Subject: [FFML] [SOAP]Cyan: Nobuyuki Muyo! 2
From: "TimeRunner" <keiichi@i-manila.com.ph>
Date: 7/11/2000, 2:40 PM
To: "FFML" <ffml@fanfic.com>

The Sum of All Parts: Cyan
Nobuyuki Muyo!
Episode 2: No Need For Panic

      "Please don't touch anything," Nobuyuki said.
      "All right, I was just looking, sheesh," Ryoko said, drawing back
from Nobuyuki's blueprint case. She looked at him and shook her head,
smiling. "Oh, come on, cheer up, Nobu! Don't be so tense!"
      "Easy for you to say," he replied, pulling at his tie and reaching
for his thermos of orange juice. "You're a ruthless space pirate. You've
robbed dozens of banks, hijacked hundreds of spaceships, endangered the
lives of thousands of people..."
      Ryoko rose to her feet. "Hey! No one can prove anything! You don't
got nothing on me, copper!"
      Nobuyuki paused, holding the open thermos under his open mouth as he
stared at Ryoko. "Excuse me?"
      Ryoko stopped and gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry. Reflex. You were
saying?"
      Nobuyuki tsked and scratched his brow. "I was saying, it's easy for
you to find this job interview trivial, since you're so worldly..."
      "'Worldly' is not the term I would use myself."
      "...But unlike you I've barely even gotten used to life alone. I
don't need this pressure. I don't think I can handle this pressure," he
finished, throwing up his hands and hanging his head.
      Ryoko sighed. "In the first place, you should be over that Masaki
girl by now."
      If at all possible, Nobuyuki hung his head lower.
      "Secondly, I think you DO need this pressure," she continued. "At
the very least it'll help you stop whining all the time."
      "I do not whine!"
      "See? You're doing it right now."
      "I am not!"
      "Hey, Nobuki," Sakamoto said as he and Kobayashi walked up to both
of them, "you haven't introduced us to your lady friend."
      "Oh, yeah," Nobuyuki said, turning to face his friends, "guys, this
is Ryoko. Ryoko, this is Sakamoto..."
      "Hiya," she said, shaking Sakamoto's hand.
      "...And this is Kobayashi." Nobuyuki said.
      Ryoko extended a hand to Kobayashi, who promptly took it and kissed
it.
      Nobuyuki grabbed at Ryoko's wrist just in time to prevent her from
punching Kobayashi's lights out. "Eheh," he said as he tightened his grip,
"how... how are you guys doing?"
      Ryoko stared at Nobuyuki for a moment, then she pouted.
      "I'll probably land a job as a repair tech," Sakamoto said, "judging
from my course and previous experience, although I'm not so sure I'll be
able to understand everything on the first day. Thank God for on-the-job
training. I mean, I can barely even understand how the lifts operate
around here, let alone the more high-tech stuff."
      Kobayashi cleared his throat.
      "Oh, yeah," Sakamoto went on, "Kobayashi here's trying to land a job
as operations tech, so he can land a spot next to Maya."
      "Fat chance!" Nobuyuki said.
      "And why is that?" Kobayashi asked.
      "Well, I figured you to be more of a PR person," Nobuyuki replied.
      "Yeah, that's what I told him," Sakamoto agreed. "So, what about
you? Structural Engineer, I'll bet."
      "Well, that's what I'm hoping for," Nobuyuki sighed.
      "Don't worry, Nobu," Ryoko said, slapping his back (it was all
Nobuyuki could do to prevent himself from launching into an impromptu
coughing fit), "I'm sure you'll get that job. Of course, why anyone would
want a job in the first place is beyond me."
      "Why, miss," Kobayashi asked, "aren't you applying for any position,
yourself?"
      "Heck, no!" Ryoko said. "I'm just here to keep Nobu company."
      "'Nobu'?" Sakamoto said, eyebrows raising. He nudged Nobuyuki in the
ribs. "When did this happen?"
      "Just yesterday," Nobuyuki said, regaining his composure (and his
natural rhythm of breathing). Then he gave a start. "What do you mean when
you say, 'this'?"
      "Nothing," Sakamoto said, smothering a grin.
      "You cad," Kobayashi said, "not one week passes after Achika leaves
you and already you've got another beautiful woman waiting on you hand and
foot."
      "Please stop mentioning Achika," Nobuyuki whined.
      "Hey, how IS Achika, anyway?" Sakamoto said. "I saw her here today
with Aoba. You think they're sleeping with each other?"
      "Oh, please shut up," Nobuyuki sighed.

      Katsuhito swept the grounds of the Masaki shrine. He didn't expect
to get the courtyard clean or anything, at least not like Achika could get
it when she did the sweeping. And while the whole process of sweeping
dried leaves off the stone floor was soothing and cathartic in its own
futile Zen way, that was not the reason he was doing it either. He looked
up into the sky, waiting for something.
      And then he smiled and walked back indoors.
      "Here comes the family," he chuckled.

