You Are (Not) at Fault

[MisterHalt]

Actually, screw it. New chapter now. Final snippet got too long and had to be broken up anyway, and that was a nice way to end chapter 11. In chapter 12 we'll be seeing just how Pen-pen turned up (hint: he didn't fly) and an important question about Instrumentality finally gets asked.

I was hoping to start this chapter off with some time-skipping, but that's gonna require working out how long it would take for things to get 'normal' enough, so I may push that back to chapter 13.

Let's see... EoE was on New Years Eve/Day (or very close). Shinji spent about five days alone before going to the beach. There was about a week before Shinji was found, then another couple of weeks at most they went to the Geofront. About two days before the return to the apartment... let's say it's now the start of February. I'm not sure that anyone would actually know the date yet.

How would you figure out the current date, if you've lost track of a huge chunk of time?

******

Chapter 12

The reason behind Pen-pen's sudden appearance knocked on their door the next morning. Misato had fallen asleep that night tightly hugging the penguin like a teddy bear, which Pen-pen did not seem to mind in the slightest.

It was the sudden scream of joy that woke the pair of them. When Misato made it to the kitchen she saw Asuka hugging a brown-haired girl while two bemused boys stood awkwardly nearby. The shorter boy waved at Misato.

"Oh, hello Miss Katsuragi!" he said. "It's good to see you made it back as well."

Setting down a cup of coffee for Pen-pen, Misato smirked at them. "Hello, boys. So you three are to blame for Pen-pen sneaking into my apartment?" She motioned to the table and they sat down while Misato made more drinks for them.

"Yep, we came here because this smart-ass," Toji slapped Kensuke on the back. "somehow knew that your building would be fine. Too bad the same can't be said of our houses."

Kensuke began to bemoan the loss of the things in his bedroom, before another slap silenced him.

Hikari finally managed to break out of Asuka's hug and the two girls joined the others at the table. "We, um... borrowed an apartment downstairs when we realised you weren't here. I hope that's alright."

Misato waved a hand dismissively. "It's fine. The entire building was turned over to Section 2 to safeguard the pilots, so it's not like you're intruding on anyone's home."

The bespectacled boy turned to Toji and said, "See? I told you it would be alright!"

"Yeah yeah, you were right. Now knock it off."

Hikari cleared her throat meaningfully at them and they quieted down. She then leaned over towards Pen-pen and began stroking his head.

"When we were about to leave, Pen-pen got rather... um... insistent that we let him stay here."

"Crazy bird locked himself in the fridge," Toji muttered. A look from Hikari silenced him again, but Toji soon shyly smiled at her, which was met with a smile and a reddening of the girl's cheeks as she ducked her head.

Misato slapped her face and groaned. "Damn, I forgot about his fridge. With no power, he won't be able to stay cool."

"Wark." Pen-pen somehow managed to convey that he wasn't being bothered by the heat now, before turning his attention back to Hikari, who was trying to get her blush under control.

"Oh, I guess you won't really need it much anymore," Misato brightened up. "With the much cooler weather we've been having, Japan seems to no longer be stuck in a permanent summer."

"Uh, hey, I don't mean to change the subject or anything," Kensuke said. "But where's Shinji? Didn't he come back with you two?"

Toji tore his eyes away from Hikari. "Hey yeah, where is the Shin-man? Moping in his room again? Maybe seeing us will b-mmph."

The slender hand now covering his mouth was only part of the reason for the interruption. The strange look on Asuka's face as she stared at Toji was the rest.

"Shinji..." Misato began as she pulled Asuka's hand away from the jock's mouth. "He's... he's not well."

"Oh no, is he sick?" Hikari looked up and asked. "We could go get some medicine for him."

"We don't know," Asuka flatly said, sitting back down in her seat. "We took him to NERV a couple days ago. That's why we weren't here. We got the power running in the base again, but none of the medical tests Doctor Akagi ran on him turned up anything wrong."

"Asuka, perhaps you should show them," suggested Misato.

"I suppose. Finish your drinks and I'll take you to his room."

**

Seeing as the storage closet that was Shinji's bedroom was so small, Hikari and Kensuke waited in the doorway while Toji stood with Asuka next to his bed. As usual, Shinji was staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Asuka, do you know what might have done this to him?" Hikari asked. "Some sort of Angel attack like what happened to you?"

While telling the trio about his condition, Asuka left out the part about Shinji being the trigger for Third Impact, and merely said that something he experienced in the Sea had most likely led to his catatonia.

