Words from the Author:

I just finished the first episode not too long ago and I will be working on this episode with the best of my abilities. Like I said in the first episode, there's going to be romance and drama for the next couple of episodes, but I don't know if this episode will actually have that. I'll be working on mostly having romantic and/or dramatic scenes until I feel like the action needs to start. In my 2nd Branch of NERV story, the time frame went a bit slow. By my calculations, the entire story-line was made up to happen in a time frame of roughly two months, give or take. But this story-line goes longer and there will be some considerable time skips for multiple reasons. If I went day by day like my first story more or less, then it will take me years to finish! I will like to thank Amitakartok for his help with my writing and I will do my best to improve myself as a writer. So, let's get started and I repeat, I DON'T own Neon Genesis Evangelion!

Episode 2: New Plan and New Life-Style

The scene commences with Misato in her room while lying on the bed as she's asleep. It's currently 5:13 in the morning as the Colonel sleeps while stretched out on her bed and is snoring quite loudly. It can also be noted that Misato had retrieved her cross from the piece of wood that it had been nailed to and has the item perched on the photo of her, Ritsuko and Kaji while atop the dresser that's at the end of her bed. The sleeping Misato's presently wearing blue, denim short shorts and a white tank top as her blanket isn't covering her body, allowing her stomach to be shown.

Suddenly, Misato's door slowly slides open with a man walking into her room while closing the door behind him. He steadily walks to Misato's bed and sits on it while containing body facing away from Misato amidst observing her sleep. Eventually, Kaji's revealed as the individual thanks to the some light that's beaming from the window while wearing a button, white shirt and light brown, khaki pants while with a red tie that isn't tightened clinging to his neck.

Kaji grins as he keeps watching Misato and thinks, "It's been a long time since I've seen her sleeping. How I've missed doing this."

Misato continues on snoring while not making any changes to the position she's in, causing Kaji to chuckle to himself, and begins leaning forward so his face is close enough to hers that way his lips are almost touching hers. This makes Misato move her head a little since Kaji's lightly breathing on her.

Kaji chuckles after noticing Misato's slight movement and whispers, "Misato. Wake up, Misato."

In response, Misato maneuvers a tad more as she groans and tries opening her eyes. Because of that, the dame says with a tired tone while her vision is blurred, "Huh?"

Kaji smiles at Misato while placing his arms on the bed. "It's me."

Misato finally opens her eyes and demonstrates shock upon witnessing Kaji's face before shouting in a low volume while moderately stuttering, "K-K-Kaji?!"

Kaji gingerly laughs out of amusement. "You surprised?"

Misato quickly lunges towards Kaji to embrace him as she passionately kisses the male on the lips with her eyes shut.

Kaji's caught off guard by Misato's abrupt passion until closing his eyes while kissing her back and holds her.

After that, Misato lies onto her bed, bringing Kaji down with her, and continues to kiss him as tears of happiness stream down her face.

Kaji lies on top of her with originally no intent of ruining their intimate exchange and gradually opens his eyes to look at her. He ultimately depicts her crying and stops kissing her with a hint of concern. "Why are you crying? Do I really suck at kissing that much?" Kaji smiles at Misato.

Misato hurriedly opens her eyes to view Kaji with an expression of disbelief, which leads to her tears' halt, prior to getting quite irritated while mildly grinning. "No, idiot! I missed you! That's why I'm crying!"

Kaji chuckles again, getting off of Misato in the process, and lies next to her with his attention to the ceiling. After that, the brown-haired adult puts his arms behind his head as he turns it to look at Misato once more with sincerity brimming. "I'm sorry, Misato. I shouldn't have ever left your side."

Misato faintly blushes while still smiling, moves to places her head on Kaji's chest and shuts her eyes as she's facing him. "You're damn right, you shouldn't." She reopens her eyes. "But I'm happy that you're back."

Kaji briefly pauses before gazing at the ceiling as he smiles. "So am I."

