grandparents in the corner where the living room table for eating dinner stood. Now it had a huge entertainment center, fancy decorated wood with many glass doors and cabinets and a huge TV and sound system. “This is going to be *sweet*,” Hedda said, leaning over the couch from behind. “Is it her father said eagerly, coming out of the back. He leaned on the couch as well. “I’m not good at moving things,” Shinji told Kensuke. “Yes, but Touji had basketball practice,” Kensuke said. Winter was upon them and with it, Kevin, Lars and Touji were all knee-deep in basketball season. Kensuke ran the center through its paces. “Okay, I went in, tinkered with a few things, ran some custom wiring and now I’ve attuned the clicker to it.” He now ran Hedda and her dad through the whole process, then passed over the controller; Hedda soon had it rigged to record her shows. She then gave Kensuke a kiss. “Payment rendered as promised.” He grinned. Oh yeah, the ladies dig me, he thought. “Here,” Hedda’s father said, holding out a wad of bills. “I appreciate it.”
“I was trying to avoid provoking him!” Olga protested. Heilwig was extremely dubious of this, knowing Olga too well. They put their jackets on; it was very cold by this time of year now. And they got snow a lot, though the ground was currently clear. “How’s things with your family?” Olga asked Heilwig as they trudged through the cold. “Anna’s still cranky, Dad’s still cranky with her and worried about me.” Heilwig sighed. “Kensuke keeps hitting on me.” “Kensuke hits on everyone,” Olga said, shaking her head. “Everyone in our class who isn’t either some kind of perv or thinks they’re God’s gift to women is taken.” Heilwig looked thoughtful. “Hmm, I wouldn’t say Conrad is either of though he may just be careful about perving. But he only cares about gambling and gossiping.” “He’s a great card player,” Olga said. “Remember Asuka’s birthday party?” “Yes, you two stomped everyone until Rei and Hikari teamed up to stop you,” Heilwig said enviously. “Ernie tried but
dirt on him. This could be applied as leverage if he caused trouble in the future. His tracking eventually led him to get some prime footage of Alaric and his buddies smoking pot in an alley. Score, Kensuke thought. Ideally, the man had learned his lesson, but just in case, Kensuke now had some insurance. And now it was time to slip away and go do homework. **************** Misato frowned. “He tried to steal your lunch money? Seriously?” “Yeah,” Shinji said. He still ached. “Did you turn him in?” Misato said, frowning. They were at home; Kameko was cooking. “I said to but everyone was afraid Lars would get in trouble,” Kameko shouted. Misato frowned. She’d never had to fight someone in school. And really, petty thuggery. “I should tell Asuka.” “Better not,” Shinji said. “The coach is getting jumpy about fights his players have gotten in.” He forced himself to not touch his bruise.
“I should probably give you some self-defense lessons,” Misato said to him. “Just in case you have more trouble.” “Me too,” Kameko shouted, though she already had too much on her plate. “Thanks,” Shinji said. I have to be stronger since I can’t just run away from fights or Kameko will get hurt. He preferred avoiding violence but that was harder now. Though he hoped there wouldn’t be any more fights. “Anything interesting happen at work?” Kameko shouted from the kitchen. “Still no pilots lined up,” Misato said, frowning, wondering what the hell PALANTIR was doing. **************** Master Fang frowned, tapping his cheek. He and US Ambassador Dr. William Russet were having lunch and discussing their work. They were in a meeting room at Dr. Russet’s office in New York. Dr. Russet had auburn hair, a moustache and beard and glasses and was middle-aged, wearing a nice suit; he was middling in height. Master Fang was much taller and stouter, clean shaven with short black hair. They both had grey eyes. “So it definitely should be the Ikari boy,” Master Fang said, then poked at his food. Dr. Russet loved New England Boiled