"So he's in some sort of coma. Damn, Shin-man," Toji whispered. "You just can't get a break, huh?"

Kensuke took his glasses off and wiped them on his shirt. "Mental trauma. I don't think there's a machine in the world that can do anything for that."

A sudden grumble from Asuka's stomach reminded her that she hadn't had breakfast yet. Hikari quietly offered to cook, and the redhead decided to let the class representative work her usual magic in hopes of improving the mood. Kensuke was dragged along to assist, and Asuka heard her friend asking Misato for permission to use their kitchen to prepare a meal.

As soon as they left the room, Toji folded his arms and turned to Asuka.

"You're not telling us everything, are you?"

She had forgotten that Shinji's friends were not as dumb as they looked. Asuka knelt down besides Shinji's bed and gave a small nod.

"It's not because you wouldn't understand, stooge. Something terrible happened that caused Third Impact, and Shinji was involved. It has to remain secret for now. Not just for NERV's reputation, but... for our safety too."

"I see. I'll accept that for now, but you're going to tell me the truth as soon as you can."

Asuka nodded again and Toji quietly stepped out of the room, pausing just outside the door to look back at the bed. Asuka was still staring at Shinji with what could only be concern.

"So the Red Devil has a heart after all," he remarked. "Too bad you didn't grow one sooner."

The glare that was suddenly levelled his way would have stopped an Angel in its tracks.

"Look, stooge. How about you keep your nose out of my business?" she hissed, keeping her voice low so it wouldn't carry down the hallway. "And I saw that look you gave my best friend. If I ever find out that you hurt her, you'll have to get your other arm and leg replaced as well."

To her surprise, Toji actually smiled at the threat. "Funny you should mention that. Take a look." He rolled up his shirt sleeve to reveal a normal human arm. "When I came out of the sea my prosthetics were gone. I'm a whole man again!"

"Lucky you. I came back with my arm and eye bandaged and still sore from my final battle. No scars though..." Asuka absently rubbed her arm. It had recently begun to twinge again. It was no longer painful, but it was enough to remind her of what had happened to it every time.

"Huh. Let's see Kensuke explain that."

The two of them walked back to the kitchen, where Hikari was already cooking up a storm with what she could put together out of their supplies.

 

[ToothMaker]

Good chapter overall, but I think the trio should be a bit concerned about their families. I don't remember Kensuke and Hikari's situations in canon, but Toji should definitely be more worried about his sister and where/when she might turn up - or crawl out as the case may be.

 

[gS49]

Good chapter overall, but I think the trio should be a bit concerned about their families. I don't remember Kensuke and Hikari's situations in canon, but Toji should definitely be more worried about his sister and where/when she might turn up - or crawl out as the case may be.

Click to shrink...

Remember, though, they were presumably in contact with their families while still betanged, so they would know that the folks are all right and whether to expect them to detang themselves any time soon.

Also, Maya and the other bridge crew should have families as well and be similarly concerned or not concerned.

Perhaps the returns are being managed. Was it coincidence that one of the first group other than the key players was an ex-cop--someone who could take control? Possibly the other early returnees are people who have vital skills? If so, providing the key players with the support of their friends and penguins could be justified as enhancing effectiveness by improving morale as well as freeing the key people from mundane chores.

 

[MisterHalt]

Good chapter overall, but I think the trio should be a bit concerned about their families.

Click to shrink...

That's actually partially why I had to start a new chapter. The topic of their families will be coming up in the next snippet, as well as that question I mentioned.

I just hope that I did the the subject of that question properly...

 

[Strypgia]

How would you figure out the current date, if you've lost track of a huge chunk of time?

Click to shrink...

Phases of the moon. They're known way in advance, so you can check phase of the moon against the sun's height to tell what the date and time of year is.

 

[MisterHalt]

Phases of the moon. They're known way in advance, so you can check phase of the moon against the sun's height to tell what the date and time of year is.

Click to shrink...

It occurred to me while I was messing with my phone that without power, some electronic devices would still be able to keep time with their... BIOS battery? And surely NERV's computers would have that sort of thing.

 

[Stargrave]

"Mental trauma. I don't think there's a machine in the world that can do anything for that."

Click to shrink...

"Are you even a real doctor?"

