2010-05-01 - XII: Leliel - Part Two

Another day in Tokyo. Just like yesterday, it seems to be yet another perfect day of blue skies and pleasantly warm weather. Today is the day of the Founder's day festival, a big celebration on the day the school was founded. For this reason, school was relatively lax today, filled with easy to follow lessons and understanding that everyone was waiting for tonight.

After school, the doors burst open to let students get to their stations to set up for tonight. Yesterday the class most people were in decided to set up an American themed resturaunt after someone said they cooked the best pizza ever. Despite the fact that Healing Care pointed out that Pizza was Italian, the idea stuck and that seems to be what people are prepairing for.

Ms. Katsuragi sits at her desk, sipping a bottle of water that smelled mysteriously not like water. She seems pleased with every sip, waving her hand around to direct people whenever it was convient for her.

Meanwhile, the three stooges (Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke) attempt to carry a large pizza oven up the stairs. Despite Shinji's usually confidence, he just hasn't been the same since last night. As the trio pushes the large equipment up the stairs to the second floor, Shinji stares off with red eyes, trying to concentrait despite the radio static in his ears. What the hell was that?

LAST NIGHT

Shinji sighes as he listens to his father explain to him why his behavior was inappropiate. Why Shinji couldn't continue to worry his father and mother with his reckless behavior. Shinji watches his father with his red eyes, shaking his head. He's heard this before...He's heard this all before. It didn't matter largely because he had to be who he was. Who else was going to protect Rei from sleezebags like Leo Stenbuck. Who else would Asuka even notice? Not some nice, soft spoken loser. Shinji groans at the tirade until one phrase leaves his father's lips.

"Look Shinji, your mom and I will always love you." Gendo says as if he's always said it.

Shinji's head shoots up and just stares at his father, color draining from his already pale face. "You what....?"

"Love you, Shinji...Your mom and I always love you."

Shinji stares with widening eyes, his head beginning to throb as something just doesn't feel right. "ARGH!" Shinji's eyes water as he grasps the side of his head.

"Shinji?"

Saying nothing else, Shinji gets up and leaves the living room, stumbling up to his room and slamming his room's door shut.

NOW

Shinji shoves the Pizza oven further up the stairs, feeling sort of not entirely with himself. He felt as if he wasn't all there. As if he could see the back of his head. As if he wasn't exactly who he thought he was.

There's something really wrong with her.

First was the weird buzzing in her ears yesterday at lunch. She could faintly hear a voice cutting in and out, she was sure of it. But when she asked Hikari and Healing Care if they had heard anything, Hikari said she hadn't, and Healing Care just looked at her as if she were crazy.

Which judging by what she just saw, she probably was.

"Asuka, are you all right? You're spacing out."

Asuka turned from her work station, where she was rolling out the dough. At her side is her best friend, Hikari, her eyes filled with concern.

"Oh, it's nothing," she says. "I don't know why we got stuck rolling out the dough. This job's really so boring!" Handing out pizzas or topping them would be far more interesting.

It's probably just stress, Asuka decides. As if she'd ever actually be the pilot of a giant robot. She didn't even like those things, anyway!

THAT MORNING

Johnny Domino is sleeping. His alarm clock is, as usual, ticking the time alone and neglected.

Rays of light stream through the uneven cracks in the blinds of Domino's window. They're old blinds, made of wood. Johnny likes them. He thinks they give his room an air of authenticity, whatever the hell that means. Not like anyone is going to find it hard to believe this room belongs to a male teenager - the disarray pervading the premises is proof enough of that.

Clothes are strewn about the floor, posters litter the walls in a haphazard manner, and in the corner is a pile of knick-knacks, books and random trinkets, presumably sitting atop a desk. Archeologists are still debating whether the rumors of this elusive desk are actually true; no one has seen any evidence to support its existence in ages.

Eleanor, Domino's black cat, saunters into the boy's room. She elegantly maneuvers through the minefield that is Domino's floor before reaching his bed. The cat looks up, head tilted, then hops up next to the sleeping boy. Elly's tail flicks to and fro as she awaits a reaction, but Domino remains unresponsive to this intrusion. Another tilt to the head as the feline seems to contemplate something of dire importance... and then--

"NYAN!BlutchCorp"

The cat unsheathes her claws and leaps right on top of Domino's back, kneading at his flesh.

"GNK!!" Domino is awake in an instant, rising to his hands and knees, spine arcing in pain. Such is their usual morning ritual. Why Eleanor is always so bent on getting her owner to wake up is anyone's guess.

NOW

Johnny Domino is sitting in class, helping Leila make a large sign for their booth. It was going to have a giant pizza glued to it, so everyone will know - HERE BE PIZZA!

Struggling to cut a pepperoni circle out of cardboard, Domino moves his crafting knife very... very... very... very.... carefully, lips puckered in concentration. He's been working at it for the past thirty minutes. Finally, the red cardboard circle is freed from its confines, and Johnny raises it in front of his face like a diamond. "Leila," he calls triumphantly. "I finished!"

Leila looks up from writing the name of the booth in big bold letters on a placard. Her calligraphy is beautiful. "That's great, Donny!" Her pet name for Domino. She smiles, looking at the large 'pepperoni' in his grasp. "How many have you got?"

Johnny is very proud: "One!"

LAST NIGHT

Latooni Balanga got in late. Late enough that she spent ten minutes being scolded by Giado followed by an additional ten minutes being congratulated by Garnet.

Sometimes Latooni doesn't understand her parents.

THIS MORNING

Latooni didn't sleep. Not really. Sleeping only a very little bit is not terribly unusual for her, though normally she gets at least /some/, but she was too keyed up to sleep properly. Instead she spent a lot of the time on her computer, poking through digitized pictures and sorting them properly. A lot of the more recent ones had Leo in them, but she went back quite a ways further.

She left the screen on one recent one of her, smiling, with her brother Arado and her (much) older sister Ouka, out near a beach. Even Arado's girlfriend Seolla is there. Latooni spent about half an hour just looking at it. She doesn't know why. She remembers getting the picture taken; it wasn't that important, they hadn't done anything particularly wild and crazy that day.

So why does she keep wanting to stare at it as if she was memorizing it?

NOW

Lack of sleep still has not caught up with Latooni. She is apparently quite awake and has snuck away from her actual task (which involves throwing dough; she actually mastered tossing it up to make round discs) to 'go to the bathroom'/call someone on her cell.

"What?" Latooni says. "You're breaking up. I think you need to get a new phone if you're going to be in Oceania all the time." Pause. "Yes, really, Cagalli, I know when - what? No! Why would I want a cat? Look, I have to go, the're going to need me back. It was good to talk, I know we don't get to often."

Shoving her phone back in her pocket, Latooni walks back toward the 'restaurant', possibly to actually do her job.

SOME TIME AGO

Gendo Ikari sent his daughter out on errands so he could have a chat with Shinji. She's sensitive; he didn't want to hurt her, even accidentally, by having her overhear -- and she's so nosy that he knew she'd be listening. She was given a list and sent to the supermarket.

It's dark out. The supermarket is open late. Rei is wearing her white and grey windbreaker to protect her from the elements; it has '00' printed across the chest. Her bike is blue. To keep her from being killed while she rides on the roads, it's been outfitted with orange reflector panels that grow in the light. The spotlight on the front of the bike is red. Rei always thought that was funny, but there you go.

Rei has the shopping liste crumpled in her hand. She half-unfolds it as she rides, glancing at it under the street lights. She can see glimpses of what's on it for a split-second after she passes under each one. Peas, carrots, potatoes, Ramiel, Israfel, Sandalphon, Matarael--

Rei's eyes widen and before she can examine it more closely than that, a horn blares and Rei realizes that headlights are coming up on her fast. With a shriek, she skids on her bike, crashing it into one of the barricades at the side of the road and toppling off, landing in a pile, scraping and skinning and bumping various spots. Rei twitches as she gets up, looking for the list -- it's not in her hand anymore. Where did it go?

The car pulls over, and starts idling, lights still on. The door opens and shuts with a whump. A form advances. Rei looks over, shivering, suddenly very cold despite her windbreaker as Mr. Gable, the school groundskeeper, appears before her. "Whoa there, girlie -- that was almost pretty bad," he says, his voice sounding like broken glass in Rei's ears. "Ta think, I promised Leo I'd take care'a--"

Rei suddenly screams and runs away. Even hobbled by her crash -- her arm hurts so much, why does it hurt so much -- she outpaces him, running off into side streets and back lanes and alleys until she's out of breath. Her arm won't really move. Rei wonders if she broke it. Slumping against the wall of the alley, Rei dry heaves. What's going on?

"A-Ayanami--?" a woozy voice sounds.

Rei looks over. Sitting on the floor of the alley, her arms dotted with tiny scabs visible because of the stained, ratty short-sleeve shirt she has on, Louise Halevy sits. Her eyes are vacant. Rei doesn't even need to see the syringe or the spoon to figure it out. The kid dropped out and there were rumors, but--

"H-Hey, Ayanami," Louise rasps. "Where's Leo? I haven't seen him in a couple days..."

Rei makes an agonized face like that one scene in 'Blue Velvet' (she is Laura Dern) and /runs/ and doesn't remember anything else.

THIS MORNING

Rei Ayanami doesn't really remember waking up. She was, indeed, all scraped up -- and her arm was in a cast. Bandages wrap around her head, covering one eye. Rei doesn't remember how they got on her, but they don't feel -- /wrong/, so --

After dressing and all that, Rei is in the kitchen, about to head out the door. "Hey, Dad?" she asks, sheepishly. "I-- can we talk?"

Gendo Ikari doesn't lower his newpaper. He grunts.

"Like, face to face..."

Gendo Ikari doesn't lower his newspaper. He grunts.

"Dad?"

Gendo Ikari doesn't lower his newspaper. He grunts.

"Dad, what's wrong, are you--?"

Gendo Ikari doesn't lower his newspaper. He grunts. Suddenly Rei lunges forward and tries to pull down the newspaper and see his face but--

NOW

Rei doesn't remember arriving at school. She just kind of snaps to attention at her desk. She looks down at her cast; it already has some friendly scribbles and get-well-soons on it. One eye still bandaged and covered, she looks around with a sort of wary intensity, as if overcome by the jitters. "Huh...?"

EARLIER

"Papa!" Noriko Takaya calls as she digs through her dressers. The walls are covered in posters - J-rock superstars the Gun Fangs, a Space Battleship Yamato poster beside her bed, her prized Sailor Moon collection sitting on one shelf, all to its own. There's a half-completed model for something called Gunbuster that her parents got her for her birthday, sitting on her desk awaiting some quality time; on the top of her packed bookshelf, a blue Revoltech Evangelion is posed about to drive its progressive knife deep into the heart of a Revoltech Vic Viper. Those series are pretty old, though...they'll probably get replaced soon in the eternal Battle of Noriko's Book Shelf. Oh well. Back to the topic at hand: "Have you seen my headband!?"

"Huh?" Yuzo Takaya says, popping his head up the stairs far enough to yell. "What headband?"

"My blue one! I wear it everywhere!" Noriko yells back down, as panties go flying across the room. No bras, though, which would surprise all of about four people. "It was my promise!"

"Your...promise?"

"Yeah! So I'd never forget."

"Forget...what, Noriko?"

... Noriko blinks, dumbly ...... ....."uhhh," she stammers, eyes catching her own in the mirror. ... "...I guess I forgot," she mutters, scratching at the back of her head. "Jeeze, now it's gonna bug me all day..." And then a glance up at the clock, and she gives her own mutterings the lie by squawking, "OH GOD MASTER'S GONNA BEAT ME STUPID"

RIGHT NOW

Noriko is not entirely sure why they didn't make her and Ryouma cart the oven around, but it's kind of funny watching those three do what they can. Jung's out running errands for Miss Katsuragi, which Noriko's pretty sure involve the fake ID Noriko gave up on scolding her about like six months ago. Noriko herself is currently busy carrying desks from the classroom to storage two at a time - one in each hand. She walks in from her latest trip with one hand fingering her the edges of her shoulder length red-brown hair, muttering, "Why would I forget something like that...?" But she glances over at Rei, blinking. "Hey, Rei!" She, of course, signed the cast the nanosecond she saw it. With a bunch of hearts. And Sailor Moon. "You OK? You look a little spooked." Grin!

"Asuka, look over there."

Asuka turns to where Hikari's pointing. Johnny Domino and Leila are together, working on pepperonis. Healing and Hikari are the only two people in school Asuka's explicitly told she likes Johnny, and Hikari was the far more supportive of the two.

Hikari gazes out at them with a frown. The two of them looked like lovebirds. At this rate, her best friend is going to get hurt. "If you're going to tell him, you should probably tell him soon."

