Asuka looked at her mother disbelievingly. A moment ago things had looked so positive again. She had been clean and rested and no longer under the influence of any dangerous substances and then her mother had barged in and announced that she would be sending her back to Germany.
No "Thanks for piloting that horrible mecha and saving us all from that angel.", no "Sorry about luring you here to get tentacle raped.", not even an "How are you?". She had already asked the doctor how Asuka felt so no need to ask Asuka herself.
"Hurry up and get dressed." Her mother encouraged impatiently when Asuka did not move," Your plane goes in 5 hours and the traffic will be murder. If you miss your flight it will take a lot of work to get you on another one. The airport had to shut down during the attack and now they get swamped with the backlog and with everyone who has decided to leave Tokyo-3 before another angel attacks."
Asuka still gave no signs of being about to move.
"What are you waiting for?" Kyôko demanded.
"I won't leave Tokyo-3," Asuka announced, "I will stay here."
"Don't be ridiculous," her mother admonished her," We are in the middle of a war here. You have seen the angel and what it was capable of. I am to busy with NERV and have no time to take care of you. You are much safer back in Germany."
"If you don't have time for me I am sure some other solution will be found. I am staying," Asuka reaffirmed.
"You will find it much easier to continue you education in Germany, the schools here..." Kyôko began but was interrupted by Asuka.
"I am staying on as a pilot!" she declared with finality.
If her mother thought that she could act as if her piloting of the Eva had never happened. She would be severely disappointed.
"Asuka," the older women exclaimed," you can't mean that. I know that you are angry with me, but you can't do something like that just to spite me. You have no idea what it means to pilot an Evangelion."
"I think I found out when you called me here to climb into that thing," Asuka told her.
"I would never have made you do this if I have had a choice, you have to believe that." Kyôko pleaded, "But you don't have to do it again. Rei has recovered and will be able to fight the next angel. There is no need for you to remain a pilot."
"Yes there is," Asuka declared, "Now that I know I can't just walk away as if nothing had happened. I can't just abandon Rei to face those horrors by herself. This has nothing to with you. This is not something I do for you or for NERV, this is something I have to do for myself."
In the end Kyôko had to admit defeat. Short of tying her up and sending her home via freight post there had been no way to get Asuka back to Germany.
And even if she had managed to send her back against her will, as soon as Yui learned that Asuka wanted to pilot she would surely overrule her.
Kyôko had ended up agreeing to her daughters demands. She would find her an apartment in the same staff housing complex that Misato lived in. The captain could take her under her wings without appearing obvious about it if they lived in the same dorm.
It felt bad having her daughter so close but not being able to allow her closer.
The worst part was that Asuka had been right. NERV needed Asuka. Rei could not handle all the angles by herself. They had done everything they could to find other possible pilot candidates and Kyôko had selfishly held back the person with the best chances of successfully synchronizing with an Eva. And now she was here.
After everything she had done to keep her daughter safe from Evangelion she had finally fallen into it sticky web and there was no escape.
Despite her regrets she also felt immensely proud of her daughters for her decision to continue as a pilot. She hoped that she would be able to tell her that one day.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sun, 30 Jan 2005 22:49)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.