Ken had been kind of obsessed with that when not busy hitting on As if on cue, his phone rang; it was a text from Kensuke. ‘Going with Evelyn to the Christmas Dance. Get a date!’ “Holy shit, she said yes,” Touji said, staring. Not that Evelyn normally hated on Kensuke, but Ken’s hit to miss ration seemed pretty bad to Touji. Hikari frowned. “Who said yes to what?” “Ken’s gonna take Evelyn to the Christmas dance,” Touji said as they got moving again. “You have a date yet?” she asked nervously. “Dunno if I’m going. Not much of a dancer.” “I have to go as I am running it,” Hikari said. They jogged a bit more and Touji had the feeling he was missing something. But surely she’d point it out. Hikari was straightforward and he appreciated that, as he didn’t pick up on subtle well. She seemed kind of unhappy but wouldn’t say why the rest of the way, though. *******************
Her head spun and then she said, “Okay,” surprising herself. But she couldn’t back out now, though she wasn’t sure if this was wise. But if Touji was thinking of asking Gretchen… No reason to stay home alone. And she and Touji weren’t an item, though she kind of liked him. But she also liked Kevin but it was a different kind of like. They were both athletes and yet not the same. Which was not fair to athletes. They’re not just all clones or anything. She decided to stop thinking too much. “Lars is going to take Rei assuming that she doesn’t have to go kill things.” He frowned. “Those two need to admit they’re dating.” “Well, spending time with a boy doesn’t have to mean dating,” Hikari said hesitantly. “He asked Dr. Akagi about piloting Unit-02 and how it’s going to be chosen. Even though I know he doesn’t like fighting and he’s not really a fighter,” Kevin said, frowning, tapping his pencil on his homework. “He can fight, though,” Hikari said, then frowned. “I heard he had a fight with someone who beat up Shinji.” She wasn’t sure of the exact story. “And won.”
“It’s okay,” she said to him. “I didn’t want one. Anyway, I’m going to do a little work, then go to bed.” “I can give you some money for a nice dress,” Hikaru said. “I’ll leave it for you in the morning.” She smiled. “Thanks, Father,” leaving him and Fritz still bickering over parental policies. ************ “Come on, ask her before her friends show up,” Kensuke said to Touji the next morning as they all waited for class to star. “She won’t bite,” Conrad told Touji. “Too late, one of her friends is here,” said and Touji jumped. “Why are you staring at Gretchen? Gonna ask her to the dance?” she said insinuatingly. “I think he’s going to stand here until he dies of old age,” Kensuke said. “It’s not hard,” said to Touji. “Like this. Hey, Conrad, want to go to the dance with me?” “Like that,” Conrad said, then froze up. “Is that a yes?” Hedda asked, looking far calmer than Touji. “I… wait, you’re serious?” Conrad squeaked.
Hedda said, “Yes.” “But I…” Kensuke elbowed him. “Sure,” Conrad said weakly. Hedda now pulled him aside to talk details but first said to Touji, “Go for it.” I think Hikari was hoping he’d ask her, Conrad thought, worrying. stumbled over to Gretchen, who was busy frantically doing math for some reason. They didn’t have math until after lunch, so Touji wasn’t sure why she was doing it just before Classics. “Hey, umm, Gretchen, what’s the math for?” “It’s our homework,” she said, sounding embarrassed. “I… umm… our cat threw up on my homework.” Touji made a face. “Don’t like cats, I prefer dogs.” “I like our cat but he’s sick,” Gretchen said. She looked at Touji’s neck for a few seconds. He blinked. “Something wrong?”
“That doesn’t mean they *do* go somewhere else either,” Ritsuko said, frowning. “They may operate on a different model.” “Like being eternal and going elsewhere,” Maya said. “We know empirically that at least one other universe exists, the realm we touch in dreams. Even if we don’t actually understand it. And we have solid if unproven theories on a scientific basis that others exist.” “Even if other universes do exist, it doesn’t necessarily mean souls are eternal. Given souls can split off pieces, as happens with the birth of new life, it’s possible souls could degrade over time and eventually cease to exist,” Ritsuko said, pressing on determinedly. “Possible, but unproven.” “So is the possibility they are eternal. It seems unlikely when everything else passes in time,” Ritsuko said. “It isn’t disproven, but I find it implausible.” Maya sighed. “Let’s not fight, sempai. Neither of us can be sure.” Ritsuko was sure enough, in the absence of empirical proof otherwise, but they had work to do, so she said, “We should get back to work, then.” “Is there any progress on the artificial pilot project?” Maya asked.