This isn't really important as far as the story goes so don't worry about it, but it is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. There's plenty you can do to help with mental trauma and catatonia, first and foremost being medication. The whole idea that this is a mental or psychological issue as opposed to a physical one is kind of missing the point. Shinji's state should be clearly reflected in abnormal brain chemistry and activity that any half decent scanner could pick up on. Then you'd have a number of options for regulating said activity and chemistry with sedatives, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics or in the extreme cases, shock therapy. This of course isn't a replacement to psychiatric therapy, but it is a very important tool in treating mentally ill people. Basically this is the sort of shit you'd call Dr. House in for.

Now obviously all of these (drugs, psychiatrists, House) are in very short supply in the current situation so it is true that they can't help him beyond care and Teutonic cuddling, but saying that the machines can't find anything wrong and subsequently that there's nothing hat can be done for him is kind of annoying. It's also further proof that Ritsuko shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a stethoscope.

Anyway, I just caught up with the past few weeks and that was the only thing that really popped out to me. Nice going.

 

[MisterHalt]

It's also further proof that Ritsuko shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a stethoscope.

Click to shrink...

She's pretty much only considered a medical doctor so that she can give Rei unnecessary drugs.

Anyway, I just caught up with the past few weeks and that was the only thing that really popped out to me. Nice going.

Click to shrink...

If I actually knew anything about medical... stuff, that whole scene would have been a lot better.

 

[Dirtnap]

T-T-Triple post.

 

[MisterHalt]

T-T-Triple post.

Click to shrink...

Inconveniently timed loss of internet.

 

[Quadhelix]

It's also further proof that Ritsuko shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a stethoscope.

Click to shrink...

She's pretty much only considered a medical doctor so that she can give Rei unnecessary drugs.

Click to shrink...

Again, the name "Dr. Malpractice" comes to mind.

 

[ToothMaker]

It occurred to me while I was messing with my phone that without power, some electronic devices would still be able to keep time with their... BIOS battery? And surely NERV's computers would have that sort of thing.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, NERV should have several redundant backup power supplies, and I would consider it extremely likely that they have their own atomic clock.

 

[Jake]

It occurred to me while I was messing with my phone that without power, some electronic devices would still be able to keep time with their... BIOS battery? And surely NERV's computers would have that sort of thing.

Click to shrink...

CMOS battery, to be precise, but yes. All servers and desktop PCs and very nearly all laptops except a very few extremely cheap ones have one. Tablets or smartphones I'm not sure about, but even after a week it'd be easy to find one with enough battery power left to turn on.

 

[MisterHalt]

SV's posting thing didn't seem to like the italics in this snippet much. Had to do a lot of fiddling around with copy/pasting single sections just to avoid having most of the text italicised.

******

Chapter 12.2

"Hey..." Asuka said as she sat down at the table. "Before you came back, who did you all see?"

The blank expressions on their faces was not what Asuka expected. Even Hikari stopped and stared quizzically at her. "I mean, I saw my mother, and Misato saw Kaji. They both told us that we should leave the Sea. What about you guys?"

The trio looked at each other for a moment, before giving up and shrugging.

"I don't think we saw anyone, Asuka," replied Kensuke. "I'm drawing a blank on anything that happened before I found myself swimming in red water. Wait..." He smacked his forehead a couple times, as if attempting to dislodge the memory, before sighing in defeat. "No, nothing. But I feel like there's something just at the edge, like when you have a word on the tip of your tongue."

Hikari and Toji reported the same thing. No clear memory, but a feeling of something just out of reach. Even Pen-pen looked stumped when asked, giving a reasonable impression of a shrug with his flippers.

Misato heard their conversation and walked in. "Mm, that smells good Hikari. Anyway, I think I know someone who could shed some light on your problem. Good thing I swiped this before I left." She pulled out what looked like a cell phone. "Direct link to NERV. With phone lines down on the surface I needed some way of calling them in an emergency." A number was dialled that was too short for a normal phone number.

It took almost no time for someone to answer. "It's Misato, is Akagi there? Put her on please. Akagi... Yes I'm calling you... No, I said I didn't want you to contact me for a week... Look, I'm putting Asuka on the line. She has a question I think you know the answer to, and it sounds important."

Asuka shot an angry look at Misato, who simply passed her the phone and walked into the lounge room.

"Well?" came the impatient voice of Ritsuko from the phone. "What's your question?"

Asuka grit her teeth at the thought of having to speak with the scientist again so soon. "Doctor, this might sound strange, but do you recall anything from before you came out of the sea?"