"Tell him?!" Asuka's head snaps around to face her friend; her face is flushed with embarassment, her eyebrows knotted with anger. "You mean--tell him THAT?! You can't be serious!"

"If you don't tell him, he's going to end up going out with her," Hikari says. If he isn't already, she thinks.

"But I--" Asuka sighs, then opens her mouth to speak again. Hikari's the one to cut her off.

"I'll take care of the pizzas," she says, trying to give Asuka her most encouraging smile. "You take care of Johnny."

Asuka hesitates, then turns back towards the two of them. Hikari was right; if she didn't make her move soon...

"I'll do it," she says, hands balling into fists at her side. "I'll tell him."

And spinning on heel, heads back towards the two lovebirds. She stops suddenly in front of Johnny. "Is there any way we could talk?" She glances at Leila. "/Alone/?"

Rei has apparently been too dazed to realize that the desks are being moved -- something she picks up on when she realizes that all of the desks to her right and behind her are no longer there. "I-- what?" she asks Noriko, her eyes blinking rapidly -- well, eye.

"No, I mean, yes, I mean--" Rei reaches up with her good hand and rubs her face. "I think I just... got thumped on the head worse than I thought..." Must be, Rei thinks, because she doesn't even really remember what happened. There was Mr. Gable, and something about Leo, and that junkie dropout with the dead family, and something -- about Leo...

Rei stands up, grabbing her bookbag and slinging it over her shoulder. She tenses -- tender from whatever happened. "I should probably go to Nurse Ribbons," she mumbles, before saying, "Hey, Noriko, do you remember that time when -- uh, you found me in that hallway, and... I-- when was that?" Rei frowns, inarticulate as ever when she doesn't really know what she's going on about. "I think we were in bathing suits, maybe it was at the beach... but... the beach doesn't have a hallway..."

Rei's retard ramblings are cut short when she suddenly spots Asuka heading toward for Johnny Domino and--

Oh god.

Rei's eye widens and her breath catches in her throat.

Her brain is just this amazing neon sign reading 'YOU /BITCH/.'

LAST NIGHT

Leo Stenbuck sits on the enormous bed in his room at the Ray estate, staring at the wall; he has long since parted ways with Latooni, and now has nothing to busy himself with. Pretending to sleep has lost its novelty. He would love to simply skip the night, but things are strained enough already, and he simply can't afford to risk it.

How could it be this difficult? They are simple. Ephemeral. And yet they want so much. They are driven to consume, to /have./ It wouldn't be so complicated, if only so many of them did not want the same things, all to themselves.

Is it any wonder they war among themselves so?

Leo drops his eyes to his lap, where his hands sit; he flexes his fingers silently, and scowls. Perhaps there's no hope for them. Perhaps he shouldn't have sent T-Bone - a small smile spreads across Leo's face, when he thinks the name - away, after all.

But perhaps not. He can clean up his own mess. Leo tilts his head to the side, and his smile broadens. If he must... well, at least there are nine of them.

An eye for an eye. How appropriate.

SOME TIME AGO

Leo hustles out of the front door of the Ray residence and down to the driveway; he tosses his bag in the back, vaults over the door into the driver's seat, and takes off. As he's pulling out of the front gate of the property, a man is loading garbage bins onto the weird lift arm thing of a garbage truck. "Morning!" Leo calls with a wave, a moment before he pulls out onto the main street.

"Morning," the man replies with a similar wave as Leo speeds off. The nametag on his Sanitation Department uniform reads 'AMOS, J.'

NOW

A lot of people are 'out of it' at school today, but Leo Stenbuck certainly isn't one of them. He's as chipper as ever, and practically radiates positive energy. The effect is muted a little bit at the moment, though, because he's stopped in the middle of his task of 'mixing pizza sauce' to stare at Rei and look concerned.

Johnny Domino puts his single pepperoni on top of Leila's head, earning him finger-flick to the forehead. Johnny laughs, watching the girl's fake indignance melt away as she removes the circle from her head and sticks it behind her ear instead, having it hold her long green hair in place.

"Much better," she says.

"Wear it for tonight," offers Johnny. "You'll look great!"

"It's for the logo, dummy."

Domino snickers a moment longer before setting about crafting his second pepperoni. Before he can begin, Asuka is there. The boy looks at Shikinami with some curiosity etched on his face.

"Hmm? Leila and I are busy--"

Domino glances at where Leila was working on the logo. She isn't there. She is standing at the other side of the class, next to Rei Ayanami. Johnny Domino, instead of finding this absolutely weird and asking himself how Leila managed to get past him and walk up to Rei without him noticing, accepts this at face value.

"Well, okay, I got a minute." Where will Asuka lead him?

As for Leila, she is indeed standing next to Rei.

"Hey," says the girl. "You don't look so good, Rei. Here, I brought you your favorite." Leila holds up a can of LCL (it's a cola brand, Lime Cola Lite). When did Leila find the time to go out, get the drink, and come back to hand it to Ayanami?

After some struggling, Shinji and company manage to get the pizza oven into the class room. He blue haired punk groans, looking over to Rei. He frowns and starts over to her. "Yo, sis...I..You feeling ok?" Shinji stares at his sister with a half smile. For some reason, Rei was about the only person in the room Shinji felt comfortable with. It was strange since he'd usually march over to just about anyone and do what he liked...Yet for some reason, his sister just felt like the only friend he could count on now. "You...uh...need me to go out and show that Gable guy what for...I mean I could do it." Shinji is kinda at a loss that he didn't just do it. Why did all of this feel so far away now. Shinji looks over to one of the windows and catches his reflection. He stiffens, wondering who was staring back at him. "Ayanami...."

Noriko looks really concerned, now. She knew her friend was /hurt/ but this is...pretty bad. Then again, it's not that bad compared to how she used to---

...wait, no, Rei's always been pretty...

She shakes her head out, muttering, "Uh, sorry, I'm kinda spacing today. Swimsuits?" she scratches at the back of her head, fingering the ends of the hair by her ears, thoughtfully. "You mean like our PE uniform? I think I kinda remember... hallway, wasn't that...right after you and Leo broke up?" She scratches the back of her head. "But..." And her head tilts to the side, one eye squinting shut the way she does when she's thinking a little harder than is technically safe for her. "But wait, that went pretty smoothly...so why do I remember you crying?" Her eyes narrow, a little. "Sorry, Rei, my memory's all messed up today. I can't even remember where I put my headband..."

Blink, as Rei's attention seems to have wandered, and Noriko turns around to see what she's looking at. The brunette's eyes widen and she gasps, "No way...she wouldn't!"

With the hallways bustling with activity from the other classes preparing for the night's festivities, there's no way she can have a Private Conversation with Johnny there; she climbs up the stairwell leading to the roof, never once checking behind her shoulder to make sure her long-haired classmate follows.

Asuka nervous? Well, maybe.

It's a windy day outside; the hair whips Asuka's hair this way and that. For a second, she stands in the middle of the roof, trying to draw forth the courage to say something.

And then, once that second has passed, she moves again, bringing a hand to her hair to brush a few stray strands away from her face. She lowers her arms to her side, her hands once again drawing themselves into tight fists.

Then suddenly, she snaps around to face him. "I LIKE YOU!!" It's a shout--not one of the soft, trembling confession she's overheard on school grounds before. Asuka actually sounds pretty angry--and she is. Angry at herself for being so embarassed over something so stupid! Any guy would be lucky to have a girl like her! Even HIM!

Noriko's eyes widen like dinner plates and she stammers, "Sh...she would!?"

LAST NIGHT

"Why do I..." Ayato murmurs to himself after looking up from his latest sketch. He doesn't know where it came from, who it is, what it means--he just--felt compelled to grab a pencil and start scratching away and it's only now that he's been able to look up from it.

An older woman - one with short, black hair, given the shading - half in a military uniform and half in gym shorts - is winking up at him while in the process of doing a toe touch; there's a symbol on the sleeve of her jacket, but can't for the life of him figure out how exactly it should be shaped so it's kind of a rough mass of lines in a circle with a curvature beneath it where letters can go once they'ev been worked out.

"God, I don't even--"

"Ayato!" his mother shouts from not so far away. "Ayato, it's just about time for dinner! Now, I cut my finger, but don't worry: nothing got in the salad--all taken care of." Maya pops her head into view, braces herself against the bedroom door and smiles warmly. She sticks her right hand out, turns it back and forth for him to inspect, and having hastily shut his sketchbook he is rushing to meet her and have a look; there's a strip of gauze around her middle finger with a spot of blue blood spreading slowly across its surface.

"Yeowch," he breathes as he turns her hand delicately in both of his. "You--" He spots the spot of blue blood, squints at it slowly; he can already feel his mouth drying out, and worse still the blue stain seems to be growing exponentially now that he's observing it.

"M--mom?" he whispers; when he looks up at her she's... confused and concerned by his seeming fright. "Y--" he looks down at her hand again... only to see a tiny red stain, barely more than a nick beneath the gauze.

"Ayato? Ayato--you /ate/, didn't you?" she murmurs, checking him over as if she can somehow confirm or deny this through maternal sight alone.

"Y--yeah, I just--ah, nothing. What'd--what'd you make, anyway?"

"Your favorite," she says with a beaming smile. "Fried Mu Fish and RahXed Potatoes."

"Wh--"

And then his head is full of horrible buzzing and he isn't quite sure /what/ he's hearing anymore.

NOW

Ayato, who has gotten basically no sleep is sort of going through the motions of pizza creation. He's spent more time jerking himself awake than actually getting anything done, and in his rush to try and look productive he grabs a squirt bottle full of partly prepped pizza sauce and springs from his desk to cart it to one of the other stations so that it can be, well, finished.

He barely takes a step before, well, accidentally squeezing too hard and sending a stream of tomato sauce flying in a thin red ribbon across the classroom.

Until it terminates all over Rei Ayanami's face.

It's zesty as hell.

Latooni Subota has, by the time she gets back to the classroom, hidden her phone away so that it cannot be confiscated. Not that she actually expects it to be, but you never know when one of the teachers is going to go insane or something.

"Hi, Leo," Latooni says, before walking right past him. "I'll be back in a while, okay? I never got to talk to Noriko about the archery club thing." She heads over toward Noriko and Rei just in time to watch Ayato spray one of them right in the face with zesty tomato sauce.

/Double/ zesty.

"Um," Latooni says, having not gotten further than that mentally. She turns around and rummages in her backpack, still sitting on her desk, in case she has something in there suitable for, say, face-wiping.

A couple things happen.

1. Rei is as confused by Noriko as Noriko is confused by Rei. While Noriko makes her 'thinking reaching critical think mass' face, Rei just kind of stares at her, her usually very open and overemotive face flattening, like a song going out of tune. "I don't... I guess I cry a lot," Rei mumbles.

2. Asuka leads Johnny Domino off, possibly so that she can first mate with him and then devour his head. Rei sputters like she's just been given an electric shock.

3. Leila offers her a cola. Rei knows she knows Leila, but -- can't place her, like she was some kind of long-lost relative who she hasn't seen since-- "Thanks," Rei says, forcing a weak smile, cracking the tab of the can of LCL. She's always wondered how they managed to make lime cola orange.

4. "I LIKE YOU!" rings out across all of Tokyo-03. Rei, about to take a sip of soda, spills it all over her shirt when her wrist just kind of abruptly tilts down.

5. At this exact same moment, Rei gets /zested right in the face/. "Splubth--!" she spits as she topples over, falling onto her ass -- not that the perpetually uncoordinated Rei Ikari falling onto her ass is really a rarity. The sauce has seeped into her white bandages, staining dark red spatters into them, that look like--

6. Rei groans from the floor. "I wish I'd never been born," she says, weakly, likely out of shame.

But then, after she says that, Rei suddenly goes silent, and doesn't quite get up.

Also, her skirt is totally askew in a really bad way.

"Oh, God," Ayato exhales as he hurries to make sure rei hasn't been killed or something--that /stain/, it's kind of distinctive and he's just far enough out of it that he's willing to believe Rei hitting the back of her head on the ground could result in her popping an eye or something.

"Are you /okay/?" He asks this after he's stopped beside her and started to try and help with her skirt a little, but now that he's not running, he's just kind of staring at Asuka.

So what was supposed to be a surrepitous gesture involving nudging Rei's skirt into place with his toe has turned into him just kind of kicking her lightly in the thigh over and over again as he fumbles.

Johnny Domino followed Asuka up to the roof, wondering just what the girl may want to do with him. Asuka Shikinami was not one known to beat around the bush or socialize with a great many people outside of her circle. Well, sure, she /interacted/ with people outside of her circle, but not /socialized/.

Standing in the wind, ponytail swaying, Domino waits. When Asuka turns around and yells her confession, Domino's eyes widen. The wind stops blowing.