Some time goes by until its 9:24 in the morning with Shinji waking up and leaves his room to go to the bathroom that's right next to him. At the same time, Asuka walks out of her room that's located besides Misato's room as she walks towards the kitchen connected with the living room and starts searching for something to eat while Shinji exits the bathroom.

In terms of the apartment's layout, it's clear to see that it is big enough to look like a house while wielding a square shape with a total of five bedrooms, however, one's occupied by a lot of stuff that prevents anyone from being able to stay in there right now. Also, the apartment has two bathrooms, each poised at opposing ends of the duo's new home, as the living room has a good amount of space to hold two couches that are both 7 feet long while adjacent to one another with a 50 inch television placed in the middle at a decent distance from both couches. Not only that, there's a cement balcony that can be reached by going passed the living room and through a glass sliding door situated next to the television as the balcony allows them to witness the Geofront. The kitchen is sufficiently large to possess a table that can sit ten people as it's located beside the door that leads outside while Misato's, Asuka's and Rei's bedroom are located on the left side of the apartment with the bathroom that's over there stationed between Asuka's and Rei's bedroom. In Shinji's case, his bedroom is obviously on the other side with the second bathroom at the center of his quarters and the room that's full of stuff.

Shinji walks into the kitchen as he's dressed in a dark grey T-Shirt and dark blue shorts. After doing that, the brown-haired boy momentarily observes Asuka as she persists her search for food, stands at a small distance away from the German girl and asks with a polite tone, "You know we don't have any food, right?"

Asuka detains her action as she gets a little annoyed while looking down at the light blue tank top and red, short shorts she's wearing. Following that, the teen yells without shifting her focus to Shinji, "I can see that!" Asuka turns to him while notably upset. "But I'm hungry, so what do you expect me to do?!"

Nervousness appears on Shinji's face as he tries to smile. "Well... You can wait until we all go out later, considering we'll definitely have to go get food."

Asuka closes her good eye as she tilts her head rearward. "When the hell will that be?!"

Kaji randomly appears behind Asuka while having his arms crossed and chuckles lightly.

Shinji immediately sees Kaji and takes a step forward while astonished.

Asuka eventually exhibits concern due to her noticing Shinji's expression. "What's wrong?"

Shinji continues to be awestruck for a moment prior to smirking as he points at Kaji with his left hand. "Look who's here."

Asuka's confused by Shinji's request while cocking her head to the left, resulting in her hair slightly moving towards that direction. She then straightens her head while turning it towards the right to verify who Shinji's referring to. After doing that, Asuka discovers Kaji's presence, which temporarily causes her to be in shock, before screaming out of joy. "KAJI!" The red-head runs to Kaji and hugs him with her head buried into his stomach.

Kaji gives Asuka a bit of a surprised look until implementing a sincere smile with his right hand placed on top of the teenage girl's head and says in a caring tone, "I'm glad to see that you're alright."

Asuka starts to cry while mildly reducing her tone. "I'm so happy that you're alive!"

Kaji sharply nods. "Same here." He then looks up at Shinji with a cheerful grin. "And I have you to thank, Shinji."

Shinji timidly smiles while navigating his head slightly to the left. "Y-You don't have to thank me. I'm just glad that you're back as well."

Kaji persists his glee without deviating his concentration from Shinji.

In the meantime, Misato walks out of her room and discerns that Asuka's crying while held by Kaji, invoking a giggle from her, as she stands next to her lover. "I almost did the same thing when I saw him."

Kaji looks at her with a skeptical expression. "Really?"

Misato turns a faint shade of red as nervousness surfaces as she steers her vision away.

Asuka's now looking at Misato during the continual embrace of Kaji prior to glancing toward the brown-haired man and suddenly lets go of him while taking a step back. Having done that, the red-head folds her arms together while aiming a criticizing expression towards both Kaji and Misato. "So... That means you two did it, didn't you?"