There was a long pause. It went on so long that Asuka checked the phone's screen to make sure Ritsuko hadn't hung up.

"No, Asuka," came the eventual reply. "I thought I had something, but I can't quite remember."

"What about the lieutenants? Some friends from school just recently returned, and none of them can recall anything from Instrumentality either."

Another pause, presumably so that the scientist could ask her co-workers.

"It appears that we're all in the same boat, except for you and Misato. Intriguing."

Asuka was about to hang up, when suddenly loud laughter erupted out of the phone. Misato walked back into the kitchen with an empty cup and heard it. She grabbed the phone from Asuka.

"Akagi, what's so damn funny?"

"Hahaha- Ahem. Sorry, Misato. I just thought of something."

Misato grimaced. "And that is?" she growled.

"The Old Men must have screwed up! Remember their ultimate goal? About combining humanity into one perfect being? How hard would that be when nobody is actually aware of what's going on?"

"Wait, what? I don't think I'm following."

"If my theory's correct, nobody besides you and Asuka will have any memory of your time Instrumentality. Humanity was supposed to share their minds with everyone else, but you two only met one person each. I find it hard to believe that absolutely nobody else would able to remember anything, when we were supposed to be linked to all of humanity. Perhaps human minds are simply incapable of perceiving Instrumentality."

Misato froze as the teenagers stared at her. "Are you saying that everything they had done for the last who knows how many years has most likely been a complete and utter waste?!" she slowly asked.

"Exactly! It's all so fucking hysterical! Billions of dollars and human lives wasted on achieving absolutely nothing! I hope SEELE returns just so I can laugh in their face before we execute them for crimes against humanity! Hahahaha! Oh god, excuse me please, I need to go lie down..."

Misato sighed heavily and shoved the phone back in her pocket before slumping at the table.

"I'll explain some other time, kids," she muttered upon seeing their expressions. When breakfast was served, she slowly ate in silence while around her, friends quietly caught each other up on what had happened. Afterwards, while Asuka was clearing the dishes, Misato had a question for the trio.

"Do you know if any of your parents have come back yet?" she asked thoughtfully.

All three of them stiffened in shock, but Kensuke was the first to say what they had apparently all just thought.

"Oh shit!"

Hikari was quick to recover and reprimand him. "Aida! Language! But yes, we did... kind of... forget about them in the excitement of knowing you were back," she said, looking embarrassed. "They returned at the same time as us, and when we realised that our homes would have been destroyed, Kensuke led us to an Angel shelter where some other people had already taken refuge."

The day before, the children had asked their parents for permission to go looking for their friends. While the adults had been nervous at first, the fact that they were travelling together, and already knew where to go put them at ease enough to let them leave. Hikari's role as class representative was also a big help in convincing them that she could keep the two boys out of trouble. Toji's sister had begged to join them, but their father had to put his foot down and keep her back.

After they had left Pen-pen at the apartment, they saw how late it was and took an apartment on the floor below to wait for morning. They had actually heard the members of the Katsuragi household returning last night, but upon hearing the stomping in the stairwell Toji held them back, claiming that it would be better to wait until morning.

"Well, kids I could drive you back to the shelter if you like." Misato volunteered. "I can explain to them why you were, ah... late shall we say. Heck, why not bring your families to stay in this building for a while?"

An exuberant look crossed Kensuke's face. "Wow! You would do that for us, Miss Katsuragi? But wait, what about Section 2 once NERV's back on its feet? Won't they have a problem with civilians this close to you?"

"As far as I know, I'm the highest ranking officer at NERV now, which means I'm in charge. If somebody doesn't like it, bad luck."

That solved any other problems Kensuke might have had. Misato took the kids to the shelter where their parents were staying, and spoke to them for a while. The prospect of a better temporary home, with the supposed new commanding officer of NERV as a neighbour, was too good for any of them to pass up.

"We'll walk," Toji's father said when asked about getting to the apartment. "Our children already know the way, and a bit of exercise never hurt anyone. It will also give us a chance to pick up any supplies we'll need."

Misato agreed, and returned home alone. She and Asuka then went about setting up several apartments on the floor below for the families, removing any Section 2 equipment at Asuka's insistence. Kensuke would likely have tried to hoard it according to the redhead, and so any sensitive material was moved to the seventh floor.