Back in the classroom, Leila is gone. She was there just a moment ago, looking on in horror as Rei fell victim to a decidedly /un/happy series of unfortunate events. The green-haired girl was ready to rush to Ayanami's side and lend her a hand, but then--

Something, elsewhere... on the roof.

Leila is standing behind Domino, looking at Asuka over his shoulder. How did she get there? There's a very grainy memory of the girl opening the door leading to the roof and walking up to Domino and Shikinami. And yet...

The wind starts blowing again. Did it ever stop?

"Hey, dummy Donny," says Leila, putting a hand on Johnny's shoulder. "Don't go off disappearing like that on your girlfriend." Leila's eyes flick to Asuka once as she says this.

Johnny Domino turns to Leila with a smile. The shock that was previously written on his face is gone. It's as if he didn't even hear Asuka's confession. "Sorry, sorry," he replies sheepishly. "Asuka just wanted to talk to me for a moment. We're finished now."

Shinji stands over Rei, looking uncomfortable even for the most intimidating guy in school. Every moment that passes, Shinji's strength seems to sap out of his expression. He just doesn't know what is going on anymore. When he hears Asuka's voice scream "I like you!" Shinji's expression finally drops as he falls to his knees. "WHY THE HELL DOES ALL OF THIS SUCK SO BAD TOO?!" Shinji shrieks, looking more like a wuss than the strongest guy in school. He almost shrinks in his mind, feeling less of how he did just a day ago. Why did it always have to be like this? ...Wait, when was it like this? When was it ever like this?

Shinji's eyes look around....Damnit, people are staring at him. What the hell is going on?

Noriko's distraction and horror at Asuka is matched only when Rei takes like seven and a half tumbles, and the Top (because she's the best athlete at school, see) suddenly turns, eyes wide, gasping, "Sh--Rei!" with a look like real worry. She dashes over, but Ayato gets there first because Noriko is a little spacey today. Noriko has the courtesy to not even shoulder check Ayato out of the way while Noriko tries to cradle her off the ground. "Hey, hey," she says, with a sad little grin. "Hey, don't say something like that. You'd make me sad. I wouldn't know what to do without you to keep an eye on."

Blink. And then Shinji has a psychotic break or something, so that's cool. "...and your brother," she adds, because what do you even /do/ with that?

Ryouma is in the woods. He is staring at the sky. The trees are blocking everything. He wants to THE SURROUNDINGS HAVE MELTED INTO MAGMA FROM HIGH TEMPERATURES knock them all down so he can see the clouds more clearly.

He doesn't know why. School is in session. His dad said something about that. Ryouma is standing outside his dojo. He throws open the screen door.

"Kill all of them and save yourself. That is the most ethical thing to do."

Ryouma vomits blood and Saotome stares and Ryouma is staring at the sky.

"Poor Noriko," Ryouma says. A tree cracks near the base and begins to EVEN IF WE DIE WE WILL DESTROY GETTER ROBO FOR THE FUTURE fall over and now he can clearly see THE GETTER RAYS ARE EATING OUR WEAPONS all the clouds and TWO THIRDS OF THE FLEET SHIPS WERE DECIMATED BY THE BEAM.

"You should have seen the dream," Ryouma's father says. They are sitting at the table before school. EMPEROR IS COMING EMPEROR IS COMING EMPEROR IS COMING His father is reviewing his homework EMPEROR IS COMING for the day. Ryouma waits eagerly. EMPEROR IS COMING

His father places a sheet of corrected math homework into the sorted pile. Ryouma fidgets. "What dream, dad?"

"A dream of Getter Emperor!"

Ryouma is in school. He does not feel the same. He walks down the hallways and doesn't comprehend what anything is for. A student crashes into him. Ryouma starts punching and he doesn't know why.

Ryouma DIVE IN! DO NOT FEAR IT! IT IS AN INFANT! IT IS INCOMPLETE! disappears. He is in the cafeteria. He looks tired.

As Johnny Domino's attention is drawn to Leila, someone calls out to Asuka.

"Yo." It's one of the school teachers, Kaji Ryoji. "Rumor around school has it that you like someone, Ms. Shikinami. I'm jealous." There's that signature crooked smile on his face as he says this, standing by the edge of the roof with his hands in his pockets.

How did he get there? Does it even matter?

"I'll be here," Leo replies merrily to Latooni... but as soon as she's not looking at him, his expression doesn't match his tone at all. The young man goes back to staring at the huge pot of tomato sauce he is mixing herbs into, stirring it lazily with a wooden spoon.

This is all wrong. He worked so hard - /so hard/ - to build a perfect world for them, and they're already ruining it. It's barely been a day. They are terminally unable to appreciate what they have - they always want more, more, more. They always want to take from others.

Leo suddenly stops stirring, letting the wooden spoon drop completely into the pot; he steps back from the burner and begins removing his apron. "This batch isn't going to work," he declares loudly. "It's spoiled."

He's talking about the sauce. Obviously.

Right?

As if on cue, several students in the classroom - what were their names, again? Suddenly, attempts to recall them, or their faces, fail - stand up and begin leaving the room, all in perfect unison. So that's kind of eerie.

"Bring Asuka back down here," Leo continues, as he neatly folds his apron over his arm and sets it on the counter. He appears to be speaking to... ... no one.

Leila, of course, can hear him fine.

Asuka's eyes widen with disbelief. Was this how he rejected her?! Why would he?! Why would anyone reject HER?!

Her eyes flicker to Leila. "This is your fault!" But before Asuka's screaming can segue into full-out assault, a new man steps into the picture. A handsome, long-haired man with a dire need of a shave.

"Mr. Kaji!" The anger she felt before immediately rolls off of her as she races towards him. "You're wrong! There's no way I could like an idiot like him!"

And suddenly, Asuka can't remember ever liking Johnny to begin with.

"The only guy I have eyes for is YOU!"

Latooni Balanga fidgets in her bag for several long moments. She is unable to find anything to offer Rei to wipe her face with. She /does/ find a copy of that picture she printed out, to... give to Leo, maybe? She can't even remember.

It looks different. She squints at it. Since when was she not smiling in that picture?

Latooni shoves it back away and turns back to Rei. "Sorry, I don't have anything," she says, apologetically. She /still/ wants to talk to Noriko, but she has realized this isn't the best time. Latooni starts to slink away from Rei and Noriko and the whole mess in a decidedly non-Latooni Balanga-like fashion. She's getting a headache. Maybe she should talk to Leo.

She doesn't /want/ to talk to Leo, though. She wants to sit down or something.

"Ow," Rei protests at the fifth or sixth kick from Ayato.

That's also when Noriko is kind of cradling her and suddenly she realizes that everyone in the /entire world/ can see--

"UWAH--!" Rei cries, pretty much rocketing into the air like she was some kind of member of some kind of team that had something to do with rockets. Fixing her skirt hastily, she gets -- tomato sauce all over it, because she touched her face, and -- then Shinji's yelling -- and Rei's covered in LCL -- and Noriko is taking care of her, but Rei isn't sure she wants that, but -- everyone's leaving, why is everyone going away -- Graham Aker on television -- "...take care'a you..." -- Bushido System -- sitting under the tree reading Romance of the Zeon Kingdoms -- has the clock moved at all today? -- waking up in bed in her A-LAWS -- posters -- 'HUG ME' -- Leo --

-- "I'M MAKIN' GOOD ON ONE OF MY GODDAMN PROMISES TODAY" --

-- "No, no, no, Rei, you can't, please, you can't, I need you, I lo--" --

-- "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!" --

Suddenly, Rei looks around, as if she'd never seen the room before, her lips moving but no sound emerging. Sauce runs down her pale features, glopping onto her already-stained vest, and she looks at Latooni talking to her and tries to say something and all that comes out is

"Shinji--?"

Kaji brings up a hand to rub at the back of his neck in a slow, lazy gesture. "Why don't you show me what you and your class are working on? Ms. Katsuragi kept hitting me with her clipboard when I tried asking her."

Then the gruff man acquires a wistful look as he says, "Next time... next time I'm going to be your teacher. You'll always be my favorite." He sends a wink Asuka's way.

Everything was going to be fine, Asuka Shikinami.

Elsewhere on the roof, Johnny Domino has turned to fully face Leila, the two standing very close to one another. Leila is busy adjusting Domino's collar, straightening it for no real reason other than the contact this action offers.

"And what did I tell you?", she asks most seriously.

Johnny sighs. "That I shouldn't slack off just because I'm graduating."

"What else did I say?"

"That I should really start focusing on my future."

"And?"

Domino hesitates, blue eyes darting sideways. "And... that... you're the cutest girl in school?" Hopeful little grin?

Leila closes her eyes with a sigh. She shakes her head before kissing Johnny on the tip of his nose. "You're a little darling, aren't you? A hopeless little darling." Domino smiles. Leila isn't really upset with him. She's never upset with him for long. And she isn't--

"Nyan!~"

Domino blinks. His gaze focuses on something behind Leila. A black cat is standing on the ledge, staring at Johnny with its golden eyes. It's Eleanor. Domino looks at his cat in confusion. What was she doing there? Wasn't Elly at home? She seems so... so... something. Domino tries to figure out what this something is, not hearing what Leila is saying to him. It's as if Eleanor /wants/ something from the boy. But what?

"Johnny?"

The boy is startled. "Huh?" He looks at Leila.

The girl repeats her question: "Shall we go back?"

"Oh!" Domino nods. Eleanor isn't standing on the ledge anymore. Johnny Domino doesn't even think about her as he begins walking away with Leila holding his hand.

Shinji stays on the floor, looking at his hands. "Rei..?" He doesn't look up, feeling very under the weather all of a sudden. "Who am I?" He finally looks up at her with some tears in his eyes. "No matter where I am....I can't be happy...Rei, why?" He stands up looking over at Latooni, blinking for a moment. Finally he moves to Ayato, tapping the boy on the shoulder. "Ayato, lets go to the roof before I lose myself more....I want to get some fresh air."

Without even waiting for Ayato, Shinji begins to exit the classroom, his upper body slouches more with every step.

"Wh--oh, G--"

Ayato doesn't even have time to feel bad, Rei rocketing up and screaming actually sends his hair and clothes flying in a momentarily stiff breeze.

And Shinji is having a nervous breakdown, and--this--he expects it, for some reason, why does he expect it? He sees fitness guru Chibodee Crockett on a can of soup in some cheap Tokyo supermarket, cooking lessons, a hospital visit--has Shinji ever even /been/ in a hospital?

He groans, looking from Shinji to Rei to the rest of the class--everything's chrome-y metal and holographic displays and Tokyo drowning in a sea of acid and Hiroshi Shiba pantsing him in front of Jung and Noriko and some other guy and girls he can't remember--

Is Hiroshi Shiba even /in/ this class? Isn't he off driving race cars or--playing in a bell chorus or something?

Shinji tapping him on the shoulder snaps him out of it, kind of--he begins to tell the other boy to make sure his hospital gown's shut, but once he squints hard enough, he realizes there /is/ no gown, of course; why would there be?

"Uh--uh--s--sorry..." he stammers, looking from Shinji's back to that strange, bleeding blue-haired girl.

He squints at her--didn't Shinji have a picture of her or something? That--no, wait--

"... Rei--sorry, Rei--uh--"

Ayato hustles from the classroom, thoughtlessly mumbling, "I'll be back for training later," with a fleeting glance towards Noriko along the way.

"Of course!" Asuka agrees cheerily. For being a normally disagreeable girl, she sure seems pretty agreeable.

She bounds down the stairs half-skipping, hands clasped behind her back; she spins around occasionally to face him, all the while talking cheerily about the very project she's taking him to see. She exaggerates her role in the pizza's creation, talking as if it were Very Important Work.

With a final flirtatious giggle, she opens the door to the classroom and steps inside.

"I'll make one for you, too, Mr. Kaji!"

Noriko blinks, starts a little when Rei shoots skyward. The confusion, the worry for her friend, gives her enough to focus on that when she looks up she's surprised that there are quite a few people just...gone, and only the sight of someone's skirt passing out the door gives her enough context to chew on to make the leap that they left. For. ...some...reason? ...uh. Noriko puts both hands on Rei's shoulders, wrapped around her back to steady her, ignoring any sauce this happens to pick up, because a true Top cares for her friends regardless of---"True" Top, what does that even--Noriko's the Top, right, she is the Top because Onee-sama graduated, right? But they were in the same--

She says, "Hey, hey, calm down," even though her heart's fluttering because something's /backwards/. "I...Shinji's over there," she says, but Shinji's saying something weird too, and her hair feels all weird because she doesn't have her headband in. She squeezes Rei's shoulders, saying, "Hey, what's the matter? I'm here, everyone's here, everything'll be fine."

