"...so...Minazuki...he's a member of
Strega?" Shinji said, almost out of disbelief.
"Yeah. Crazy thing, ain't it?" said Toji with a huff. "I mean, we just saw him yesterday at a boxing tournament."
"...it's not that."
Was this why?
Kensuke frowned. "It's not what?"
Was this why he seemed to hate me? "...Minazuki was there. At the underground fighting ring." That sentence elicited bewildered blinks from the others. "...I actually fought him."
That sentence elicited looks of surprise. "...and he beat me in a fight." That sentence broke the camel's back.
"...I think we need to back up, because I'm missing some context," demanded Kensuke. "I get that you followed Nagisa to this fight club or whatever, but how did
you get roped into joining?"
"They threatened Nagisa-kun's life," explained Shinji, looking down at his hands. (Hands hadn't so much as laid a scratch on Sho Minazuki.) "The yakuza, I mean; they wanted me to fight with my Evangelion. For the spectacle."
Mana snorted. "Gee, they must have had a death wish."
"Everyone fighting was capable of manipulating their A.T. Field...or so Nagisa-kun told me. The first guy...couldn't even touch me. I just let him punch away until he tired himself out."
"I bet
that was quite a show," murmured Kensuke as his fingers tapped furiously on his phone. "Wonder if anyone tried taking video with their cell phone...?"
"Then Minazuki came out...and...well, I'm not sure how to describe it. He had overwhelming power behind him." Looking out the window (towards the smoke, towards the fire), a hollow sort of realization fell upon him. "...maybe...if he's a part of Strega...then that must mean he has power from the Angels..."
"...it would explain things, if he managed to beat your Evangelion." A rather dark look of frustration fell over her face. "...but I bet you held back, didn't you?"
Shinji grimaced. "...yes."
"Why?"
"...I don't know."
Toji snorted loudly. "Eh, I bet you
do know. Just talk about it! If nothing else, it'll make you feel better. Believe me...I know that much."
Shinji nervously scratched at the back of his head. "...I only fought to keep Nagisa-kun safe...but when Minazuki escalated...I didn't...I just didn't see the
need to use all of my power..."
"...concerned about collateral damage, maybe?" offered Kensuke. "I mean, as far as the real world's concerned, you've only ever used your Evangelion around Ghosts, right? That usually means there's not much in the way of other people to worry about. And...well, if it was an underground fighting ring run by yakuza, I bet there were a lot of people around."
"There were," Shinji readily admitted. "...wait a second." His brain was finally catching up. "What happened to Nagisa-kun?" He remembered...
something happening. Kaworu had faced Minazuki...somehow. The details seemed blurry and out of focus, in retrospect. "...I hope he made it out..."
Kensuke shook his head. "Katsuragi asked me to inquire with the Hakone Academy Boxing Club members once people got out and about; even though I was discreet about why I was asking, they weren't able to provide me any details. The boxers he had been rooming with hadn't even realized he'd left last night." Adjusting his glasses, the boy added, "and with all of the havoc spreading from where the Olympics are being held, the clubs that were still here have elected to leave early, to try and get out of the city."
"...oh." Reaching down for his phone, Shinji noticed that there had been no new messages since last night.
Nagisa-kun...what happened...wait. It suddenly buzzed.
K. Nagisa: Are you finally awake?
Without hesitation, Shinji dialed Nagisa's contact and waited for him to pick up. When the other line clicked open, he asked, "Nagisa-kun?"
"
Ah, so you are!"
Shinji glanced at Kensuke, Toji, and Mana, who were looking at him with pointed expressions. "Where are you?"
"
Outside the hotel, near the bus that's about to take the Boxing Club back to Tokyo-3."
"...where have you been? What
happened last night?"
xxxx
On the ground floor outside, leaning against the back of a passenger bus, Kaworu Nagisa pondered and wondered.
(What response would produce the most fruit?)
(What would propel Shinji Ikari the furthest?)
(What would push him towards the desired endpoint?)
"...what happened last night was regrettable, I will admit. But I think it provided great insight, nonetheless."
"
...what do you mean?"
"Well...it showed me that, for all the power you are purported to possess, you yourself are still restrained. I wonder...for all the questions I have about where I'm going, are you any different?"
xxxx
Shinji blinked, almost staring at his phone before bringing it back to his ear. "What do you mean?"
"
Well, it seems quite apparent...at least, to me. However great your power is, your control is...suspect."
"...it is?"
"
Why else would the likes of Sho Minazuki have been a threat to you?"
"But...if I went too far-"
"
And who is the one to decide? Is that power yours to command, to control as you will? Or are you its puppet?"
Shinji went still.
"
My fists...and my own strength...and the choices they enable me to make...are mine, and mine alone. As vexing as life may sometimes be, I find comfort in that knowledge. Can you say the same?"
All the power he possessed seemed to do him little beyond combat as it was. (If someone else could willingly shoulder the burden, he often wondered, even now, how quickly he would give it up.) "...what good would it do?"
"
Everything."
"How?"