      "Name?"
      "Nobuki Nobuyuki, ma'am!"
      Nobuyuki looked straight ahead and did not make eye contact, as was
expected of him, or so he was made to believe by all those job-hunting
horror stories his friends told him about. In this case, he also did not
look at his interviewer because the sight of her was extremely
distracting.
      She was a blond woman, though her dark eyebrows indicated peroxide
as opposed to natural coloring; she wore short black skirt that seemed to
imply that the lab coat she was wearing over her clothes was simply a
formality.
      And that, Nobuyuki thought, was an awful lot of details for someone
who wasn't supposed to be looking to notice.
      "My name is Dr. Akagi Ritsuko. Have a seat," the woman said,
motioning to a chair facing her desk. " What was your major?"
      "Structural Engineering, minor in Architecture, ma'am."
      Dr. Akagi raised an eyebrow. "Architecture?"
      "Yes, ma'am."
      "Do you have any samples of your work?"
      "Yes, I do, ma'am." He fumbled with his drafting case and a few
rolls of paper spilled out.
      Dr. Akagi picked one up, unfurled it, and studied it for a few
moments. "Picturesque, but not exactly what we do here, Mr. Nobuki."
      Nobuyuki blinked. "Pardon?"
      She handed the paper over to him, and Nobuyuki found himself staring
at the plans for his dream house.
      "How did this get in here?" he said, hastily rolling it up and
stuffing it into the case. "I'm apologize, I didn't mean for that to..."
      "That's all right," Dr. Akagi said, already studying the other
prints. "These seem to be in order." She handed them back to Nobuyuki.
"Now, I'm only going to ask you one more question, a practical question."
      "I'm ready, ma'am." As ready as I'll ever be, anyway, he thought.
      "All right." She leaned forward. "Given a three hundred-ton mass to
move upwards at the rate of one hundred and fifty meters a second over a
distance of about one-and-a-half kilometers, with two thirty-degree
corrections at the halfway point and two hundred meters from the median,
what sort of machine would be required to exert enough consistent force to
accomplish such a task?"
      Nobuyuki suddenly remembered to breathe again. "I... don't know."
      "You don't know?"
      Nobuyuki squinted. "A pneumatic press could theoretically provide
enough consistent force to overcome deceleration due to gravity, and with
binders to hold the body long enough for the lift to build enough pressure
the release speed could be close to whatever rate of climb is
specified..." He took off his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose.
"But the size of the pump alone would be enormous, the binders would have
to be proportionately massive and solid as far as tensile strength goes,
and the cost of building such a device and ensuring its stability of
operation would cost upwards of..."
      Dr. Akagi leaned back and crossed her legs. "Give me your best
estimate."
      Nobuyuki took a deep breath, wondering what all of this was leading
to. "Four, maybe five hundred billion yen, allowing for the ideal
materials and quality as far as construction goes."
      Dr. Akagi crossed her arms. "Five hundred twenty-seven billion,
approximately. You forgot to factor in labor costs, transport, and
installation."
      "I... I'm sorry..." he mumbled, then he paused and stared at her.
"How do you know the precise figure?"
      "You'll know soon enough," Dr. Akagi replied. She looked at her
watch and tapped her pencil on her desk. "The results of Enlistment Day
are posted the following morning. Thank you for your time." She stood up
and extended her hand.
      Nobuyuki nervously shook it, and staggered out of the room.

      "So you're getting the job?"
      "I hope so," Nobuyuki said, straining the freshly-boiled soba
noodles with a sieve and placing the steaming result into a large bowl.
"Hey, Ryoko, could you get the bowls and the soba sauce?"
      "Oh, sure," Ryoko said, standing up and walking toward the sink. She
picked up two clean small bowls, grabbed two pairs of chopsticks and
placed them on the dinner table. "Where do you keep the sauce?"
      "In the cabinet, next to the soy sauce."
      "Oh, here, got it." She pulled out a small bottle and sat down next
to Nobuyuki, who was setting down the noodles on the table. "Let me help
you with that."
      "No, that's okay, I got it. Hand me your bowl. How much do you
want?"
      Ryoko handed Nobuyuki her bowl. "Just fill it."
      Nobuyuki rolled his eyes. "I should have guessed." He heaped the
soba into the bowl. "There you go."
      "Thanks," Ryoko said, flipping the bottle top open and pouring a
generous portion into her bowl.
      Nobuyuki prepared his own noodles and opened his mouth to eat.
      Then the sound of blaring sirens filled the city.
      "Oh my God!" Nobuyuki gasped.
      "What?" Ryoko said, rushing to the window. "What's going on?"
      "That's a Level Four Emergency siren!" Nobuyuki said. "They don't
raise that level of alarm unless..."
      "Unless what?" Ryoko faced him.
      "Unless the city is under attack," Nobuyuki whispered. He dropped
his noodles and grabbed Ryoko's hand. "We've gotta get to the shelters,
now!"
      "Why? Do you actually think that whatever is attacking us can hurt
me?"
      "I don't know, but it can probably hurt me really bad, so come on!"

