Hi,
I've been having terrible troubles with writer's block lately,
but I can feel it going. Work is proceeding on Nekophobia 9,
albiet very slowly.
To help the process, I've decided to novelise part of Evangelion
manga 4th volume. (The Eva manga is radically different to the
anime; only the major events are the same. This bit is a prime
example.) Eva nuts will recognise this bit as corresponding
to the prelude to the attack on the, um, 7th? angel. The one
that divides in two.
I like the manga; Shinji has a bit of a spine. Later on in
the same volume, he asks his father to have dinner with himself
and Asuka.
Sorry if the dialogue is a bit stiff; I translated it then
adapted it (and you wouldn't believe the flowery way Misato
speaks sometimes) and I'm not very good at translation yet.
Evangelion is owned by Gainax; the manga is by Sadomoto.
Misato pressed one finger against the door control
and the doors obediently slid open. "In here," she
said, stepping inside.
Shinji and Asuka were surprised to see that here,
deep in the bowels of the pyramid-shaped building that
was NERV Central Dogma, there was a bedroom. Fitted
with two single beds, two built-in wardrobes, and a
single entertainment unit, it seemed to be an island of
prosaic domestic normality in the hard wasteland of
steel that was NERV's normal decor. There were even
slippers parked neatly beside each bed.
"What's this?" asked Asuka.
"It's just a bedroom," said Shinji. "...A new
one," he added under his breath.
Misato smiled and nodded. "You two, for the next
five days, will be living together in this room."
"Eeeehhhhh?!" Two throats cried with one voice.
Shinji and Asuka stared at Misato in disbelief.
Asuka was first off the mark, as usual. "You're
gonna make the two of us share this room for *five
days*?! But we're a girl and a *boy*!"
"What are you thinking of, Misato-san?!" added
Shinji, shocked at the impropriety.
Misato looked at the pair in surprise, a slight
blush of embarrassment at their extreme reactions
colouring her cheeks. She stepped past the two children
to stand by the door.
"What's got you two so upset?" she asked. "I told
you two we were going to work on the next operation.
Well, this is an indispensable part of it. You two have
to be able to work together *perfectly* to defeat that
angel. So, you've got to know each other well, and the
only way you can do that is if you spend all your time
together." She crossed her arms at her waist, cradling
her clipboard, her expression hardening. "Therefore:
Together you'll sleep, together you'll wake up, together
you'll eat, and together you'll train."
"B-but, I'm afraid that Ikari-kun will bother me in
the middle of the night; what'll I do?" put in Asuka.
Shinji cast Asuka a dark look at her accusation,
while Misato laughed. "It'll be fine," she said. She
put her hand on Asuka's shoulder reassuringly. "Shinji
doesn't have the guts for that."
Asuka sent a untrusting look in Shinji's direction,
which he ignored. 'If I did something like that she'd
kill me,' he thought to himself. Asuka's easy defeat of
the street thugs at the game parlour was fresh in his
mind.
"Well, get on well together, you two," said Misato
as she walked past the two shocked teenagers to the
door. "Rise and shine tomorrow at six thirty sharp,"
she caroled. "Good night!"
The door hissed as it closed behind Misato's back.
Asuka held her head in her hands.
"It's like a nightmare," she said to the floor, her
face ashen. "How are we going to beat that angel?"
Spinning, she threw herself on one of the beds. "Argh!
If only it wasn't Shinji but Kaji-san!"
"Um... Is it okay if I use the shower before you?"
asked Shinji, pointing at the bathroom door. "I've
really gotta take a bath," he added under his breath.
"No way!" Asuka bunched her fists against the
coverlet and pushed herself to her feet. "Ladies
first!" She stepped to the bathroom door and opened it.
"By the way," she added, looking over her shoulder, "no
peeking."
"Yeah, yeah," ground out Shinji, thoroughly annoyed
at Asuka. "I wouldn't want to look if my life depended
on it."
Asuka spun around to glare at him. "Hey! What the
hell do you mean by that?!"
"Don't make a fuss," moaned Shinji. "Just hurry up
and take your shower!"
The door slammed and Shinji sat on the other bed,
the one furthest from the bathroom. 'Prospects bleak,'
he thought to himself with a sigh. He got out his
trusty DAT player and curled up on the bed in a semi-
foetal position, facing away from the bathroom.
'I didn't think that NERV could force us to do
something like this,' he mused as he tried to lose
himself in the music. An image of Ayanami Rei appeared
in his head, looking over her shoulder at him. A blush
rose in his cheeks. 'If I was here with Ayanami... she
wouldn't mind something like this...' His imagination
persisted in confronting him with Rei... her, sharing
this apartment with him... Shinji worked to put the
uncomfortable thoughts out of his mind, and the heat in
his face faced. 'At least I wouldn't have to struggle
for something to say,' he added to himself at last.
The sound of the bathroom door penetrated his
earphones. "Shinji."
Tugging out the 'phones, Shinji turned his head to
see that Asuka was standing in a seductive pose in the
doorway to the bathroom, one hand holding closed a towel
wrapped around herself. Steam billowed through the
doorway, and her skin was wet. She was drying her hair
with another towel.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting," she said in a soft
voice that matched her pose. "Thank you."
Shinji spun to face Asuka fully, his jaw dropping
in shock as she advanced into the room. She appeared to
be nude under the towel. "Whaaa? What're you doing?!"
Asuka struck another pose in front of Shinji while
he watched in shock, unable to move from his defensive
pose on the bed, paralysed by the conflicts of fear and
attraction. "Well? How is my body?"
"You said not to peek before!" he shouted, holding
up his hands defensively as she minced towards him. His
comment took her aback.
"Huh. I've got my pride, you know." She leaned
over him, her hand supporting herself by his hip, the
other holding the towel closed. The bottom of the towel
near her legs fell away a bit, leaving only mysterious
but impenetrable shadow protecting her from his gaze.
"I've got pretty large breasts, don't I?" she breathed,
her eyes soft. "What do you think? Do you want to see
me nude?"
"Stop! Don't take--!"
Asuka stood and whipped the towel away from
herself, revealing that beneath the towel she wore
shorts and a strapless top. "Gotcha."
Shinji's face was a picture of shocked disbelief as
he stared at Asuka, his mouth working as he tried to say
something. The tableau persisted for a long moment
before Asuka dissolved into laughter with an odd fizzing
noise which quickly became full-blown laughter. "You
shoulda *seen* your face!" she managed to get out
between gales of laughter. "You were red to your
*ears*!"
He stared at her, dull anger simmering in his gut.
Angrily he crossed his arms. "Laugh if you like, but
I'm pretty sure there's a security camera in here and
Misato would have seen your little trick."
The laughter stopped immediately, and Shinji
managed to keep the smile from his face as Asuka began
to look around desperately. "Where? Where? What
security camera?"
--
David Eddy - Senior Consultant, Progress Software Melbourne
dje@progress.com
Screening Coordinator and Subbing Bunny, Melbourne Anime Society
My home page is at http://nabiki.newberry.edu/DEddy