Misato blushes even more, dumbfounded by what Asuka just said, and questions her in a defensive tone, "How did you come up with that?!"

Shinji watches on while becoming quite wary as he thinks, "Here we go again."

Asuka's demeanor shows a hint of aggravation as her arms remain crossed before standing sideways to have her body confronting the kitchen, which is in the north side of the room. "It's totally obvious. When two people, who are used to doing it and haven't seen each other for a while, will have sex right off the bat. Since we don't know at what time Kaji arrived, you two could've been doing it for quite a while."

Misato gets very irritated by Asuka's logic while glaring at her and thinks, "Although Kaji hasn't been here that long, either way, Asuka still guessed right."

Kaji softly laughs with his eyes shut for a couple of seconds until directing her vision to Misato as he smirks and contentedly says, "She more or less hit the nail on the head."

Misato steadily sets her sights onto Kaji and asks with her teeth gritted, "Why the hell did you admit to it?!"

Kaji chuckles while tilting his head back as he shuts his eyes again. "Because there's no hiding it!" The male adult reverts his attention to Misato. "If it makes you feel better, I'm capable of telling you that Asuka threw herself on me once and wanted me to have sex with her."

Asuka's stunned by Kaji revealing such a personal matter, turning bright red in the process, and then gets extremely upset. "Why would you declare that?!" She glimpses at Shinji for a moment before returning her gaze to Kaji. "Especially when Stupid Shinji is here!"

Kaji looks at Asuka with a nonchalant expression. "Calm down. I said it because, since I admitted to Misato and I having sex, it's only fair that she knows about what you attempted to do quite some time ago."

Misato's jaw drops after hearing Kaji's explanation as her vision is locked upon Asuka and ultimately starts laughing while lifting her left hand slightly to point at Asuka. "Seriously?! I knew you were obsessed over Kaji, but I never thought you would take it that far!" She continues her laughter while putting her left arm down and tilts her head back with her eyes closed. "As if he would ever contemplate doing that with you in the fist place!"

Asuka gets even more upset. "It's not funny, Misato!" She commandeers her vision to Kaji while striving not to cry. "And that wasn't alright to say, even if you think it was fair!"

Shinji focuses his attention onto Asuka with concern radiating due to the red-head's outburst until directing it to Misato, who hasn't ceased laughing yet. This causes the lad to deploy an agitated composition while mentally stating, "She shouldn't be laughing so much. I understand she finds it funny, but she's going overboard." Shinji glances at Asuka with a hint of confidence brimming, walks up next to her as he's observing Kaji with a devious smirk appearing out of nowhere and utters, "Hey, Kaji. Did Misato tell you she kissed me, and that when the 3rd impact was over, we will do grown-up things together?"

Misato instantly stops laughing while shocked by Shinji's words as she's looking at the ceiling before concentration on the 3rd Child and blurts out in disbelief, "You still remembered that?!"

Kaji's surprised as he looks at Misato. "So what Shinji just said is true?!"

Misato hesitantly turns her gaze to Kaji with nervousness arising and stutters. "W-Well... Y-Yeah..."

Asuka's also surprised at first while looking at all three of them and then haphazardly begins laughing, grabbing onto her stomach with both hands. At the same time, she leans forward as her good eye is shut. "Mein Gott, that's hilarious! You were judging me for throwing myself to an older man, but you threw yourself to a minor!" Asuka leans back while slanting her head rearward. "This is too freaking funny!"

Misato becomes greatly agitated with a glare pointed at Asuka. "Oh, shut up!"

After seeing Misato's reaction as Asuka's laughter doesn't end, both Kaji and Shinji start laughing as well.

Suddenly, Rei walks into the room with confusion being displayed on her person and inquires with a bland tone, "What is so funny?" As she asks that, it's clear to note that the blue-haired girl's wearing a grey, button shirt that is a bit too big on her while the length of it almost reaches her knees. Rei's solely containing panties upon her lower extremities, although can't be seen thanks to the shirt. The reason the 1st Child'ss dressed like that is because of her concept for being shy about things involving physical appearance doesn't really exist.