Olga looked embarrassed. “And she’s so tall she intimidates a lot of boys,” Heilwig continued. Jeff and Berthold were both actually taller than Olga, however. “Tall?” Berthold said. “Oh, wait, for a woman, you are tall.” “Enough,” Olga mumbled to Heilwig. “Sorry,” Heilwig said. “Anyway, your father will be thrilled,” she said to Olga. “My father will probably challenge Jeff to a fight twenty stories up.” “Twenty stories up?” Jeff confused. “Father works construction. So up on the frame of one of the new buildings,” Heilwig said. “If I wasn’t guaranteed to die, that be kind of awesome,” Jeff said, imagining a kung-fu fight with someone up there. “I’d have to get Berthold to protect me with his sword.” “Foil,” Berthold said. “It’s a fencing foil.” “You do fencing?” Olga said excitedly. “Do you?” Berthold asked. “I’m not as good as I could be if I had more time but it’s my one sport I’m good at.”
“I would love to try. I am trained in staff fighting some,” Olga said excitedly. “But knife fighting is my real melee skill. Father is the head of the city’s defenses.” Jeff said, “How persuadable is your father? I’m pretty slick when I try.” Berthold laughed. “Shut up,” Jeff said to Berthold, sticking his tongue out at him. “He’s kind of stubborn, but since he doesn’t know you exist yet, he won’t hate you yet,” Olga said. “He’ll probably impose a lot of rules but I don’t think he’ll say no. He said you could date when you were fourteen, there’s just a lot of limits, right?” “The dance is chaperoned,” Berthold said. “So he doesn’t have to worry, as there’s no way you could get pregnant at a dance. And Jeff doesn’t try to get sex on a first date, though I guess your father doesn’t know that,” he said thoughtfully. Heilwig’s eyes crossed at the word ‘sex’ and she looked more nervous. “And no alcohol,” Berthold continued. “So no danger of getting drunk and doing foolish things.” “Half Anna’s problem was getting drunk and then she’d want to sleep with everything in sight,” Heilwig said darkly.
“If he can’t trust you to go to a school-chaperoned dance, I don’t think he’d ever say yes,” Jeff said. Heilwig licked her lips. It wouldn’t hurt to ask. ************ “The good news is that you get to play at the The committee is thrilled,” Hikari said to Shinji before class the next day. “And the bad news?” he asked. There was always bad. “I need to buy a nice dress, but they all cost so much and I keep looking at them and can’t do it,” she said, embarrassed. This was a problem beyond Shinji’s ability to help. ************ “Sure, you can go to the with him,” Hans Berg said to his daughter. He must be a saint for her to say yes, he thought. He’d been kind of worried about her but now he felt better. Olga smiled brightly. “Thanks, Dad. Now we just have to make sure Herr Gruber freak out over this.” She was busy cooking dinner while he leaned on the doorframe to the living room.
“Lars, I envy your tux,” Jeff said to him as they read the menus. “Thanks. Mom me to some formal events and she insisted on getting one even though it’s stupidly expensive and I probably won’t fit it in a year or two.” Lars shook his head. “Dad paid for half.” “He should visit more often,” Rei said, frowning. “We’ll live longer if he and Mom stay in different countries,” Lars said, frowning. Jeff looked at everyone. “Am I the only person with two living, still married parents?” “Yes,” Rei said. “Man,” he said, sounding a little downcast. “There is no shame in it,” Rei said briskly. “I never knew my parents.” She sagged a little as she studied the menu. “But one day, we will meet again.” Berthold touched his he always touched his necklace when reminded of his father. “I hope so.” “I know it,” Rei said so firmly that no one could challenge it. “What happened to your parents?” Jeff asked Rei curiously.