Ryouma collapses into the ground and melts through the floor.

The sky is red. You are in a machine. Something is pulsing EMPEROR IS NEAR EMPEROR IS NEAR on you and it feels good. You are in school. You are a high school student in Japan. Getter Emperor is in the sky and WE HAVE ALREADY TRIED CROSSING TIME killed everyone you know. The class bell is about to ring. Everything is okay. That's not real.

When you were born, a machine put you in a Getter. When you were born, your parents loved you. You made them proud by THAT GETTER EMPEROR EXISTS SIGNIFIES THAT WE FAILED getting into NERV Academy. Eat other people to steal their Getter Rays. Eat your friend. They have Getter Rays. You need Getter.

Ryouma pounds on the door to his father's room. The students out in the dojo are becoming restless. They need a IF EMPEROR IS HERE WE ARE ALREADY DEFEATED teacher. The door opens when Ryouma slams his fist into it. Saotome lurches forward. He strains against the cords shoved into his face.

"What are you doing free? I didn't think you could live without the Getter."

Getter-1 plummets through the air. Ryouma wipes blood from his eyes. When you were born you were EMPEROR IS NEAR in a Getter. The Getter Emperor dips briefly through the clouds and your EMPEROR IS NEAR EMPEROR IS NEAR EMPEROR IS NEAR parents melt into magma and seep into cracks in the Earth.

You are in school. Ryouma is in the nurse's office. He fell over earlier and maybe he is dying. It's the current gossip.

"I thought you, of all people, would cooperate," Leo sighs, stepping away from the counter and turning his eyes onto Rei. "I took such special care with you, because of what you are." He doesn't sound angry; just... disappointed.

"Perhaps it's my fault," he admits, as he advances casually towards the door out of the classroom. "There is... a novelty, in your way of life. In a way, it is intoxicating. I became... overinvested, I think, in constructing this world. Too many reminders. The next will have to be more spartan."

When Shinji goes to open the second door of the classroom, it stubbornly refuses to open. This is a little confusing for a moment, until one realizes that the door isn't a door, it's just a wall. Then it becomes /very/ confusing.

Except... wait, wasn't that always a wall? What would ever make someone think it was a door? Ha ha, silly Shinji.

Leo leans out of the way of Ayato as he hustles his way out with an irate sigh. "It's like herding cats," he complains to the air, as the door shuts behind Ayato.

And then it opens again, and Asuka steps inside. "Ah, there you are," Leo says merrily.

And then, perfectly casually, he reaches up and grabs Asuka by the face, his nails digging just slightly into her skin. "I should do Getter, first," he tells her conversationally, as he drags her farther into the room by her face. "But this won't take long."

And when Leo approaches her, Asuka gets defensive, but for all the wrong reasons; she's worried that she's going to get in trouble for leaving her post.

"What were you looking for me for? Hikari said she could finish the finish the pizza crusts by her--"

But Asuka's cut off by a flash of movement; Leo's hand races towards her, and she clenches her eyes shut tight, bracing herself for an impact that never comes.

When she opens her eyes, she finds that he's simply holding her face in his hand.

And then he digs his nails into her skin.

"H-Hey! W-what do you think you're doing?! Let go of me! Let GO!"

But as much as Asuka tugs, she can't seem to get away; even though his nails are barely grazing her skin, he still pulls her with such strength.

"Mr. Kaji!!" she cries out. "MR. KAJI!!"

Help me...

Rei doesn't even listen to Noriko. She steps forward, still stained and dissheveled, gazing at Leo as he speaks to her. Her arms drape at her sides, limp and useless. She moves like a clockwork doll. Her gaze is so pointed and yet so flat. Her mouth refuses to express a single thing.

It's as if the voice of Leo Stenbuck exterminated all rational thought.

Rei doesn't reply. She stares with her one eye. Then she reaches up and unravels the bandages around her head. She's fine. No bruise. No mark. Just some sauce that seeped under.

As Leo seizes Asuka, Rei watches quietly and as dispassionately as a camera lens. She makes no judgment, and seems to feel no panic.

What she does do is turn and look over her shoulder, back at Noriko. "--I didn't want to involve you, Coach," she whispers, speaking in a grey monotone.

Shinji slams into the wall, with a loud thud. "Son of a---!" He stares at the wall and for a second, he remembers that its always been a wall but...Why? He just stares wide eyed at the wall.

And then he hears Leo and just turns his head. "What are you doing to her?!" Shinji stands up slowly, cracking his neck. "Don't hold her like that...Don't---"

The images come flying back. Even if they were imagined, Shinji can see Asuka and Leo together. Their wet skin touching. That noise... Shinji's body shakes with anger as all of it is so clear despite knowing it never happened in this context. Yet, what was the context it happened in?

Shinji glares at the pair of them and roars. "LET HER GO!!!" Shinji charges, pulling up a fist. He remember breaking walls with that fist. Breaking faces in with that fist....Hitting Leo shouldn't be a problem at all. "DON'T HURT ASUKA! I WON'T LET YOU DO IT AGAIN!!!!!"

Ayato bumps against Shinji when the latter suddenly can't make it outside; for just a moment, he sees the ocean through the door's little plexiglass cut-out. The ocean with a jagged cliff jutting from its depths and a beautiful, familiar brunette girl in a yellow dress standing on its edge, looking out over the water.

And then he just sees a wall, because hey, this classroom has /always/ had two doors.

Right?

Right.

Why are the cliff and and the girl etched in chalk on that wall, though, isn't that vandal--no, no, wait, there's nothing there, of course.

"Shinj--"

Wait, 'Getter', what--wait, why is Leo--holding--

Ayato's eyes grow wide; there's a brief flash of red in his irises and without thinking, without feeling anything beyond blistering white anger he screams wordlessly--melodically and hurls himself at Leo; maybe if he tackles him to the ground, he'll release her.

Maybe if hitting Leo wasn't like hitting a goddamn brick wall, he could be tackled.

Ayato slumps down Leo's body and crumples to the ground.

Johnny Domino and Leila reach their classroom.

"Hey," Leila tugs on Domino's arm and both stop in front of the closed door. "Listen, after we finish with the sign," the green-haired girl pauses. Her eyes shifts an inch to the side, avoiding her boyfriend's gaze.

"After we finish I have something very important to tell you. So wait for me, okay?"

Domino quirks an eyebrow. He finds this request almost humorous. "Wait for you? Where would I be going?"

Leila puffs her cheeks. "Mouuuu," she utters in childish annoyance. Any younger and she would've stomped on the floor. "This is serious, dummy Donny!" She sounds so emotional all of a sudden. "Wait for me. Please?"

Johnny's budding smile dies down. "Sure," he says. "You'll always know where to find me."

Leila is satisified with that. Rubbing the back of her hand against one of her eyes, the girl puts on a big smile and nods. "Okay. Let's go." The couple turns to face the classroom door and proceed to walk right through it. Neither moved to slide it open -- they simply phased right through. Johnny Domino finds nothing about this out of the ordinary. Neither does he find anything peculiar about everyone gathered inside the classroom.

In fact... it's as if he doesn't even see them.

Moving to sit at his station, the boy picks up his crafting knife and begins cutting more pepperoni circles. Leila continues writing the 'restaurant's' name on a placard. She says to Leo, once, "Give Getter a... happy memory."

Latooni Subota has a really nifty headache and she isn't sure why. It's the same kind of dull ache she gets when she is studying for an exam and isn't sure she's gotten it right, the sense that her brain is too small for her head and it needs to work even harder.

The headache basically gets horribly worse when Leo starts to say... words. Words that don't make any sense. "You - " she says, sounding totally baffled. "You - what - Leo? Leo, you're not making any sense..."

He sort of is. That's the worst part of it. Latooni's brain, still as analytical as ever, starts to pick pick pick at every little inconsistency she's seen. None of it is concious. Yet. It may not be very long.

Especially after Ayato goes down like a ton of bricks. Latooni screams. She's loud. She also whips her entire bag around like a heavy weight at Leo. It probably doesn't amount to anything, either, but at least she's not knocking /herself/ out.

The world is exploding in her head. The door is -- gone? But it was---but it's--

Her headband. She feels naked without it - like she's betraying them. Who?

Rei is being weird. Noriko's heart is pounding and her head is throbbing. One mistake can get you killed, Coach told her, and she laughed it off, because what's so dangerous about space?

Wait, space?

"Rei?" she stammers, weakly, watching the albino girl move. There's a distant buzzing in her ears, like tinitus, like someone has put a speaker right inside her head and it's just putting a low, constant, drone. And Leo's talking and it's complete nonsense, except he's grabbing Asuka by the face, and Noriko rasps, "What the hell--put her down, Stenbuck, what the hell are you--!?"

Latooni is shrieking and Leila's there. And Rei, like a marionette with a shoddy operator, turns around and whispers to her.

-- "I can see...I don't know, it's like something going on in the corner of my eye." --

-- "You're hurting, and nobody should have to hurt alone." --

Noriko tries to swallow but there's nothing /to/ swallow, her mouth is dry and her fingers are clutching her head where the billowing blue cloth should be, and she stammers, weakly, "What's..."

Her head is throbbing. Asuka's in trouble, she should -- go, she should hammer Leo into the ground and figure out the rest later, because that's what she /does/, she /saves people/, but her legs won't /move/ and /her headband is gone./

Leo doesn't even react when Ayato crashes into him and slumps to the ground. He doesn't flinch, he doesn't start, he doesn't turn his head. He just stands there, smiling faintly at Asuka. An instant later, Latooni's bag crashes into him, to... much the same effect.

And then comes Shinji; the boy's fist stops a full foot away from him, when it strikes an invisible wall of force that suddenly and violently manifests as a rippling, translucent, octagonal orange barrier.

"So /fierce,/" Leo taunts, turning his gaze away from Asuka to look at Shinji. "Do you not understand? You are nothing, here. Nothing, without your slaves. /Nothing./ Everything you are, here, is what /I/ have made you."

Leo casually lifts his free hand, palm out, towards Shinji... and, suddenly, an enormous wave of blood red energy erupts out of it, broad enough to envelop the boy's chest and drive him backwards to pin him against the wall, the impact enough to knock the air out of his lungs.

About three fourths of the way down the length of the beam towards Shinji, two prongs stick out of it on either side; viewed from above, the blast is a blood red crucifix.

It fades after a moment, and in comes Johnny Domino and Leila; Leo turns his head, as if nothing was happening, and gives the girl a nod. "In a moment," he assures her. "But should you really be here? Perhaps you should wait elsewhere."

Without waiting for a response, he turns his gaze back to the assembled 'students'. "You all are right, to be afraid," he assures them. "It is only fair. Do you think we do not know fear? We want only the return of she who is kept from us, and yet you--"

Leo huffs irritably, and shifts his grip on Asuka's face. His thumb happens to slide to cover her eye. "I digress," he says dismissively. "I cannot dally here, not with Getter so close at hand. But..." Well, he can't help but relish the fear a /little./

So he decides to stoke it.

Golden light suddenly flashes around Leo's body; a heartbeat later, his hair is a similar golden color. "This should do," Leo says gleefully, as if he were baking cookies. "Of course, some of you have so much more to draw from..." He turns his eyes onto Latooni and grins broadly. All of a sudden, the expression looks very, very unnatural.

"But, no," he sighs. "I mustn't waste time. Let's begin, shall we?"

And, just like that, the room fills with a terrible sizzling. It takes a moment before it becomes obvious where it's coming from; Leo's hand, the one clamped onto Asuka's face, is burning red. Literally. The appendage glows a dull red, and heat distortions ripple upwards through the air from it. The sizzling appears to be... a very, very bad thing happening to Asuka's face.

Everyone is freaking out. Everything is breaking. The hammers are smashing it all.

Leo changes and Rei just stares. She doesn't know what to do, so she does nothing. People fight, and struggle, and fail... Noriko says something to her, or maybe she doesn't...

Rei Ayanami moves back to the desk where she was sitting earlier and sits back down. She wipes her face on her hand, and then wipes her hand off on the desk. She seems so vacant now, like her spirit just checked out.

Saying nothing, Rei just puts her face in her hands and refuses to move.

Johnny continues cutting cardboard circles. To him, this is the most important thing. It is the only thing. Lost in his own little world -- the world Leila wants him to be in -- the boy really can't see or hear anything else.

That does not mean others are unable to see or hear him. Leila, similarly, is visible. And while Leo may not wait for an answer from her, she does provide a final comment:

"We are one."

Ryouma is in space. Getter Emperor crushes God's head. It explodes into a new reality. Everyone is happy there.

"Getter," Ryouma says, fighting back against the void. "Getter, what will you make us do?"