That night, after everyone had arrived and settled in, Hikari took over the kitchen once more, producing a dinner that more than satisfied all ten of them, and left aside a serving for Shinji. When Sakura asked about the boy who had saved her life during the Third Angel's attack, Asuka had to lie and say that he was very tired and would be asleep for a long time.

Sakura merely smiled and said, "Okay, I'll say hi to Shinji tomorrow!"

Misato and Asuka suddenly wished that the next day was much further away.

 

[Dirtnap]

Afterwards, while Asuka was clearing the dishes

Click to shrink...

Suspension of Disbelief shattered like Ramiel's core

Good snippet otherwise. I think I spotted a misspelling but damned if I can find it right now.

 

[MisterHalt]

Good snippet otherwise. I think I spotted a misspelling but damned if I can find it right now.

Click to shrink...

Just remember, I'm Australian so things like "color" are spelt with an 'ou' and a lot of 'z's are replaced with an 's'. There is some strangeness between OpenOffice's US and AU dictionaries though, such as 'afterwards' not being a word according to the US dictionary.

 

[Dirtnap]

Just remember, I'm Australian so things like "color" are spelt with an 'ou' and a lot of 'z's are replaced with an 's'. There is some strangeness between OpenOffice's US and AU dictionaries though, such as 'afterwards' not being a word according to the US dictionary.

Click to shrink...

Nah it was a legit typo not one of the silly Aussie spellings. But I can't find it now.

 

[MisterHalt]

Considering the fact that Tokyo-3 was the only place that was actually physically damaged by Third Impact, how long do you think it would take for the world to recover enough to get back to 'normal'? Right now I'm thinking about three to four months. Perhaps two thirds of the population will return during that span, but over time the flow of returnees will likely slow down as the amount of people still in Instrumentality that are less 'stubborn' decreases.

******

Chapter 12.3

Sakura wasted no time coming over the next morning. Hikari accompanied her to the Katsuragi apartment while the boys and their fathers went out to see if they could help with relief efforts. There was even a tiny smudge of toothpaste on the young girl's face, a clear indicator of her haste which Misato took a moment to wipe off when she saw it. Hikari was now with Asuka in her room while Misato took Sakura to see Shinji.

"So. You and the jock-stooge, huh?"

The class representative's face turned a very interesting shade of red at that sudden question from Asuka. Hikari started babbling for a moment, trying to claim that nothing was happening as her blush only intensified. When she saw that Asuka wasn't fooled, she let out a sigh and dropped her head.

"What gave it away?"

Asuka flopped backwards onto her bed, the springs squeaking at the sudden impact. "Yesterday. You two were making eyes at each other across the table. Just be glad I'm the only one who noticed"

"Please... please don't tell anyone, Asuka," pleaded Hikari. "We're not ready to reveal it yet."

Waving an arm in the vague direction of her friend, Asuka replied, "Wasn't going to anyway. I'm just wondering how the hell it happened."

After extracting a promise from Asuka, Hikari told her. While there had been... something between her and Toji last year at school, the evacuation of Tokyo-3 during the last days of the Angel War was mostly to blame.

"I felt so out of place when we arrived in Tokyo-2. Because of the suddenness, there was no school for us to attend. I was starting to feel useless, but Toji was there to cheer me up. We ended up talking to each other a lot with all the free time we had, mostly about our families. But every now and then, I'd catch him looking at his prosthetic arm with this look of utter disgust on his face. Did you know that he was forced to leave the basketball team here because somebody complained that his prosthetics gave him an unfair advantage?"

While Asuka didn't exactly like Toji, she at least respected him. After all, his only stipulation for becoming an Eva pilot was that NERV heal his sister. "Weren't they calibrated to not exceed what he would have been capable of as a normal person?" she asked.

Hikari shook her head. "Toji tried to tell them that, but nobody believed him. Of course, then the evacuation happened and it didn't matter any more, but he told me how that decision made him feel horrible. One day when we were in the park he just started angrily yelling, something about how he was less than human, and I did the only thing I could think of." Hikari's blush started to return to her face.

Asuka sat up on her bed and stared wide-eyed at the brunette. "You didn't... kiss him, did you?"

Hikari's cheeks suddenly turned the same colour as Asuka's hair. "N-no! I... I just... um..." She mumbled something inaudible.

The redhead leaned forward and cupped a hand behind her ear. "I'm sorry, what was that Hikari?"

If anything, the mumble was even quieter this time.

"You need to speak up, I can't hear you." Asuka knew what she was going to say, but she wanted to hear Hikari say it herself. She couldn't help it, she was having fun gently teasing the girl, and after everything that had happened it felt nice to be talking about something normal.