Asuka snaps her sight toward Rei while attempting to stop laughing and answers with a smile, "Only the funniest thing I've ever heard!" She continues to laugh while tilting her head back once again.

Shinji veers his attention onto Rei with an assuring demeanor displayed. "Don't worry about it, Ayanami. I'll tell you later."

Rei gets a bit confused as she looks at Shinji and politely says, "Alright." She then notices that Kaji's standing beside Misato and remarks to him with a bland tone while bowing, "It is good to see you again, Mr. Kaji."

Kaji smirks at Rei. "Same here. Also, you can just call me Kaji. You don't need to say mister."

Rei's a tad caught off guard while straightening her posture prior to nodding with a bashful conduct showing.

After that, the scene diverts to Gendo and Fuyutsuki, who are currently in the office of the Governor of Japan. There seems to be an intense atmosphere in the room as both parties are facing each other. The Governor is sitting at his desk, which is quite large for a desk amidst a giant pendulum swinging back and forth behind him, while looking like he could be in his early 50s with no real other features that stick out too much.

Simultaneously, Gendo sits upon a seat that's toward the opposite side of the desk as Fuyutsuki's standing on his left. The Commander's presently contorted onward while wielding his elbows placed onto the desk, his hands clasped together while they're in front of his mouth. At the same time, Gendo's examining the governor with a serious stare and questions via a composed tone, "Do we have an understanding? Or do you still not trust us?"

The governor sighs as he shuts his eyes while leaning his back against his seat. He soon reopens his eyes to gain view of Gendo once more and rebuttals with a stern tone, "Trust is earned. But... Since SEELE can't be depended on after they have left the facility they formerly were located in without informing me, you now have the support of the government to rebuild Tokyo-03."

Gendo contentedly nods. "Thank you." He momentarily pauses prior to asking with no difference to his tone, "What about the reconstruction of the Evas?"

The governor makes a serious expression and says calmly, "SEELE can be a threat due to their connections with the other Branches, so we will commence funding the reconstruction of the three Evas."

Gendo sighs softly with an unsatisfied behavior portrayed as he briefly closes his eyes until gazing at the Governor again. "Unfortunately, that won't be enough."

The governor's instantly bewildered as he bends forth with his right arm placed on the desk for a bit of leverage. "What do you mean?!"

Fuyutsuki responds with a calm tone as he puts his hands behind his back. "We predicted that SEELE will come at us with their own Evas. Although one of our pilots was doing well against the Mass Production Evas, she still fell and, by technicality, we didn't beat them. With three Evas we could beat nine of their Evas, but it wouldn't be guaranteed it will end at that. Due to this concern, we need to increase our numbers."

The governor rises from his chair as he slams his hands onto the desk prior to shouting with a stressed tone during him watching Fuyutsuki while leaning over the desk, "How much more will you be wanting to increase by?!"

Gendo promptly states with an emotionless voice, "As many as possible. This includes the real Eva Unit 05 and its pilot."

The governor looks at Gendo while temporarily stunned and then complains, "However Eva Unit 05 and its pilot currently belong to the American Branch! There's no way they would agree on giving you their only Eva considering they have already lost the 2nd Branch! Anyway, that Eva is still a test type, what help would it be to you?!" He stops his speech to take a deep breath with his eyes closed until pointing his head down while calmly breathing out and soon peers at Gendo as some concern establishes itself. "Are you sure about this?"

Gendo replies by implementing a short nod without any hesitation.

The governor releases a disappointed sigh in response. "Well, I guess there's no other way, huh?" He looks at his desk while exhaling one more time.

Fuyutsuki gives the governor a solemn expression. "No need to fret. We'll prevent SEELE from trying to make Instrumentality transpire again. We'll ensure their defeat once and for all."