"Earth's beings have come this far."

Ryouma tumbles through the stars. He finds metal behind him. His hands find the controls. "I can't forgive you, if you'll kill everything."

"They must not die."

"If I stop piloting you, someone else will say the same thing."

EMPEROR IS HERE

EMPEROR IS HERE

EMPEROR IS HERE

EMPEROR IS HERE

EMPEROR IS HERE

EMPEROR IS HERE

Ryouma staggers through the hallways. The walls impact around him. They collapse into his body and disappear. The school is folding. "SHINNNNJIIIIIII," he shrieks.

"A time of ruin is already near, Ryouma."

The pilot of Getter raises his arms! His roar shakes reality itself! "SHINNNJIIIIIIIII!"

"This is abhorrent to Getter."

For the first time in her life, terror fills the body of Asuka Langley Sohryu. Until now, she had been fearless, ready to run into the brunt of battle without any hesitation. Countless times she done things--stupid things--thinking that in the end, things would be okay. So what if she got a little hurt? There was no way she was going to let herself be outdone by that stupid bitch Rei or that idiot Shinji.

But right now, a crippling fear has overcome her. She stares up at Leo's hand with wide eyes, unable to move. And completely unaware of what's going on around her.

"Mr. Kaji..." she whimpers.

Leo's hand sizzles with a spark. Asuka knows what's coming now, and true panic sets in. A second ago, she was unable to move; now she's unable to stop moving. Her fisted hands punch, her legs kick. "NO! NO! Let go of me, /please/! Let--"

Pain shoots through her entire body as his hand burns through her face, and through her eye. The pain subsides as quickly as it arrived. Suddenly, there's partial darkness.

And then everything's everything's dark.

Shinji feels his hand hit the brick wall that is Leo's AT Field. He winces loudly, almost feeling like he just broke his hand. "I'm who I am! I WON'T LET YOU HURT HER" Shinji's eyes widen as the air is forced out of his lungs a second before he crashes backwards into the wall. The torrent of blood pines Shinji there, keeping him from doing much.

Despite this, Shinji manages to keep his eyes only barely open. "Ugh...Asuka...I don't let you...Asuka...." Shinji struggles against the hold but he is powerless. "Asuka...."

Shinji's eyes water as he pushes against the hold. "Asuka...."

And then Leo starts burning her with his hand. "ASUKA!!!" Shinji can't take it anymore and he points his hands outward. "ASUKA!!!!" Shinji suddenly fires off a beam of whtie energy from a purple and green hand gun which just appeared in his hand.

"LET HER GO! PLEASE! DON'T!"

Shinji's fierce look goes to Ryouma, who just kind of burst in like a hero. "RYOUMA!"

A cross shaped shockwave batters the room.

Coach is giving them a briefing. Aerial photography, known weaknesses, behavioral patterns. AT Fields are nearly impenetrable, and since they're mainly terrestrial targets, Gunbuster won't be effective against them. The blasts fork. Noriko laughs, "That's kind of cool!"

Rei is collapsing on herself. I didn't want to involve you, Coach. Noriko promised to protect her, and now she can't tell if it was three years ago or two days, but Rei is removing herself, and Noriko doesn't know what to do--

The smell of cooking meat and boiling steam.

They are in a jungle in Southeast Asia. Master Asia puts his hand in the campfire, and tells her it is a simple lesson. She'll understand. When she loses faith in herself, she tries to do it a thousand times and burns her hands to near uselessnesss.

"I...that's...THAT'S ENOUGH!"

She surges forward, bowling a desk out of the way and not even caring at the intensity of the heat as she reaches out. Her wristbands vaporize as she grapples Leo's hand and attempts to yank it away with all the strength she can make herself produce.

When the Devil Gundam has fallen, Noriko spends a day in the Guyana Highlands with her hands thrust into an open flame, in memory of her Master.

"Whatever we are..." Noriko seethes, trying to use her weight and experience to force Leo out of stance, somehow, anyhow, "...it will not be QUIET!"

Ayato struggles to regain his feet. His whole face hurts. He wishes he didn't even /have/ a face it hurts so bad--how many times lately has he hurled himself at impossibly hard objects only to erupt in pain when the heat of his fury proves far outmatched by the immovability of the opposition? His hands are planted on the ground--everything is swimming before him, everything is terrible around him, and he's hungry and sick and--

A young, brown-haired girl in a yellow dress struggles to regain her feet. Her whole face hurts. She wishes she didn't even /have/ a face it hurts so bad--how many times lately has she hurled himself at impossibly hard objects only to erupt in pain when the heat of her fury proves far outmatched by the immovability of the opposition? Her hands are planted on the ground--everything is swimming before her, everything is terrible around her, and she's hungry and sick and--

And--and--and Ayato and that girl are flickering between one another, /are/ one another, are fighting to stand--he--she--they--they?--they can only see red, they--

Somewhere, nowhere, anywhere, a drop of water falls into an endless pool; its echo, much like the ripples blooming from the point of contact spread forever through blackness.

--they sing--they sing to the tune Ryouma's scream has set before them, even as they flow so rapidly into one another that distinguishing one from the next is impossible.

o/~ Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... o/~

Golden sparkles trace the lines of their arms before coalescing in their right palm, lengthening, curving--when a good, strong crescent shape is held in his hand the light explodes outwards, revealing a bow carved of some strange, shiny blue and white metal; the string still glitters like the light that birthed it. Two small wings sweep back from either side of the bow's center, sending tiny feathers sweeping lazily to the ground.

"Let--let her go, let her go, let her go, LET HER GO!" she roars, terminating his song in favor of echoing fury. Shinji is taking aim, Noriko is grappling--she can help, she /has/ to help, this monster, this--Leo Stenbuck, this--thing, it--

A shaft of red light forms against the bow's outer curve, balanced carefully atop one of its wings. More feathers spiral around his body as she draws the string all the way to his cheek. This may do nothing, it may do /everything/--she has to /try/.

A beautiful, discordant melody ripples through the air when the arrow is loosed towards Leo Stenbuck's--the monster's--Leo's shoulder.

Latooni's bag basically explodes when it hits Leo, because she hadn't bothered to zip it all the way up. Pens go everwhere. So does that one picture Latooni was looking at, which kind of drifts down near Leo.

"Leo, stop it, stop it!" she yells, her voice only slightly shrill... and nervous-sounding, especially after Leo looks at her like /that/. It's creepy. "This isn't you, this isn't what you're like! You - "

She trails off, in much the same way that she would have once upon a time, although in this case it is because the sudden shockwave has knocked her down even though she wasn't the target. She scrambles back up as Leo reaches out, gripping Asuka, burning -

FOUR YEARS AGO

An eleven- or twelve-year-old Latooni, in a smoke-filled cockpit, wakes up to screaming alarms and the smell of burning wires. She has to struggle to get out of her seat; she grips the handle of the emergency exit hatch, then pulls back, screaming.

NOW

Latooni has never been in a plane like that, except she clearly remembers every bit of it. There's only one explanation: Leo didn't lie, he did make this world, he made it this way and now he's doing things -

Shinji shoots. Latooni recoils, reaching for her ruined bag. There's nothing in there she can grab, but she finds one anyway; she comes out with a violet and green knife, which she drives at Leo's back. "I know who you are!" she yells, frustrated, as much trying to get him to react as the truth.

But it is the truth. Maybe.

Johnny Domino holds up a circle of cardboard with a big smile.

"Two!", he exclaims, as if this was the peak of his career. A short distance away from him, his friends and acquaintances are fighting for their lives.

Leila snickers. "Don't overwork yourself now," she comments. Her long green hair whips about as a shockwave from Shinji's energy discharge passes across the room. The girl doesn't spare the young Ikari a single glance.

"Overwork myself?" Domino puts on an expression of incredulousness. "Leila, baby, I'm gonna to shoot for THREE. Just wait and..." Domino trails off. The shadow of a frown begins creasing his features. Noriko is shouting. Johnny starts to slowly turn his head around. "Hey," his voice is quiet. "Are you hearing something?"

Leila closes the distance between herself and Domino without moving. She puts a hand on his cheek, cupping his face and gently turning it away from Noriko's direction. The girl looks into Johnny's eyes. "I'm hearing nothing."

This seems to satisfy Domino... for the moment.

Everyone is doing something and Rei Ayanami isn't.

"Maybe it's better this way," Rei says to herself quietly. "Maybe I was stupid for ever trying." Rei looks at her cast. There's a Sailor Moon drawing Noriko did, and Rei... doesn't even know what Sailor Moon is. She starts picking at the cast, and it's -- it doesn't work like it should. It's like peeling away skin. Eventually it all goes -- either eventually or instantly, Rei can't really tell the difference anymore. She gets up, her hand unencumbered now, and looks over at the chaos. Leila and Leo, killing Asuka, maybe killing the rest of her friends, too. Rei watches from afar -- she doesn't even try to help. Ayato and his bow-- Shinji and that... gun--

Rei turns away. She doesn't want to watch everyone die. And when she turns, she sees Johnny Domino.

Lost in his circle.

Rei Ayanami walks over to Johnny and sits down next to him. "I knew I was going to die," she confesses to him as he cuts. Her voice lacks any emotion. She feels like all of the water in her body has been drained out. "I guess I'm really not afraid." The last time she spoke to Johnny Domino -- for real -- she laughed. Now, though, she's not laughing. Rei looks at Leila, but doesn't seem intimidated by the Angel's presence.

"You were kind to me, Johnny, and it made things very difficult." Rei pulls her knees to her chest. "But it also..."

"If I could start again..."

"I wouldn't let what you mean to me change."

Rei rests her head on her knees, once again retreating, her posture insular. Her voice, dull and weary, rises from where her face is concealed.

"I would have preferred to die alone, Johnny. Alone and unloved and forgotten."

Rei looks up, resting her chin on one knee. She doesn't blink. Her gaze is faraway. She doesn't even register the chaos around her.

"But I guess it's nice to die next to someone you care about."

Ryouma Nagare, invincible schoolboy, stands in the hall! His fists are clenched! Yet more fools have come to try his father's undefeated style! How will chapter end, dear readers?!

Ryouma Nagare, pilot of the radioactive combining robot, stands over the graveyard of his fellows! Hundreds of Proto Getters are buried beneath him, their cockpits filled with men whose bodies broke down under the intense heat of Getter!

Ryouma Nagare, trapped in an Angel, remembers seeing Saotome's son die! The Proto Getter exploded to kill a demon, and everyone was glad! That is what Saotome demands! Underneath him, the dead swim through the ripe ground, fingers reaching for the living that may yet live further!

"CHAAAAANNNNGEEEE!" the boy shrieks, muscles rippling! His fist slams into the ground, shattering this world that denied him himself! "GETTER-1!"

The world turns green! In it, the shadowed figure of Ryouma Nagare! His body is devoured by sleek armor, combining to all contours of his figure! Emerald lightning radiates from his power suit, racing through the halls, touching people to their very hearts!

Ryouma Nagare, Getter Soldier, whirls around and raises his Getter Tomahawk.

"SWITCH ON!"

Shinji's Gun From Nowhere proves just as ineffective as his fist did; it strikes Leo's AT Field, and the field once again springs into visibility as a rippling orange octagon. It doesn't even get Leo's attention... but Ryouma's approach certainly does, even seperated from him by like four walls.

Only an instant after Leo turns his head to look at Ryouma, Noriko crashes into him, plowing through the lingering colors of his AT Field, empowered by her Fury. She doesn't succeed in doing much more than yanking Leo's hand around, with Asuka still in it... at least not at first.

After a moment, Leo suddenly opens his hand, letting Asuka tumble to the floor. "How annoying," he sneers, looking away from Ryouma and to Noriko. "When will you accept your death, girl? It is inevitable. Your Master has already died. So, too, has... 'Gentle Chapman.' Your Coach will join them, soon."

"You are an illusion," he instructs Noriko, his hand suddenly twisting to close around her wrist. It is still ridiculously hot. "You are dust. You cannot imagine the things of which I know, things 'hard work and guts' cannot protect you from."

Leo might have continued... but, suddenly, music. The song causes him to suddenly falter, cringing as if the sound pained him; he swings his eyes over to Ayato - no, not Ayato, to the girl, just as she draws back the bow. "So, you, too, are-" Leo begins.

He stops when Ayato fires, and the arrow slices through Leo's already-weakened AT Field as if it weren't there and slams into his shoulder, driving him back a step. He snarls in pain - or, possibly, just in shock... and then staggers forwards, as Latooni leaps at his back and drives her knife into it.

It takes Leo a moment to regain his balance... but when he does, he just sighs explosively and turns to face Ryouma again, as emerald lightning washes into the room, blasting open the doorway. "It's your fault, you know," he calls, his voice carrying eerily through the halls. The school is, suddenly, empty; the floors are slick with a thin layer of orange liquid. It smells like blood.

