LNCrawler

Chapter 17: Ayanami Rei Cinq

Neon Genesis Evangelion ANIMA — LNCrawler · All chapters

Chapter 17:
Ayanami Rei Cinq
“C INQ’S GHOST IS HERE?” Shinji asked, his expression incredulous and unamused.
Aoba held up both hands with a placating shrug. “Look, I wouldn’t be saying this if multiple people hadn’t told me they were sure they saw her.”
Shinji had come across Aoba in the break room—he’d been feeling a little light-headed after a pattern-fixing session intended to optimize his ability to command Super Eva and reduce the gap between his senses and the Eva’s actions—and their conversation quickly took a turn for the strange.
“They probably saw Trois in some bad lighting and were mistaken,” Shinji replied.
“Maybe, but Trois…”
Ayanami Trois had become mentally unstable after Ayanami Cinq was impaled and killed by the Lance of Longinus between Earth and the moon, so much so that Maya had refused to deploy her when the European forces invaded. The girl had been
cloistered in her private quarters for the past several days, and the medical staff had temporarily suspended her pilot sessions.
Shinji was about to press the button on the intercom to Ayanami’s room, but then he hesitated, took out his communicator, and announced his visit to the supervisor’s station first.
“Maya-san,” he said, “I’m going in.”
<< All right, but just be aware, all conversations in that room are being recorded, and her vital signs are being sent by telemetry. I’m sure you understand. >>
Shinji pushed the button. He needed to see Trois for himself.
“It’s Ikari.”
“Come in,” came Trois’ reply, without emotion. The door opened.
This was Ayanami Trois’ room, although the space had been so filled with all sorts of clothes on hangers that it seemed more like a walk-in closet. Shinji couldn’t even see Trois through all the garments.
Shinji took a few steps inside and then zigzagged between the rows of clothes toward the back of the room where a liquid crystal wall glowed.
As he navigated the maze of racks, Shinji thought, There’s even more than the last time I was here.
All the clothing belonged to Ayanami, but there wasn’t one article of her own choosing. Some she’d purchased herself, but only on someone else’s suggestion. The majority were presents. For reasons Shinji didn’t altogether understand, after Asuka had bought Trois that first black dress—the one Quatre had absconded with—purchasing clothes for the fashion-indifferent pilot had become something of a pastime among the staff of Nerv Japan. The rows and rows of clothes racks were the end result.
Unfortunately, the clothes hadn’t resulted in some dramatic change in the girl’s life.
Her living quarters weren’t as depressingly barren as before, but the room still lacked any sort of lived-in atmosphere; it felt like a storage room full of clothing.
Trois wore whatever she was given, but none of the gifts, nor their givers, had filled the gap Gendo had left behind.
As a joke, Shinji once supposed that Trois might be a dress-up doll living in her wardrobe, waiting for her next owner to come.
Man, Misato-san really got pissed at me for that.
Asuka had goaded Shinji into giving Trois an outfit only once—and that time, something different had happened. Up until that point, Trois had accepted every piece of clothing given to her, but when she unfolded the clothes Shinji offered her, she gave them right back.
Being here reminded Shinji of those idle days and how trivial his concerns had been.
Seriously though, what’s with how expensive girls’ clothing is?
Several outfits had been laid out on top of Ayanami’s bed.
Finally making it past all the clothes racks, Shinji said, “Picking one out?”
“Yes,” Trois replied. She was wrapped in a single bedsheet.
As Ayanami Trois turned to Shinji, the white glow of the liquid crystal wall provided a high-contrast and continuously shifting view of her graceful outline. The afterimage lingered in Shinji’s gaze, even though he hadn’t meant to see.
“Oh! Sorry,” Shinji said, hurriedly ducking behind the nearest rack and turning away from the backlit girl.
“Which one do you like, Ikari-kun?”
“C-come on, you’ve got to ask me that after you put it on!”
The light filtering through the hanging clothes flickered, which Shinji took as a sign that Ayanami was getting dressed. He heard fabric swishing. The sound was coming closer.
Beep!
Super Eva’s monitor sounded a warning in Shinji’s pocket. The Eva had responded to Shinji’s agitated state and moved unbidden. It was only then that Shinji realized he was, in fact, agitated, and he finally noticed that Trois wasn’t acting like herself.
“I don’t know,” Ayanami said. “They all feel a bit small on me.”
“Huh?” Shinji said as Ayanami placed her forehead on his back. When the surprise faded, he realized she was trembling.
“I’m sorry, Ikari-kun,” she said. “I’m sorry. I sent Soryu to the other side of the barrier all by herself.”
<< Shinji-kun?! >> It was Maya, checking in from the cage. << Super Eva is moving. >>
“Maya-san, can you come to Ayanami’s room? Quickly.”