The governor gazes at Fuyutsuki with insecurity . "I just hope that you two won't attempt anything that will endanger the world this time."

Gendo plainly retorts. "My only goal now is to defeat SEELE."

The governor navigates his vision to Gendo and nods while quite serious. "Alright, but there's only so much money you'll receive for the reconstruction of Tokyo-03, and if you plan on making more Evas, then you better have the parts. Accounting the situation we're in, it will be extremely difficult to get any because we don't know what Branches are on our side."

Gendo smirks, however, it isn't seen by the Governor due to Gendo's hands still being in front of his mouth. "That's another thing you won't have to concern yourself with. We merely require the government to fund our efforts."

The governor nods again as he sits down on his seat with his arms resting upon the desk. "Very well."

With that, the scene changes once more with some time going by until its noon. At this moment, Misato's driving her car, which miraculously had survived the 3rd Impact with minimal damage, as Kaji's sitting in the passenger seat while the three children are in the back seat. Shinji's poised in the middle while Asuka's on his right and Rei's to his left. They have just left the store after having bought food and some new clothes due to them being in need of them as the store was run by NERV personnel because the civilians who previously work there hadn't returned yet. Apparently, some of the city's residents had indeed come back, although are presently housed in the lower levels of NERV while many can be depicted outside as Misato drives by. The Colonel's wearing the same attire that she always utilizes when she goes to NERV while Kaji is still dressed in what he had on when he first appeared to Misato. In Shinji's case, he's wearing his school uniform since the boy lacks any sense of fashion, and the same thing for Rei. In the meantime, Asuka's endowed with denim shorts and a red, tank top to reflect how much she cares about dressing differently.

Shinji looks out the window that's to his right with a faint grin. "Good to see that people are back."

Asuka glances at Shinji with her good eye while her right hand's on her right cheek to hold up her head and bluntly remarks, "Of course. It wouldn't be the same if they didn't return." She then looks towards the ceiling of the car with a bit of curiosity. "Now that I think about it, I should see if Hikari is back."

Shinji's surprised by Asuka's statement while focused on her. "That's right! I need to contact Touji and Kensuke!"

Misato aims her concentration to her rear-view mirror so she bear witness to Shinji with intrigue showing. "Shinji. You know that Touji's still in the NERV's medical facility, right?"

Shinji hastily focuses on Misato in disbelief. "Really?!"

Misato smiles amidst nodding. "Yeah. He wasn't release before the 3rd Impact. I confirmed yesterday that he's there, safe and sound."

Shinji smiles while rapidly filled with joy as he bends a bit forward. "Can I see him?!"

Misato nods again. "Sure. We have to go to NERV anyway, so we can check how things are going. We'll head there after we take the stuff home."

Kaji abruptly yells out in a panic while bracing himself, his back pressed against his seat. "Misato, watch the road!"

Misato's startled by Kaji's outburst as she frantically looks forward, depicting that she's almost off the road, and desperately pulls the car back into the road while swerving a little. After doing that, she gasps for air due to the sudden rush.

Asuka exhibits a grand quantity of anger and shouts while leaning towards Misato, "Where the hell did you get your license?!"

Misato responds with an irritated groan while sustaining her eyes onto the road.

Kaji nervously smiles as he's viewing Misato and thinks, "I've wanted an answer to that question for a long time." He chuckles a little.

Shinji looks at everyone one by one until seeing Rei, who's looking out the window. This forces the teen to become a tad worried as he thinks, "I wish Rei would enjoy herself like we do. I don't want her to feel left out. If she starts to be more social, she'll be able to have fun and be happy with us without ever being alone again." Shinji begins to display some sadness in his eyes while dropping his head a little, thinking of all the moments he's seen Rei distance herself from others, and is soon consumed with determination as he mentally utters, "I'll make sure that Rei's happy! She helped me during the 3rd Impact and protected me a bunch of times! The least I can do is help her with that!"