"Your fault the Lilim are like this. Your fault they are WEAK!" As he snarls the word, he releases his grip on Noriko's wrist and casually backhands her across the face with his red-hot hand.

"Your fault they are ARROGANT!" Leo whirls on Latooni, the knife still stuck out of his back, and drives his foot into her stomach, the blow little more than a blur of golden light.

"SLAVERS!" Leo whirls again, and gestures sharply; Shinji is suddenly struck by an enormous invisible force, and the wall behind him explodes outwards as the boy is driven through it.

"MURDERERS!" Leo thrusts his palm out towards Ayato Girl, and a pitch black crucifix of energy erupts out of his hand, tearing the ground apart as it streaks across the room to crash into her.

"ARE YOU PROUD, GETTER?!" Leo screams, whirling to face the classroom wall; he gestures sharply again, and the wall peels open in both directions, like someone had slit a membrane. "YOU HAVE RUINED HER CHILDREN!! DO YOU THINK THEM SUITABLE VESSELS, NOW?!"

His face flushed red with fury, Leo glances at Leila, and declares, simply, "Finish the Lilim. I must erase this /pest./"

Sneering, Leo storms through the new opening in the wall, and out into the halls of the school to meet Getter.

Johnny Domino has already gone back to cutting circle number three by the time Rei joins his side. He makes no indication he feels Rei's presence or hears her words.

Leila, on the other hand, inspects Ayanami with a dispassionate gaze.

"He isn't going to die," she tells Rei, voice as flat as the First Child's. "He is happy here. He is where he wants to be." To prove her point, Leila turns to Johnny, her voice becoming sweet. "Hey, dummy Donny... you're happy here with me, right?"

Domino, who hasn't responded to a single word Rei had said, instantly replies to Leila: "Of course. Can't you tell?"

Leila can tell. She made sure to give Johnny everything he wanted. She molded herself for him only. She worked on his AT Field the from the moment he was absorbed into the Angel, learning him, feeling him, and she made it through the barrier around his heart. His was the hardest yet the easiest AT Fields to crack. Even now, everyone else was presenting her with so many difficulties.

Turning back to Rei, Leila's voice goes back to being dead. "The daughter of Adam has succeeded where the daughter of Lilith failed. He will forget you, just as he had forgotten his--"

"I wonder what Rei is doing."

Johnny Domino's errant thought, spoken outloud, cuts Leila off. The girl is caught by surprise.

"What?" She looks at the boy. To the side, Latooni is kicked.

"I wonder what Rei is doing right now," repeats Domino. He stopped cutting. Nearby, Shinji is struck by an invisible force. "The last time I saw Rei we were," the boy pauses. A crucifix of energy lashes across the room, reflecting in Domino's unseeing eyes as he narrows them in thought. "Eating."

Leila stares unblinking. Then, "Johnny."

She feels her grip on his slipping.

And then Leo addresses her... Leila appears highly distressed. She looks from Domino to the Lilim and back to Domino again as Leo takes his leave. If she takes care of the others -- there is only so much she can do. She is not like Leo. Leila is the core - vital to the Angel's survival, but limited in powers. Lilim, or Domino, this is her choice.

Leila makes up her mind, raising her strong AT Field to separate her end of classroom from everyone else. They won't reach her. She will not let them.

And all the while, a frown expands on Domino's face.

Asuka falls to the ground, unmoving.

A puddle of blood begins to form from beneath her face.

Shinji flinches as his gun does nothing to stop Leo. Nothing at all. Shinji flinches as he watches Asuka just drop....He can't do anything against Leo. Nothing at all. He's worthless. Just like outside again. You will not advance. You are alone. You are nothing, Shinji Ikari. You will never amount to anything.

Shinji's body bounces against the next wall, hitting the floor like a sack of rocks. He bounces on the floor.

Worthless.

He sees his father.

Weird

He sees Leo Stenbuck.

Pitiable.

He sees Rei.

Nothing at all.

He sees Asuka.

More people flash into his mind, repeating over and over. "Worthless. Weak. Pitiable. Nothing at all. Die. Worthless. Weak. Pitiable. Nothing at all. Die. Worthless. Pitiable. Nothing at all. Die. Die. die. die. die. die."

Shinji's eyes water as it just goes over and over in his head. "Weak. Worthless. Die. Die. Noone wants you. Die. Noone cares about you. Die Noone will miss you. Die. Hurry And Die."

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Shinji's scream starts of shrill but soon morphs into something between his and Unit 01's roar. He stands as his eyes begin change, glowing bright red. They almost look like Ryouma's...

He lunges toward Leo and Ryouma, pulling the gun and attempting to slam it into Leo's mouth. His arm begins to cover itself in purple armor, displaying a green marker that reads "Unit 01".

EMPEROR IS HERE

THERE GOES RYOUMA

Getter-1 slams its tomahawk into the ground. It walks forward, the infinite blade of destruction dragging behind it.

"Arrogant?! GETTER RAYS chose us!"

Ryouma raises the tomahawk. The air around it bends. It fights the blade. Where it moves, brief glances to something beyond can be seen.

"SLAVERS?! I am the GETTER RAYS!"

Getter-1 raises its arms. Light radiates from its joints! The world burns! Grass and trees catch fire, buildings melt, but the people are warmed kindly!

"MURDERERS?! You misanthropic assholes! GETTER RAYS burn away those that refuse to cry honest tears!"

Ryouma rises above the ground, the force of his Getter Rays radiating like a solar flare! It plays across Leo's AT Field, clashing decisively, but unable to penetrate!

"I don't know all the people you've drawn in, but I love all of them! In all the universe, I'll never find anything else like them! Through Getter, we're all the same person! HAYAAATOOOOOO! MUUUSSAAAASHIIIII!"

Getter-1 struggles under the intense force beating down upon it. Its aura fights against a familiar field, encasing Ryouma. The energy threads through like countless needles.

"NOOOORIIIKKOOOOOOO! AYYYAAAATOOOOOO! REEEEIIIIIIIIIIII! ASUUUUKKKAAAAAAAA! JOHHHNNYYYYYYYYY! LATOOOOOONNIIIIII!"

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Ryouma's Getter Shine barely holds back the AT Field! His hand reaches out to graze Shinji's shoulder as he passes! Where there was once a schoolboy, there is now a man wrapped in bandages, scarf blowing in the intense wind! The armor of Getter-1 continues to peel back, revealing the exhausted pilot inside! His eyes, red and tired, will yet not yield! Blood sprays across the school grounds!

"Use... GETTER BEAM! Use... YOUR WILLPOWER!"

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has attacked Leo Stenbuck. Getter Beam added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has struck a apocalyptic hit on Leo Stenbuck's Twelfth Angel Leliel using Getter Beam.

And there they are. The valiant struggle to save everyone and everything -- and Rei Ayanami's still just sitting there, like it doesn't matter, like she's watching it all on television.

"Johnny," Rei says, her voice a muted, drab thing that just kind of seeps from her mouth rather than sounding assertive or... human, really. "Right now I'm sitting next to you. I'm watching... Shinji and the others... I'm probably watching them throw their lives away. But it's not their fault. It's mine. The only one I ever really gave a choice to was Leo. Everyone else..."

Rei looks over at Johnny. "Just bad luck, I suppose."

Rei dwells on that for a moment, and maintains her withdrawn posture. Her head lolls to one side, and then corrects itself. "You made me laugh," Rei says. "I just wanted to thank you for that. I wonder if it was as... disconcerting for the last one as it was for me. To lose control of your body in a way you don't understand -- to -- hear it coming out of you, feel it..."

Rei sighs, although it's really more like just a breath. "It took Leo... months to make her laugh. I wish I knew how she felt then. I wish I could get to know her. I'd ask her if she feels the same as me."

Rei uncurls her legs, and reaches out with one slim hand to touch Johnny Domino's face. "I'd ask you if you feel the same as me, too. But I don't think that matters anymore."

"Just bad luck."

Two voices scream one ballad of agony; Ayato-and-girl hang suspended in the air a moment once the cruciform-explosion has thrown him backwards from her feet. The lingering energies are buried in /her/ stomach, it shouldn't--hurt him so--in fact, if he thinks about it, thinks /really hard/, he isn't even injured, even if she is.

He slides across the classroom floor; the bow and girl are beginning to wink out of existence, leaving him--defenseless--his eyes widen as he looks at his emptying right hand, he tries to protest, to hold on, to fight, he--

--sings--

--and he is she is he is in agony once more.

She resets his hand around the resolidified bow--its back looks more like a face now than anything, two wide yellow eyes gazing intelligently upon this hellish scene. The wide 'O' of its mouth serves as an arrow rest, leaving the wings sweeping from the left and right sides of the bow to serve purely decorative purposes.

"Who are--" she croaks, trying to focus pain-blurred vision on something /other/ than his classmates, than the flayed wall. A sea of red hexagons frame her sight as he searches the classroom--there--Johnny--no--Leila--

Two monsters--why do these things and their AT Fields always come in /pairs/?

Without Leo, there's only Leila; even her ragged panting has a harmonic quality to it, and certainly the glowing red arrow etching itself into his bow's arrow guard pulsates with a distinct rhythm.

"This--this'--this is my--our--" he waveringly whispers as he aims right between Johnny Domino's eyes. "--home--my /friends/--my--" She can barely /stand/, much less support this bow; it's taking all he has to keep aim from bouncing too wildly away from Johnny--from Leila amidst the shaking of his hands.

"--my world--our world--OUR WORLD!"

TOKYO-03

The city shakes under the haunting, terrifying beauty of an ancient melody rippling across it. It was, in full, a song whose notes transformed one hale and healthy world into two sick and cancer-ridden ones, but today, for now, it's merely one section. One refrain--the worst that Tokyo will suffer are broken windows and addled car alarms and ringing ears.

THE (UN)REAL WORLD

"GET OUT! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT OF OUR WORLD!"

The arrow flies from their fingertips; left to its own devices, it might sink through the side of Leila's head and through Johnny's belly in one fell swoop, but there are /other/ forces at work; the scintillating redness splashes against Leila's AT Field, but it doesn't fade, it doesn't burrow thought, it--skids, twists along its surface and flies perpindicular to it.

Ayato sags in exhaustion, his face still a rictus of otherworldly wrath, his eyes gleaming with the color of blood. The arrow, meanwhile, not only rebuilds itself as it sings through the air of the classroom, it grows stronger, brighter; threads of emerald light lace its length, adding flickering wisps of green to its harmonic trail. Now it's the thing wearing Leo Stenbuck's face that it seeks to bury itself in, and--

--and it hangs mere inches from his skull in the last moment before contact--

--and then it disappears, inundating his form with crimson annihilation in the key of Getter.

COMBAT: Ayato Kamina has attacked Leo Stenbuck. Getter Beam added to their queue.

Latooni Balanga/Subota does not just get kicked - she gets kicked so hard she flies across the room, hitting something with a dull thump, the knife slipping from her hands.

She has actually hit Leila's AT Field. It was uncomfortable.

Her glasses fly off, and without them, Latooni is expecting to see a hazy series of blobs. She does not; everything looks just as crisp as when she had them on, which is just another tally on the long list of lies she has been fed today.

Latooni hears Rei. They're not that far away. She doesn't know what all is being talked about; she doesn't have the attention to ask, either, with her head ringing and Leo still there. Still talking. Still lying. Still... upset.

She wants to cry. Things are wrong and she doesn't know how to fix them. It's more than she can bear; she can barely even stand up anymore. Her ribs all hurt as she pulls herself up against one of the still-standing walls, holding her knife in her hand again.

But even now she won't let herself rest. Latooni can't stand by, ever. She has to meddle. She has to try, forcing herself. "You," Latooni says. It's almost too quiet to hear. Only the fact that Leo can hear /everything/ makes it audible. "You aren't Leo. You aren't my friend. I don't - "

It catches in her throat, and in a fury, past her pain, Latooni throws the knife. It glows white as it travels, leaving a glittering line in the air. She slumps afterwards, the pain too much, and starts to lurch her way toward the fallen Asuka. Even if it doesn't mean much at this point. "You can't tell me what I see. They already tried that at the School."

Not this School. The other one.

COMBAT: Latooni Subota has attacked Leo Stenbuck. Getter Beam added to their queue.

Noriko refuses to budge. Does everything in her power---and it's not enough. Is he really just...

Nothing can't be killed. If it doesn't fall, get up again.