The heat from Hikari's cheeks almost reached across the room as she finally burst out, "I held his hand! He was about to punch a tree, so I grabbed it to stop him!"

In fact, once she had stopped Toji, Hikari had cupped the prosthetic hand in both of hers. To the look of surprise on the jock's face, Hikari told him that she didn't care that he had a fake arm and leg, he was still perfectly normal to her.

"Do you really mean that, Hikari?" Toji had asked. Hikari simply repeated herself, and Toji's face had relaxed into a smile. She hadn't done anything to stop him when Toji raised the prosthesis and stroked her cheek for a moment. But that moment had quickly passed, and he had pulled his arm away as his cheeks reddened to match Hikari's.

"When I woke up on the beach after Third Impact, I saw Toji hovering over me, looking so worried. He'd apparently found me unconscious next to him in the ocean, so he carried me all the way to shore. While we were resting, we held hands again. After that, we've hardly ever really been apart until today."

Asuka listened intently as her friend told the story. She let out a soft whistle. "Well, while I can't say I approve of your taste, I'm happy that you found someone, Hikari." She got off the bed and walked over to her friend, enveloping her in a hug.

"Thank you, Asuka."

"At least you didn't fall for the other stooge," Asuka snarkily added. "I definitely wouldn't have allowed that to continue."

"Asuka!"

Despite herself, Hikari began chuckling along with Asuka.

**

Across the hall, the mood was a lot more sombre.

"He looks sad."

Misato glanced sidelong at the girl standing next to her by Shinji's bed. "Why do you think he's sad?" she finally asked.

Sakura leaned over the bed. "It's his eyes. They're sad eyes." She stepped back and looked up at Misato. "Why is he sad? Heroes shouldn't be sad."

"A hero..." The tone of the girl's voice wrenched at Misato's heart. Here was a girl who had been saved by the boy on the bed. Sure, she had still been injured in the attack, but if Shinji and Unit-01 had not intervened, Sakura and Toji would have certainly died. Her brother's tales of the boy's exploits had turned her admiration into hero-worship. Misato knelt down next to her.

"Shinji was hurt badly, but it's not something you can see," the major said. "During Third Impact, something terrible happened to him. He's almost in a coma now, and there's nothing we can do to help him, for now."

"Was it an Angel?" Sakura asked inquisitively. "Did Shinji get cursed by one of those horrible things?"

"I, um, what? Cursed?"

The girl grew excited as a thought apparently occurred to her. "Yeah, a curse! Like Sleeping Beauty! Maybe a kiss will wake him up!"

Before Misato could even begin to protest, Sakura had climbed up onto the bed. By the time she rose to her feet, the girl was already gently kissing Shinji on the lips. Later, Misato would quietly admit that for a split second, she had hoped that it would work.

Unfortunately, it didn't.

Sakura got off the bed and stared at Shinji, waiting for a reaction. With each minute that passed, the young girl's face fell more and more. Her lower lip began to tremble as it became too much for her, and tears slowly started crawling down her face.

Seeing this, Misato reacted quickly and pulled the girl into a hug as her own eyes threatened to tear up at the sight. The boy Sakura thought of as her hero had just let her down, through no fault of his own.

"It's alright dear," said Misato, trying to calm the girl down. "Thank you for trying though, I'm glad that you're as worried about him as we are. If there's anything at all that will give us even a slight chance of healing him, we'll try it. We won't give up on him. He doesn't deserve it."

Sakura sniffled as she tried to burrow into Misato's shoulder. "Y-you mean it? You won't stop trying?"

Misato smiled warmly at the top of Sakura's head. "Of course not."

"Okay. Um..." Sakura paused. "Can we stay like this a little longer? I haven't been hugged like this since my mum died."

The smile turned brittle, but thankfully the girl couldn't see the change in Misato's face.

'If I ever find out that Akagi had a hand in the death of all these kids' mothers...' she thought. Out loud, she said, "Sure, let's sit here and keep an eye on Shinji for a bit."

When lunchtime came around, Misato would have refused to admit to anyone that she was disappointed when the girl hopped off her lap. While Sakura was not as happy as she had been that morning when she arrived, she was more content than Hikari expected the girl to be after learning about Shinji.

Outside, the world continued to slowly rebuild itself. It would take a long time to recover, but humanity was nothing if not resilient.