“Don’t take anything they say seriously,” Berthold said, burying his face in his hand for a moment. “They’d hardly be here with Jeff and I if they were dating each other. And it wouldn’t matter if they were.” “They’d be better dates for your girlfriends than you guys,” Jeff said. He was grinning. “Not helping, Jeff!” Berthold said, frowning at him. Kensuke imagined Olga kissing Manfred’s date, a tall, leggy redhead and now he stumbled at the very idea. Evelyn caught him. “You okay?” she asked. Do not describe what I am thinking, Kensuke thought. EVER EVER EVER SO HOT NO SHUT UP “Fine,” he squeaked out. “Manfred, come over here and stop wasting my time,” the tall, redhead now said. “I didn’t come here to watch you and your friends be macho!” “Some boyfriend you have, running away and abandoning you,” one of the guys sneered at Hikari. “I sent him,” Hikari said. “And we’re just friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend.” I think, she thought. She glanced over at Touji, but he had his eyes shut and was concentrating on something. “Oh, so he like you enough to commit,” the guy said.
Hikari reached for her pad and… she didn’t have it. She didn’t any forms to the dance, not expecting trouble. Now she felt embarrassed and several of the guys laughed at her. She turned red and one of them said, “Kiss my ass, Horaki. You can’t do jack without the teachers and you being such a lapdog for them is disgusting.” “I help keep this school running smoothly!” she said angrily. Touji wobbled, the urge to punch these fools out was almost impossible to resist. “You shut your mouth! Hikari works hard even if fuckwits like you all don’t appreciate it!” Kameko said something but it was in Japanese, so none of Alaric’s group and half of hers didn’t understand it. “And your dad is one big drunk, anyway,” another said. Hikari felt like she’d been impaled. “Father is not a drunk!” He partied too much, he was kind of low class and she had hoped no one at her school knew anything about him but he wasn’t that low. Heilwig buried her face in her hands for a few seconds, then angrily said, “Like you’ve never been drunk, Sebastian. You and your friends drink like FISH.” “And your father is an old drunkard too,” Sebastian sneered at her. He pushed back his black hair, which really needed to either be trimmed or shaped properly.
“Father is going to kill me but I don’t care, I kicked ass,” Ingrid said proudly. Hikari was not so sure her pride was justified, though she’d done better than most of her friends. She and Touji high-fived, though. Then he turned to Gretchen. “You okay?” “I didn’t want tonight to end like this,” she mumbled. “It won’t,” Commander Ikari said, with some gorgeous guy in his twenties they didn’t know, and Herr Jager. “Shinji, I need you.” Shinji was leaning on Kameko, but he jumped. “Take your band and perform. You must everyone’s spirits and mend fences,” Commander Ikari said sternly. “Sommer, Ito, you must perform as well.” “In front of an audience?” Kameko squeaked. “We’re not *his* band,” said. “And I have to…” “We will see to it, Frau Langley,” Herr said to her. “Thank you for doing your duty to the school, but I agree with Commander Ikari. I will take your place in handling this. I should have been here, anyway.” He sounded guilty. “You, umm, need me for anything else?” the handsome young adult said. “Grandpa?”
Touji now tried a complex move; she intuited how it should go so they perfectly slid away to where only a single finger linked them, then moved in back close. She gave a little gasp. It was so easy with him. She wasn’t used to having someone around she could… could move with. And he fought so well. This reminded her of detention, which seemed likely in her future, because Ingrid couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She’d back Ingrid to the end. But she knew Ingrid had a bigger mouth than hers and hers was pretty big. But in the end, you stand by your friends, and they stand by you, right? *************** “I have to go,” Gendo said to Shinji when his group finished playing. “But you played well. You can be proud of your skills.” Shinji smiled brightly. “Thank you.” He had so much else he wanted to ask but he didn’t even know how to say it. His mind whirled as he struggled for words. “Continue to practice. Your skills will be needed,” Gendo said. “I will need them.” “I’ll do my best,” Shinji said urgently. “I just… I want…”
“They’re just shy,” Maya said. “I know how that is.” She sighed. “I am not sure,” Ritsuko said. “Rei has delusional ideas about true love and how there is one single special person for her and how she’ll love that one person and only that person.” She sighed. “I believe in love, but I can’t say that,” Maya said, glancing over at Ritsuko, who was still watching the TV with her eyes if not her full attention. The TV now switched to showing how pencils were made. “I know too much about biochemistry to believe in love like some people do,” Ritsuko said, then sighed. you ever been in love?” Maya asked nervously. “Yes,” Ritsuko said. “I just know too much. And have seen too much love die.” She sighed. “I still feel things but I’m keenly aware of what causes them and how they go wrong.” “I’m sorry,” Maya said. “It happens to everyone as you get it’s just more acute for me because I have seen behind the curtain,” Ritsuko said. She yawned. “We should go to bed. I’ll make you one,” she said. “I… stay here?” Maya said, turning red.