She sneers at him, tears brimming in her eyes, biting back as he grips her arm, trying to focus - the energy, chi, master taught her, focus, don't let it burn, but it's too /hot/, but she's screaming and there's no words, she shrieks and tries to spin and punch Leo in the face, spinning around the pivot of her own wrist, not even caring if it burns her hand right off. Or if she breaks her fist against his nose. She's got nothing to reply to that with. How do you answer that? She's terrified and two lives are on top of her head, and Leo throws her across the room and she's not sure if she hits the far wall of her classroom or the far end of the universe. It is possible these are not so different.

She watches as Leo fights them, her thoughts full of the universe, and coughs blood onto the slick floor, and she realizes that the smell is not so different.

Her eyes turn to Rei - and Leila, and Johnny Domino. They're...she doesn't even, she can't...process it, she can't make her thoughts lock on to what's happening. Do what's necessary. Do what's obvious. Asuka is bleeding. She might be dying, or even dead. Leo is the enemy. Leo hurt Rei. Leo's always hurting Rei. Leo--

The gleam of Getter is an invincible, unstoppable force. She cannot tell if it is from inside of her or from outside. She pushes off the ground with her shattered, burned-away wrist, taking two slow, lumbering steps forward. Ryouma is a god in this place. But Shinji...but the others...

Her headband is in her hand. It has always been in her hand, on her head, and in her heart. She brings it up to her forehead, staggering forward. "They died without me," she rasps, her voice low and weak - tired, but building. "They died without me because they thought they needed to die for me."

LCL swirls around her feet, staggering toward Leo, toward that light of Getter holding the AT Field open for them.

"Humans," she says, "are weak creatures, who never know whether to cry or laugh. We don't know...if we should hurt or hug the people around us. We eat when we're lonely, and we fight when we're sad."

Her foot touches down. Was there something in her way?

"She hurts," Noriko says, and she's not sure who she's even talking about. "If I'm dust, then that's OK. If I'm an illusion, then that's OK. If I have to die...so that one person can laugh...then that's OK!"

Her hands jerk behind her head, tying the familiar knot with a final tug.

"Humans are infinite creatures! And if we choose it, then...NOT EVEN GOD WILL STOP US! I know it! The one thing we need to defeat anything...IS INSIDE OF EACH OF US! A true Top...a true defender of this world...the true me---!"

She squares her shoulders, and jams her hands against each other, and they are made of steel, green light filtering through the familiar vertices and rings inscribed on the back.

"HAS A BUSTER MACHINE IN HER HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEART!!!"

Her fists are forced apart by a shockwave, shrieking across the distance like the hammer of God.

COMBAT: Noriko Takaya has attacked Leo Stenbuck. Getter Beam added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ayato Kamina has struck a Dynamic Kill critical hit on Leo Stenbuck's Twelfth Angel Leliel using Getter Beam.

COMBAT: Latooni Subota has struck a devastating hit on Leo Stenbuck's Twelfth Angel Leliel using Getter Beam.

COMBAT: Noriko Takaya has struck a devastating hit on Leo Stenbuck's Twelfth Angel Leliel using Getter Beam.

Rei talks to Johnny. Touches him. The boy doesn't react.

Leila's eyes jump to Ayato a split second before he lets his arrow loose. The girl grits her teeth. The air ripples as Leila puts everything into her AT Field. Even then, she knows the arrow is going to penetrate through her blockade. She needs more. Much more.

An invisible force rips the floor tiles away, swiftly raising them to act as a makeshift shield, the second line of defense against the arrow. And then the desk Johnny is sitting at flies up into the air, twisting and reconstructing, the third line of defense. And yet it is still not enough.

What happens far too quickly for the human eye to follow takes ages for the Angel to witness. And she can tell what will transpire even before witnessing it. There is, at least, a silver lining. As it pierces through each successive barrier, the arrow slow down just enough for Leila to make her move: reality shifts.

The arrow misses the angel's head, ripping through her left arm instead. The limb disintegrates. Domino is sprayed with blood and debris, unflinching.

He will not remain unflinching for long. With each exertion of power on Leila's behalf, her grip over Domino weakens. Like a brick wall slowly crumbling away, Johnny begins hearing voices. Noriko who is yelling... Ryouma who is calling his name... Shinji and Latooni, and especially... Rei. Against his cheek, Rei.

"Nyan!~"

Johnny turns to look in the direction of the mewing. A black cat with golden eyes stands on a windowsill, staring at Domino. It's Eleanor again. The feline's tail sways from side to side in a hypnotic gesture. Johnny can't look away.

Tilting her head, Elly similarly maintains eye contact, holding Domino's gaze, captivating him, inviting him, trying to tell him... what is she trying to tell him? Domino feels like he is drowning in her eyes. There's no escape. No escape from what Eleanor is trying to say -- has been trying to say all along.

'Wake up.'

FLASH!

Eleanor standing on the ledge of the school's roof watching Domino.

'Wake up.'

FLASH!

Eleanor jumping on Domino's bed every morning and clawing at him.

'Wake up.'

FLASH!

Eleanor chasing Domino down the street as he cycles to school.

Johnny gasps. Eleanor is gone from the windowsill. Instead, Chimera stands outside the school, peering at Domino through the window. Johnny Domino finally wakes up.

He is sitting there next to Rei in his piloting suit. Did his school uniform disappear? Or was he always dressed in his piloting suit, and the young man only noticed it now?

And it is as he wakes up, eyes wide open, that Domino's senses are assaulted with memories. Memories of who he was -- of who he is. Memories of real life intertwining with memories of this fake world. Memories of how he sat there, doing nothing, while his friends were fighting Leo Stenbuck only moments before. Memories of Rei sitting next to him, talking to him, touching him. He may have been blind to these memories before, but they still registered in his mind's eye, and now that the veil has been lifted, they spring forth, fully formed.

Johnny Domino opens his mouth. He screams.

Leila, who has relocated to hovering in the air, blinks out of existence and reappears next to the boy. Kneeling by his side once more, she brings her one hand to his face. "Johnny," she calls his name, attempting to calm him down -- to reclaim her hold over his mind.

As a student at NERV Academy, Johnny Domino would have relaxed at her touch. But he isn't a student at NERV Academy. Johnny Domino is a member of A-LAWS, an Agent of the Earthsphere. Overcome with too many sights and emotions for his mind to handle, the young man lashes out, leaping out of his chair. He tackles Leila to the ground. Straddling her stomach, Domino presses his crafting knife against her throat.

"WHO ARE YOU?", he yells. There are tears in his eyes as he makes his demands. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!"

--hnn?!

Leo is taken totally off-guard by Shinji's approach; the barrel of his gun smashes into Leo's mouth, and the young man, distracted by Getter, reels to the side from the impact...

... and then, Getter Beam.

Leo's head pops like a grape, showering Shinji with blood and gore; the rest of his body staggers backwards, writhing unnaturally in agony. It almost falls onto Ayato's arrow, in fact, when the projectile stops and hovers for a moment-- and then another Getter Beam blows a hole in its stomach the size of a dinner plate.

An instant later, Latooni's knife plunges into its shoulder and shears the limb off as if it were nothing; it continues through and takes out a good chunk of the hip, too. Another instant, and Noriko's shockwave washes over the falling body. What remains of it simply explodes into a cloud of gore that splashes to the ground, into the LCL pooled there.

There is silence.

For about two seconds.

"You..." Leo's - Leliel's, but Leo's - voice echoes through the rapidly darkening halls of the school. "... always thinking of... yourself..."

The walls of the school start to melt, sloughing downwards like they were flesh. Behind them is only darkness; an infinite expanse of night.

He has to remanifest. He has to protect the core.

But Getter burns.

"The rest will... not forget... ... /Getter/..."

Getter-1 lowers its arms. The Getter Shine begins to fade as the Leliel manifestation melts away. The red robot trudges a few steps forward.

"Hayaaatoooo... Musaasshiii! I can feel you waiting for me, out there, with Getter!"

Ryouma's body flickers. The remnants of Getter-1 begin to phase out. They start to take Ryouma with them. "Yet, I can't leave... not without... the warriors that bled with me!"

"OPEN GET!"

Getter-1 explodes off of the pilot, disappearing into the void! Even then, he is not of this world, pulled away by something beyond. "Th-th-there's-- something--... kill-- destroy!-- something-- Leliel!-- Leliel!" Ryouma disappears. His shadow appears, vaguely.

"GUTS! GUTS! GETTER GUTS!"

And then that warrior of humanity's justice is gone!

As Johnny comes to his senses, Rei lets go of him. She's done what she could. Part of her wonders if she was really doing it, though. Was it her plan to make Johnny snap out of it by saying those things? Or was it just -- a real confession, in a real moment of despair? Rei doesn't know.

She doesn't even know if the question will have a chance to haunt her.

But things are moving, now, moving -- much further back, and faster.

Rei stands off to the side, watching. She can feel an electric buzz in her brain. She's wearing her plugsuit. She doesn't have sauce or anything splattered on her. She doesn't show any emotion. She doesn't blink.

"--ba ma zu na la amu pa go lu ne me a ba du--"

Rei is suddenly aware that she's speaking. But she doesn't stop. Has she been saying this all along? What time is--

"--i ge en i ge en nu ge en nu ge en us sa tur--"

Shinji breaths heavily as the gore covers him, glaring as Leo stumbles backward. He's about ready to fire again before the rest of the group begins to beat him down. Good. Thats what this thing deserved. Even as Ryouma spouts off encouragement, he just can't feel good about himself.

The world starts to streak downward. Latooni's eyes burn, trying to resolve something that isn't there anymore - the twisted school-shape, Leo himself as he melts and falls. And those words, those last words...

She squeezes her eyes closed, tight, as if she can't take it anymore. Rei rambles. She hears it distantly.

Then Latooni opens them again, ignoring what was and focusing on what is. It's hard, for her. she is tied to her past, tied to past in /general/, trying to make sense out of events. But she tries to put Leo/Laliel aside, for a moment, to stop worrying about it.

She keeps up her slow, limping path toward Asuka.

Leila stops moving once Domino is upon her. An ugly stump is all that remains of the girl's left arm, strips of flesh dangling, pooling blood on the floor. She has spent much of her energy on trying to avoid Ayato's assault, and even then her body was still damaged. Where was Leo? He must remanifest. He must protect her. Where..?

Looking up at Johnny, Leila takes a moment to answer his first question. "I am Leila," she offers. "Your girlfriend--"

"NO!" Domino cuts her off. "YOU'RE NOT-- YOU--" The Agent struggles against the pain building in his throat. "WHAT ARE YOU?"

The pause that follows this next inquiry is longer than the first one. Leila studies Johnny - his blood-splattered face, mingling with fresh tears. His tense jaw, holding back a terrible storm. His beating heart, afraid, hurt and lonely.

Finally the girl says: "Dummy Donny. You know what I am."

Visions appear in Domino's head. Memories of his life with Leila in this world. Nothing else matters anymore -- nothing else can be done anymore. This is Leila's final attempt.

The Agent whimpers. There it is. That time Domino was rushing into the library, frantic on trying to pass his classes. He ran into Leila there. Their eyes met. He asked her where they kept the math books. She said she wasn't the librarian. She showed it to him anyway, and then they studied together, and before long...

Johnny is standing outside. It's nighttime. He sees himself sitting with Leila on the grass, watching fireworks together.

Now he's standing outside Leila's house, hugging her. She's crying because her dog was run over by a car.

Now he's standing in his room, watching himself making love to Leila.

The sights, the sounds, the smells, they are all there. They are all so real. Domino can't avoid them. Leila is saturating his mind with everything she's got. Whenever he tries to look away or to leave the scene, a different memory fragment appears. It is an unrelenting flood.

It is Johnny Domino's life.

"Oh god," the young man chokes. He's back in the classroom. The crafting knife falls to the floor. Domino raises his shaking hands, staring at them through his mounting sobs. What is he doing? Who is he? He can't tell. He doesn't know anymore.

Something nudges against the Agent's consciousness. Chimera, his bio-unit - it was still there. It was still with him, linked to him. Chimera's bestial mind embraces Domino's shattered psyche, attempting to comfort its master.

It is there in this mental link that an understanding is formed: Chimera will aid Domino do what Domino can't do of his own powers. It is then that, for the very first time, instead of Johnny controlling his bio-unit, the bio-unit controls Johnny.

The young man's shaking arms move down again, fingers gripping at Leila's neck. For a long time his loud cries are the only thing echoin within the hollow walls of what was once NERV Academy. Domino no longer holds back his grief, letting it all out. Even as a part of him knows this is what must be done, he can't stop the tears from falling.

Leila offers Domino a sad smile as he strangles her. Her lips part, her voice strained and distant. "I---For...give...you."

Her eyes close and the flow of memories stops, hanging there like an unfinished melody.

 Ryouma Nagare transmits, "SHIIIIIINNNNJIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

 Musashi Tomoe transmits, "Agh, Ryouma! You're alive!"