      "Ritsuko," Commander Ikari said, leaning over and pointing at the
huge blip on the radar screen, "what is THAT?"
      "Uh," Ritsuko said, dusting off words she usually didn't have any
use for, "I don't know."
      "What do you mean? On the viewscreen I see a large mass advancing on
the city from the water and a small object hovering over us in low orbit.
What are their code patterns?"
      "Well, the large object is too obscured to be identified, or is
deploying some kind of detection countermeasure."
      "And the smaller one?"
      "Uh..."
      "Uh... what?"
      "Uh... it says, 'Pattern Green'."
      "What the hell is Pattern Green?"
      "Uh... I don't know." She pulled out the NERV Operations Manual and
unfolded the chromatic diagram centerfold.
      "Well?"
      "Well, according to the chart, it's a plant form. A highly evolved
plant form."
      "Then divert all scanning devices to the larger object."
      "But sir, what about the smaller object?"
      Commander Ikari leaned back. "Huge flying vegetables are not under
NERV's jurisdition. It's the JDF's problem now." He chuckled. "Either that
or the Department of Agriculture's."

      Nobuyuki and Ryoko ran down the deserted street toward the nearest
shelter when the sudden blast of wind struck them from above.
      "What the hell is that thing?!" Nobuyuki said, pointing up at the
huge wooden (wooden?) spaceship in the sky.
      "Oh, that? It's a huge wooden spaceship."
      "I know that!" Nobuyuki snapped. "Why is it there?"
      "Uh, it looks like a Battlecruiser from Jurai."
      "A what from where?!"
      "Long story. As for why, well... It looks like they want to kill us
both."
      "But you're the space pirate! Why would they want to kill me?"
      "Do you honestly think they care? I hardly cared when I decided to
blast you."
      "But what do they want us, I mean, YOU for?"
      Ryoko shrugged. "I dunno. Some generic crime against the galaxy, I
guess."
      "But that's your fault!"
      "Hey! You can't prove anything! You don't got nothing on me..."
      "You're doing it again, Ryoko."
      "Oh, sorry."

      "Affirmative, your Highness," the low voice of Kamidake droned,  the
Space Pirate Ryoko has been detected on Sol 3 - Earth."
      "Is that her down there?" asked Ayeka, crown princess of Jurai,
flowing white garments blowing in the contained breeze inside her
spaceship, Ryu-oh.
      "Yes, your Highness," Azaka's higher-pitched voice replied.
      Ayeka pouted, brushing back her long purple hair with her slender
fingers. "Well, let us take her in. Or incinerate her. It doesn't matter."
      "Your Highness, there is some concern over the legality of such an
action," said Kamidake.
      Ayeka stamped her foot on the polished hardwood floor. "Whatever do
you mean? She's a wanted space pirate! It's our duty as citizens to take
her in!"
      "Well, you see, your Highness, the warrant for her arrest is about
to expire," Azaka said apologetically.
      "About to expire?!"
      "Yes, your Highness. Including time corrections for
faster-than-light travel. In exactly three seconds as of the first
speaking of the word 'three'," Kamidake slowly said. "Which was five
seconds ago. The warrant for Space Pirate Ryoko CASEFILE 023984013 has now
been erased, and the statute of limitations has taken effect."
      "Oh... pooh! I don't care anymore! Take them in!"

      Nobuyuki drew back from the first explosion. "Th-they're actually
firing at us?!"
      "Yep," Ryoko said. "We'd better get out of here. We're too easy to
hit on the open road."
      Suddenly they were surrounded by small wooden logs circling them in
the air around them.
      "Damn it, too late," Ryoko said.
      "What's happening?" Nobuyuki said as they began to rise into the
air.
      "We're being sealed up," Ryoko cautioned.
      As Nobuyuki started to ask what Ryoko meant he saw a large log with
blue markings materialize behind her. "Ryoko, behind you!"
      The log absorbing Ryoko was the last thing Nobuyuki could remember
before he was engulfed by the inky blackness himself.

To be continued...

=====
w.o.m
TimeRunner's Web Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7482.
=====

 "Whatever," he heard her say sarcastically, although he could still hear
the grin in her voice. "You'd better not be messing around back there
while I'm gone, buster!"
 "Mess around? Me? I'm hurt, Yui, truly hurt."
 "Uh-huh."
 "No, seriously!"

- Yui and Gendo Ikari, Neon Chronicle Evangelion 0:1




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