly as before. Only this time…
"I believe this is Durchmarsch," Rei said, gesturing to her pile of thirty cards. Asuka said nothing, only glaring at her and folding her arms. Shinji looked between the two of them, unsure how to react.
"I would like to kiss Ikari," said Rei.
"What?! Why?!" Asuka started from her seat, pointing at Shinji, "He's a really bad kisser!"
"You're not so great yourself," Shinji muttered, prompting the two of them to begin bickering. Rei rose from her seat, heedless of the argument between the two of them, and grabbed Shinji with considerable force, yanking him to his feet and causing Shinji to yelp in surprise and pain.
Rei looked into his eyes with a blank expression before giving him a chaste kiss on the lips and quickly returning to her seat, her cheeks pink. Shinji could only blink in confusion before sitting back down in his chair.
Asuka looked between the two of them, filled with annoyance. Who did that doll think she was, trying to show her up like that? she thought. It wasn't like she'd really enjoyed kissing the idiot, but this was so obviously a plot by Rei to make her look bad. Starting by pulling off a Durchmarsch. She was just doing Shinji a favor. She concluded that no good deed goes unpunished.
"So, who was better?" Asuka asked Shinji. Of course, when put on the spot like that, he would probably capitulate. That'd show Rei.
"Uh, to be honest, neither of them was very good?"
On second thought, perhaps Rei wasn't the enemy here. Rei looked surprisingly hurt by Shinji's response. She might have the personality of an insensitive robot, Asuka thought, but she was still a girl. Shinji immediately realized that he had misspoke, and began a desperate apology, but Asuka wasn't going to have it.
"You're an idiot," she said, and then gave him a solid punch in the gut. Not one that would leave any serious injury, of course. Asuka could control her own strength just fine. She just wanted him to feel her displeasure. She looked to Rei to see whether she'd stick to being an annoying little goody-goody, but Rei didn't say or do anything to chastise her. Instead, she apologized to Shinji and thanked Asuka for the game, before retreating from the room.
Asuka gave Shinji another slap upside the head for good measure before sentencing him to putting away the game for being in last place, and for generally being a dumbass.
You feel tired too. Rei says she's not sure how to feel about the other night's events. She thinks she may have made some kind of mistake, but she's not sure. Ikari does not seem upset with her, but things between them do not feel right. Between the previous Angel attack and this, Rei wonders if things will go back to normal between them.
She's also concerned about Sohryu, though she's not sure why.
[X] Rei: Arts program
Rei spends time drawing distorted everyday objects from around your apartment as her style continues to evolve. In general, she's moved beyond the crude, Matisse-like semi-abstracts from her early attempts at art and beyond the more detailed watercolor and charcoal sketches she'd been doing, and now prefers to work with pastels and pencil, as she begins to push against the boundaries of reality in a more concerted way.
Rei is also disappointed her usual spot for painting or reading (your balcony) has proven to be less than adequate this week, as the weather has been overcast and unusually cool. Rei seems exceptionally resistant to Tokyo-3's perpetual summer heat and humidity, but in its absence becomes cold easily.
Unfortunately, Rei's emotional and philosophical vocabulary is still somewhat impoverished, and she has difficulty explaining what her aims are with this new series of works. She's considering taking out some books on art from the library.
[X] Rei: Synchronization training
Ritsuko has to do a double take during Rei's synchronization test. The results are so surprising that she decides to restart the test from scratch to make sure that there was no error. Rei's currently sitting at a synchronization score of 59.92%, an all-time high for her by more than ten points. Aside from the confusion, she congratulates Rei and tells her to keep it up. Rei thanks her politely, seeming indifferent to the results.
[X] Shinji: Physical training
You and Shinji work on his reaction time. While you've found his offensive skills adequate to commendable in these last few encounters, you find that Unit-01 is taking way more punishment than it needs to, particularly when it came to the Tenth Angel. Shinji needs to make evasive decisions quicker and more accurately, or he could really be in trouble.
In addition to making sure he dodges projectiles and thrown punches faster, you also work with him on shifting targets with greater speed and accuracy. It's grueling, and Shinji hates the work, but he has improved. There is still work to be done, however.
[X] Shinji: Free time/go out
You give Shinji a reprieve from the intensive training by allowing him free time. He spends most of it hanging out with the boys. His usual habit of going for long walks is temporarily halted by the continuing poor weather, as the sky darkens over the course of the week, threatening rain. The temperature remains practically autumnal.
You get the impression he still feels a little uncomfortable in the apartment, though he no longer appears afraid of Rei or Asuka. Or rather, he's not afraid of them for the same reasons anymore, at least. Is this progress? You hope so.
[X] Asuka: Study
Asuka actually comes to you to request you give her time to study for her internship, but you were planning to let her do that anyway, so it all works out. Despite her undying hatred for the Japanese writing system, she's putting in the effort to learn it anyway. In addition to the dull work of learning how to read above an elementary school level, she's also devouring research papers on metabiology at an impressive pace. She still considers most of it above her head, but it's evident that she's learning at a much faster pace than an ordinary thirteen-year-old. You can finally see how she managed to graduate college at her age.
For some reason, Rei keeps coming in to ask about how her studies are going, which annoys and frustrates Asuka, who hates being interrupted. You eventually decide to bar Rei from entering the room Asuka is studying in for both your and Asuka's sanity, as it proves to be a nuisance.
[X] Asuka: Combat training
You let Asuka take out her frustration with the Japanese language with some good ol' fashioned simulated violence. As before, she's struggling a bit with the more difficult Angels, but has achieved mastery over the weaker ones, easily able to solo them. She can even finally give Tamiel a walloping routinely.
The previous Angel has also been added to the simulation, giving Asuka her first taste of Evangelion-on-Evangelion combat. A taste which she comes to relish, as she requests rematch after rematch with Evangelion-00+02. You'd find this disturbing if her efforts against it weren't so successful.
Snow in Summer
You wake up one morning to discover the unthinkable has happened.
It has begun to snow in Tokyo-3. It has not snowed in Japan outside of the highest peaks of its highest mountain ranges in fifteen years. Why it would begin snowing in a relatively low-lying area during the perpetual summer of the post-Impact world is a mystery to you. You have an unpleasant hunch about its solution. The sight of the bleak white world makes you feel uneasy.
You walk into the common area of the old apartment to find Rei and Shinji mesmerized by the unusual precipitation, staring out the glass door to the balcony. Rei is tightly wrapped in her blankets, as it is freezing in your apartment right now. You figure neither of them have seen snow. Asuka, by contrast, looks irritated by this development, and complains she thought it wasn't supposed to snow here. You recall that Europe around the North and Baltic Seas is going through some kind of perpetual winter. Asuka, being from low Germany, must be sick of this weather.
Rei shivers violently. Asuka sighs and goes to her bedroom, before returning with a maroon winter coat that has clearly seen better days. She commands Rei to put it on. Rei makes a face but reluctantly does so. Asuka says if they're both going to stand there gawping at the snow she might as well teach them how to have fun in the snow. She goes to her room and grabs some winter clothing for the three of them, though she refuses to give Shinji anything but her rattiest, oldest coat, which is obviously too small for him.
Are you going to let them play outside?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