 Musashi Tomoe transmits, "They have us under that stupid rule, we couldn't transmit!"

Rei keeps babbling as Johnny Domino strangles her kin.

She feels nothing.

"Nngh..."

Rei's babbling is making Ayato's teeth ache for some reason, and he could swear some woman is whispering his name but it's so distant, and he's so tired from--singing, just singing, just banishing whatever's encroaching on their--

--whatever's--brought them to this--hell...

His eyes slide from what's left of un-Leo and Asuka's ruined body; he shambles towards the latter, crouches and begins to reach for her shoulder to roll her over to see how she is, but well.

There's that /smell/, still, that burned flesh stench.

He's sick.

And a little hungry.

And it's all he can do to keep his trembling hand steady on her shoulder without trying to move her or anything.

 Ryouma Nagare transmits, "B-bullshit! It was thoroughly crazy!"

The blast tears out of her heart like a...like a Buster Beam.

She slumps, breathing heavily, her thoughts are a whirl. Asuka's over there, bleeding out - probably dying. Rei is...

Johnny Domino is killing Leila. She's not sure if it's real.

Latooni is going for Asuka.

Noriko turns her weight and staggers, reaching out for Rei. "Rei," she stammers. "Rei, don't...stop it, Rei..."

 Ryouma Nagare transmits, "Shit! They're still in here! Those kids are still in there!"

 Professor Saotome transmits, "Is Getter operational?"

 Ryouma Nagare transmits, "I have to go back in!"

 Professor Saotome transmits, "Is Getter operational?"

 Ryouma Nagare transmits, "S-shit! It's fine, old man!"

 Professor Saotome transmits, "Back off. They don't matter."

 Ryouma Nagare transmits, "FUCK OFF!"

 Ryouma Nagare transmits, "Getter Robo, diving back into the Angel!"

 Ryoto Hikawa transmits, "Golly."

As the core is destroyed, the world around everyone begins to melt away in large meaty chunks. It's as if the sky is falling down. For a moment, the world loses all it's light and then...

The inky blackness melts away into thick bloody chunks and skyline of Tokyo 03. At the moment, Nerv has just about every defense pointed at the place where the Angel was, ready to fire everything at the area where the Angel was.

Despite the fact, most feel like they've been in that Angel for days or months, it's only been a few hours by timers in the cockpits of every pilot...Unless your agency is too cheap to buy you a clock.

The Angel continues to disolve, running over the streets in a torrent of blood.

"Whats the status on the pilots?" Misato yells as she sees the machines erupt from the melting sphere.

"Unit 02's pilot's life signs are erradic! Everyone else is in various stats!" Maya calls from her station.

"Dispatch a medical team to the site!"

 Shinji Ikari transmits, "I..."

In the aftermath, Chimera is lying on its side in the streets of Tokyo-03. Even though its yellow eyes are burning bright, the bio-unit doesn't move.

Over the radio, Johnny Domino can be heard sobbing.

The Jade Knight sits there, 'standing' on its pointed legs.

Latooni is concious. She is not even crying. But she is touching her own ribs; there is /no/ way they could be broken like that through her piloting suit, but there they are. She does not remember very much beyond a haze, but she has a vague feeling that she should be lucky to be alive.

And then she is forced to use her powers of being the dedicated sensible one, the one everyone else can depend on to overwork herself even at risk of serious injury or death. Jade Knight lifts off and starts to move toward EVA-02, despite there being no way whatsoever that she can possibly move it. She just... knows that she has to check.

Before it all goes away, Rei feels a hand coming up from behind her, sliding over her shoulder, wrapping an arm around her neck, a pale cheek pressed to hers, white hair brushing her face, is this even happening--

NOW

GN Evangelion Unit-00X no longer glows. Its orange sparkles refuse to spray -- its red eye refuses to shine. Parts of the city disappeared with the robots and their pilots. These parts return. But like the souls who entered the angel, things are different.

Tokyo-03 is home to many tall buildings. An enormous housing block is mostly useless -- the population of the city is low even during peak periods, and fluctuates wildly anyway. The housing block has been... eroded. As if someone went in, took safety scissors, and crudely hacked away chunks of it. Corners snipped off. Squares and rectangles cut into it. So that the entire building is a giant cross.

Wedges of building are driven through GN Eva 00X. Its head hangs uselessly. Its side is torn open, revealing the GN Drive within its form, between its belly and its plug. Its arms are pulled out, slack from gravity, and one ankle rests on the other.

Anyone who looks up can see this terrfying sight, awash in the blood that roars through the city in waves, dripping like a rainstorm.

Decisive All-Purpose Humanoid Weapon GN Evangelion Unit-00X has been crucified.

Inside, in the dark, its pilot raves and babbles still. Rei Ayanami rocks in her seat, eyes wide open, palms bleeding:

"--e ne em dam gal nun na a gi agi e ne em u mu un abzu ka a gi a agi--"

 A song -- it's difficult to say whether the singer is masculine or feminine -- ripples across the radio waves. It's wordless, it's painful and beautiful all at once, and it only lasts for a few seconds before cutting off. Something similar had been echoing across Tokyo-03 for the last several minutes.

 Ryoto Hikawa transmits, "Gh-!"

<Radio: F - 3066> Rei Ayanami transmits, "--e ne em dam gal nun na a gi agi e ne em u mu un abzu ka a gi a agi--"

<Radio: D - Co-Sec> Latooni Subota sounds approximately horrible, but because she is talking she is probably the best off. "Subota. Medical teams to Tokyo-03. No pilot backup required."

<Radio: F - 3066> Rei Ayanami's signal is suddenly cut out.

Above the battlefield, up in the sky, it's Getter Robo!

Getter-1 hovers over the various immobilized robots. Its Getter Wing flutters over the Get Machine's shoulders. Ryouma breathes hard. He can feel the Getter Rays flowing through him.

"Getter... can even do this!"

Ryouma lifts his hands off of the controls. They are red. He has been clutching them for longer than he knows. "Getter, what are you going to make me do?" he repeats. "All these kids. Shit, they're going to be so fucked up."

Getter Robo does not immediately depart.

<Radio: D - Co-Sec> Ryouma Nagare transmits, "Well, shit. I hope this doesn't happen again."

Asuka's face is flayed, flesh painted accordingly to the severity of the burn with shades of red and blue and purple. The tissue is ribbed and distorted, chunks of flesh dangling in a sticky mess of blood, which trails from the lid of her eye. It's likely that her eye is either irreperably damaged, or completely burned away.

Though her eyes are unopened, her chest still heaves weakly.

She's still alive.

When they finally reappear in the real world, Unit-02 is sprawled across the earth, motionless. Two of the unit's six eyes are burned out completely and smoldering, smoke rising up from where the glowing orbs once were.

Noriko does not get anywhere before the darkness sweeps her away.

RX-207 Totoro was wrapped around Evangelion Unit-00X when it left - tugged under while trying to propel Rei to safety.

Noriko tries to get her thoughts in order, uncertain. Something. Something happened. Her head's full of cotton. She tries to move Totoro's arms, push up, but the tension wires curl around her hand and she screams out because her wrist is burned to near uselessness and broken besides. She breathes, and gasps, because she can feel broken ribs. And...there's something...she rolls over so the tension wires stop tugging, so she can disable the cockpit.

And eyes snap wide like saucers. "REI!" shrieks at the crucified unit hanging above her. "REEEEEEEI!"

<Radio: F - 3066> Latooni Subota sounds even worse here, like she's holding off a breakdown by focusing on something else. "Status report."

<Radio: F - 3066> Johnny Domino transmits sobs only.

<Radio: F - 3066> Shinji Ikari transmits, "Imustn'trunawayImustn'trunawayImustn'trunaway..."

<Radio: F - 3066> Rei Ayanami's signal has apparently been forcibly disabled by the Geofront.

<Radio: F - 3066> Noriko Takaya shrieks, "REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEI!!"

<Radio: F - 3066> Ryouma Nagare transmits, "Getter Robo, okay! The monster thing looks like it's dead."

NIRAI-KIRAI ISLAND

The adorable little heart monitor keyed to Ayato Kamina's vital signs begins pulsating again.

TERRA's command womb has been nigh-on sepuchral these last hours, just about devoid of commanding officers who have been busily discussing alternative methods of utilizing the RahXephon for TERRA's continued function. The low ranking officers remaining have been more engaged in quietly discussing who the lost pilot was than hurrying to find a replacement for him.

A few are keeping an eye on RahXephon's status monitors; the machine's been active for a few minutes, making things in the ruined Tokyo-03 /even worse/ by filling it with punishing song. Mostly, they were watching it out of some macabre mixture of scientific curiosity and idle hope, but--

But the heart monitor is beating again.

"Ay--Ayato's life--support systems are reading..." breathes the gapemouthed woman staring at the monitor.

Haruka Shitow, who probably /should/ have been discussing matters with the other ranking officials, was unable to actually move from her seat to do so; she lifts her puffy eyes to the monitor, holds it in her gaze for a while then drops her head.

A soft sob mangles it, but she whispers the salvaged pilot's name.

TOKYO

Asuka slips in Ayato's grasp and at that point the momentum is unstoppable; she rolls to her back, and...

He cannot look away, no matter how hard he tells himself he should--he /must/. He can vaguely trace the shape of Leo Stenbuck's hand in the mess he's made of this poor girl's face and he's so sick it's just sitting in the pit of his stomach like a thousand pound weight because he's beyond even nausea.

He opens his mouth, and--

TOKYO-03

"YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Ayato Kamina shrieks.

RahXephon is sliding slowly down the length of a ruined skyscrapper, the twisted concrete and steel skewering straight through its belly.

Eyes opened, closed, whatever--that black and red and pink palatte aren't fading from his vision any time soon.

Maybe never.

There's a young, brown-haired girl in a yellow dress standing placidly over Ayato's writhing, wide-eyed and broken body as he melts down on the cockpit floor.

<Radio: F - 3066> Ryouma Nagare transmits, "Work fast though, I gotta get this back to the lab. I have two thirds of it on autopilot."

<Radio: F - 3066> Latooni Subota attempts to take charge, shakily. "Noriko, retrieve Rei. Jo - Shin - Nagare, retrieve Kamina. I will get Asuka."

<Radio: F - 3066> Ryouma Nagare transmits, "Shit, you sound horrible! Getter will take care of thise with its magnetic web. You go crash or whatever, drink some orange juice."

SOME TIME AGO

It has been three days since Noriko claimed Johnny Domino's jacket. Johnny still hasn't gotten over it. Walking out of NERV Academy with Leila, a dark cloud hovers over the boy, following his every step. Leila looks at her boyfriend with a worried look. She hasn't seen him like that ever since he couldn't get them tickets for The Lacus Clyne Failshow: World's Greatest Insult Comedian.

"Johnny," she tries, squeezing his hand. "Why don't you buy a new one?"

Domino sulks like a kid. "I don't want a new one. I want MY jacket."

And speak of the devil - Domino catches sight of Noriko walking with her boyfriend, Smith. She's in her track suit, on top of which she also happens to be wearing-- "MY JACKET!" Domino points, mouth open in a rage-induced shock. "S--! S--! Stop wearing my jacket! YOU'RE GETTING SWEAT ALL OVER IT."

Noriko gives Johnny a look that manages to be both smug and innocent at the same time. Johnny rages some more.

"GRRRR, Smith! You're her boyfriend, DO something!"

"Don't be silly, John," says Smith, "girls don't sweat."

Noriko nods her head. "We sure don't." She passes a hand through her hair, flicking it to the side in a feminine gesture, spraying /sweat/ on the ground. "Tough luck, eh Johnny? Nyaaaaaaah." Takaya sticks her tongue out at Johnny. In fact, she even goes the extra mile, putting her finger underneath her eye and pulling down her eyelid. This pushes Johnny over the edge.

"JUST WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!" The boy goes into a sprint, chasing a fleeing Noriko who is cackling with mad glee. Unfortunately, Johnny is hardly in any shape compared to Noriko Takaya, Master Athlete! Tiring all too quickly, Domino eventually stops, bending over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"You little-- *gasp* --I'm gonna-- *gasp* --my jacket-- *gasp* --mutant thighs-- *gasp*"

In the time it takes Domino to calm down, Noriko finishes a full lap around NERV Academy. Coming back around and sneaking up on the under-exercised boy from behind, Takaya is more than pleased to go "BOO!" in Domino's ear. Domino, naturally, spazzes. They begin the chase anew, this time running in the opposite direction. Johnny is cursing still, Noriko is cackling some more. Leila and Smith watch this from the sidelines.

"Your girlfriend is kinda mean," says Leila.

"Your boyfriend is kinda dumb," says Smith.