"
Power that can't be controlled is simply a vicious master...or perhaps a wild dog, ready to bite and tear. If you cannot control your own strength, are you anything better than a slave to it? If you fear your own power...is that not a condemnation of yourself?"
Shinji paled at the sharpness of the accusation...because it was true.
His Other gazed at the peak of a great and mighty fortress.
"How dreadful, is the shadow upon thy head? How long will it block the sun of wisdom?"
"...I...I guess I'm scared," he managed to say with a gulp. "There's stuff that's happened that you don't know about..."
"
I'm sure. But what does it matter? Are you not alive, capable of change? Are you not still breathing, capable of facing whatever the day may bring?"
"...I guess."
"
Then make your choices, Shinji-kun...and accept whatever may come from them. Fear will only keep you chained down, after all."
"...Nagisa-kun..." There was the sensation of pending discovery, and that frightened him. (Somehow. But why?) "...how did you get me away from Minazuki last night?"
There was a knowing chuckle from the other end. "
Now now, I don't think we're quite that close...allow a boy to retain some secrets~"
"Eh?"
"
Now...I believe you have more pressing matters to attend to. I'm sure we'll have plenty to talk about once you return to Tokyo-3. See you soon~" And with that, Kaworu hung up.
...Nagisa-kun...who are you? Shinji couldn't help but wonder what other mysteries his enigmatic roommate concealed (even if he felt as though Nagisa had unveiled just a bit more of himself...), even now.
xxxx
Kaworu stared at his phone with a pleased expression.
Let us see how you will proceed. After all, the battles to come would only devour Ikari whole if he were taken by trepidation...and that would be unacceptable.
With a nonchalant grin and hands in his pockets, he walked around the side of the bus and towards another one that was a few dozen meters away; sure enough, Akihiko and Miki Sanada were standing at the passenger doorway, looking around with palpable concern.
Miki saw him first. "
THERE you are you troublemaker! We've been calling your phone nonstop!"
"My apologies," he said. "I went out for a stroll very early...and before I knew it, I found myself in an unfamiliar part of town. I would have used my GPS, but my phone died while I was out," he lied.
Akihiko huffed. "You sure took your sweet time getting back. The bus driver was going to leave in five minutes, with or without you."
Glancing towards the noonday sky — hazy from distant smoke, marred by the sound of distant conflict — Kaworu's smile faltered ever so slightly. "...I can only imagine why. It looks like a fire broke out from the northeast?"
"If
only that was the problem," griped Miki. "Now get your butt on the bus, mister!"
With a disarming bow, Kaworu did so; before long, as the bus began its journey southward — to cross the first of many bridges that would take them on a circuitous route through Kagawa, Tokushima, and Hyōgo Prefectures before veering back on the main expressways eastward — his (seemingly) youthful dalliance with the streets of Okayama would be glossed over by the teenagers onboard. After all, the terrorist attack on the Olympics was
far more noteworthy.
(Sometimes, he pitied the ignorance of the lilim.)
(Far more often, however, did he envy that same blissful naivete.)
xxxx
Shinji stared at his phone, almost dumbfounded.
"...so?" Blinking, he turned towards Kensuke, who was looking at him expectantly alongside Toji and Mana. "Where
was he?"
"...out by the buses, actually. I think he was about to head back to Tokyo-3 with the Boxing Club."
"
Seriously?!" Toji threw his hands up into the air. "Way to make us worry!"
"That stuff sounded pretty heavy," remarked Mana, a rather shrewd look entering her eyes. "...so...what now?"
Shinji stared down at his phone...or rather, at the hand holding it.
The world was aflame.
The Beast held a box full of kindling.
"Will you inflame the fires that this world has created?"
His Other held a bucket of water.
"Or will you quench those wretched flames?"
Their free hands were held out, as if in invitation.
"Either way," they chorused, "your own hand must take hold of something."
With a resolute sigh, he pocketed his phone. "...have you heard from Misato-san or the others?"
Kensuke shook his head. "Not since they left, no." As if to punctuate his remark, a fireball erupted from a distant section of northern Okayama. "...was starting to wonder what we should do once you woke up."
"...I hope you intend to go after them," said Mana, resting LABRYS upon her shoulders. "Now that you're awake, there's no reason for us to stay here."
Shinji nodded. "I think we
have to...and I think the best thing for us to do is to go after Minazuki."
Kensuke and Toji blinked, stared at each other, then looked back. "Uh...hate to break it you Ikari, but we're not
that combat capable in the real world," said the latter.
"I mean, sure, we've got Personas and whatnot, but they can't exactly be used in the real world!" added Kensuke.
"I know."
"...you've got an idea, don't you?" asked Mana.
"...sort of," he said, slowly stretching his arms.
This power I have...I don't know what all I'm capable of...but I have to learn. One way or another, he would learn. It would be for the best if he did so of his own volition. "So...do you remember the ferry?"
"
Kind of hard to forget that," griped Toji.
Shinji grimaced, because that reaction was
completely justifiable. "Well...here's what I'm thinking..."
xxxx
/Death
//now at Rank 4