“So if you saw a guy naked, it wouldn’t turn you on?” Lars asked her curiously. “I am the master of my body, not its servant,” Rei said firmly. Lars sighed. “I wished it was that easy for me. It’s…” He hesitated. “You don’t have to speak if it makes you uncomfortable,” Rei said, putting her hand on his. “But you know I will tell no one what you tell me in confidence.” “My body screams at me all the time and it’s sometimes hard not to do what it wants. Which sucks,” Lars said, grimacing. “I can do a lot of things I used not to not be strong enough for or tall enough but it’s like my body is insane, sometimes, forever wanting things I can’t have.” She could feel his frustration as she sometimes did for no clear reason and now she understood. “You can do it,” she said firmly. “You can master your body. Our blood is in you. I hear it,” she said softly. “It sings to me. Sometimes my body tries to tempt me too. But I am the master. And so can you be.” She twined her fingers with his. “Your soul is strong.” “It would be better if we didn’t have to fight our instincts,” he mumbled. “I don’t want to end up like Dad, but it isn’t easy.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll keep you updated,” the officer said, signing out. “So Rei goes in and will be on standby in Unit-01 in case something flaming comes out?” Fuyutsuki said. “We don’t know how Erebor fell, though it looked like they sealed themselves in,” Gendo said. “However, it’s also possible they suffered the fate of Moria. Best to take no chances.” “Do we wait for 02 to be ready?” Fuyutsuki said. “We get the pilot announcement today, in theory. Let’s see who it is,” Gendo said. ************** Dr. Akagi stood in the room where her mother had died and shivered slightly at the memory of the dream she’d had of this room, half a year ago, due to that dream predator. She observed Unit-02. It was ready. “And we have a list of potential pilots, right?” Maya said, studying it excitedly; the armor techs were busy putting on its armor. “Yes,” Dr. Akagi said. “Commander Ikari is studying the list. I expect once the mountain is settled, a pilot will be chosen and then we’ll start training him or her.”
“Rei, I am entrusting you with a special task tonight. You must sleep with this and tell me what you dream of tomorrow, early in the morning.” He held out a ring to her. “Yes, sir,” Rei said, taking the ring; it evoked the moon in gold and diamond. “For Unit-02?” “Yes,” he said. “It is linked to Este,” she said softly and Gendo frowned deeply. She continued, “Lars, look.” Lars got an unfocused look. “Both worlds,” he said softly. Gendo turned to study Lars. “You can tell?” “Rei has trained me but she’s much better,” he said, patting her shoulder. Gendo got a curious look. “Really.” “Is that bad?” Lars said, frowning. Rei looked worried. “What do you dream of?” Gendo asked softly. “A white ship sails to the west and at its prow is a man with a star on his brow. He seeks the help to save his people,” Lars said softly. “But he fears he will be punished. But his need cannot be denied.”
who had to give ground for she was small and Lintaleuca was huge. And then fire roared over them, making a mockery of shows of bravery. Lintaleuca might have finished them off but now someone shot her with a rocket launcher and she turned to slay them, enabling the others to return and evacuate the injured. All was and death. ************** “Class IV,” Maya said in horror. “Wait, IV?” Makoto said, stunned. “We’ve never encountered higher than Class V; the rest are just based on old records, right?” “We’re going to need Unit-02 in order to be sure,” Fuyutsuki said. “And to pray Rei survives this.” “Aoba, Contact NATO, have them unleash all the hell they can on it. We need time,” Misato said. “Connect me to Commander Ikari. We’re going to have to try to find people who can pilot Unit-00 and Unit-02.” “Can someone even pilot 00 without Rei’s ring?” Makoto said. Throwing untrained children into battle, Shigeru thought and his stomach churned.