 

[Strypgia]

'If I ever find out that Akagi had a hand in the death of all these kids' mothers...' she thought. Out loud, she said, "Sure, let's sit here and keep an eye on Shinji for a bit."

Click to shrink...

Yeeeah.... about that, Rits... You've got a lot of accessory sins to answer for...

 

[GeshronTyler]

All those feels...

There would probably be some infrastructure issues, since power grids, oil/gas/water/etc. pipelines, power plants, chemical plants, etc. are mostly not designed to run without monitoring. Some of these things can be damn tricky and time consuming to deal with- if, say, a power plant suddenly loses its load through some kind of massive ground fault, the generators could destroy themselves. Or, there might be issues with the boilers... there are bound to be safety systems, but those still leave things a mess.

 

[ToothMaker]

Considering the fact that Tokyo-3 was the only place that was actually physically damaged by Third Impact, how long do you think it would take for the world to recover enough to get back to 'normal'? Right now I'm thinking about three to four months. Perhaps two thirds of the population will return during that span, but over time the flow of returnees will likely slow down as the amount of people still in Instrumentality that are less 'stubborn' decreases.

Click to shrink...

One factor is where they will be returning to. If everyone who wants to return does so near where they were tanged the disruption, while bad, should be recoverable from within a few years. But if everyone is crawling out of the sea around the giant naked Rei it could be quite a while as traveling 'home' will be difficult.

 

[Stargrave]

By far the biggest problem I think is that the global economy, or indeed any economy, is going to go tits up with such a colossal percentage of its workforce (Over a third) taken out over the long months. Supply chains are broken and cannot be reestablished because the people who did it aren't there anymore. They're going to have to start building them up from scratch, which would probably take years to return to some semblance of normality and probably decades to get it running smoothly again.

 

[gS49]

By far the biggest problem I think is that the global economy, or indeed any economy, is going to go tits up with such a colossal percentage of its workforce (Over a third) taken out over the long months. Supply chains are broken and cannot be reestablished because the people who did it aren't there anymore. They're going to have to start building them up from scratch, which would probably take years to return to some semblance of normality and probably decades to get it running smoothly again.

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To some extent, it would depend on how well business and government records have survived; and that becomes a function of time. It doesn't seem like it was long before people started returning--gas mains were still working, for instance, meaning little corrosion--so most records should be intact. That will help returnees organize and re-establish commercial and bureaucratic connections even if it has to be done by different individuals.

The biggest problem will be the communications network. If you want to order something, you have to contact the supplier. If telecommunications or postal service are not operational, every locality becomes pretty isolated. Given the short time, the telecom infrastructure should have little damage and be revivable once electricity is restored (which could be a big problem). Postal sevices might take longer to establish, as could transport networks.

It also depends on the distribution of skills among the returnees. If the skill sets of the reduced population are sorted in the same proportions as before, restablishment would be a relatively simple, if tedious, matter of regrouping workers. If not, the problems could range from insignificant to disastrous--imagine the problems for Japan if there's no-one who can sail a freighter.

Last thought: It may be that those on the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder are less likely to return because they have less to return to. Alas, hardened criminals will see opportunities to profit as before, and they won't be reporting back to prison.

Has anyone seen the series Life After People? Fascinating.

 

[MisterHalt]

One thing to remember is that this is a 2016 that came after a horrific cataclysm that killed off half of the world's population. Things like the internet and miniaturisation of electronics wouldn't be nearly as widespread, instead putting more effort towards ruggedness and lastability.

One factor is where they will be returning to.

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That will be addressed in the next chapter. Everyone will come back as close as possible to where they feel their 'home' is.

The biggest problem will be the communications network.

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Given the short time, the telecom infrastructure should have little damage and be revivable once electricity is restored (which could be a big problem).

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Essential systems in other cities would pretty much be fine, barring any accidents due to sudden loss of workers. Tokyo-3's power was mostly reliant on the Geofront's systems. The lift-off severed those connections, but it shouldn't be too difficult to fix them. Once the power is restored to the city, then Tokyo-3 would be able to easily contact the outside world again.

Has anyone seen the series Life After People? Fascinating.

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I saw what I thought was the only episode of it. Very interesting to see how long some things last without maintenance, compared to others.

 

[ToothMaker]

I saw what I thought was the only episode of it. Very interesting to see how long some things last without maintenance, compared to others.

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It was a two-hour special first, that was popular enough to get a 12(?) episode series.