They continue on their way home and, once they get there, quickly put the food and clothes away. They also make something quick to eat since Asuka's still complaining about being hungry. As soon as they finish eating, the quintet leave to go to NERV. They eventually get there as it's decided that Misato and Kaji will go to Central Dogma while the children go to visit Touji. Asuka initially whined about having to go see Touji, her dislike of him for obvious reasons persisting, but gets over it after a while. After they part ways, Misato and Kaji reach Central Dogma while finding everyone working.

Misato looks around at her colleagues while smiling. "It looks like you all are working hard."

Maya turns to Misato as she reciprocates the Colonel's conduct. "We sure are. Since early this morning to organize the moving procedure for the civilians to return and where they'd be living until the city is rebuilt."

Misato joyously yells out, "That signifies the Governor agreed to help, huh?!"

Maya simply responds by nodding at Misato.

Misato continues to smile and looks next to her, which is where Kaji's supposed to be, but isn't. This causes the purple-haired woman to analyze her surroundings with concern taking over. "Kaji? Where did you go?" Misato then discerns that Kaji's talking to Ritsuko, who's stationed beside Aoba's post that's toward the right sector as they're laughing together, and ends up irritating the Colonel quite a bit while glaring at Kaji prior to marching up to both of them.

Kaji turns his head to Misato with a content attitude. "Hey. I was just catching up with Ritsuko."

Misato stares at Kaji, not permitting her personality to falter. "Is that so? And you had to do that the moment you saw her without mentioning anything to me?"

Ritsuko giggles while covering her mouth via her left hand. Not long after, the doctor drops her limb and smiles. "Are you jealous, Misato?"

Misato's stunned by Ritsuko's question while taking a step back and blushes a little. She then gets into a defensive pose while yelling out, "No, I'm not! It just frustrates me that he can be so sleazy sometimes!" Misato looks at Kaji with an annoyed glare after having said that.

Kaji tries to calm Misato down by gesturing his hands slightly ahead of her with his eyes shut. "Now, now. I'm sorry that I used to do that, but I don't plan on acting like that anymore." He opens his eyes to look at her and smirks.

Misato groans a little before relaxing by inhaling deeply as her eyes are closed. Soon after, the dame imitates Kaji's recent action. "If you really mean it, then I believe you."

Kaji rebuttals with sincerity portrayed, "Well, I do."

Ritsuko firmly interrupts the pair as she's specifically focusing on Misato. "By the way, Commander Ikari is waiting for you in his office." The blonde glances at Kaji. "He'll like to see you too."

Both Misato and Kaji nod at her while containing no issue to them being summoned by Gendo.

Ritsuko smiles slightly. "Alright. I'll see you both later." She's about to turn around, but stops herself and looks at her friends with minor concern. "Also, where are the pilots?"

Misato contentedly grins at Ritsuko. "Oh, they went to visit Touji. It seems they had forgotten he was in the medical facility."

Ritsuko makes a slightly surprised expression. "Well that's a little ironic because there are two people who are already visiting him. They were ALSO summoned by Commander Ikari."

Misato grows a bit concerned while additionally surprised. "Really? Who?"

Ritsuko lowers her hands in her coat pockets as she smirks at Misato. "You all know who they are so I don't need to tell you. Commander Ikari will inform you what his plans are, and the reason he summoned those two."

Kaji watches on with moderate curiosity exhibited and thinks, "His plan?" He then becomes quite serious while persisting his thoughts. "I wonder what it could be."

Despite her worry, Misato emits a small smile. "fine. I'll go check with him." She then steers herself accordingly to depart. "See ya."

Kaji follows Misato while looking at Ritsuko and waves goodbye to her. He then turns his attention towards Misato so he doesn't lose track of her.

Ritsuko watches the couple leave and thinks with some concern showing, "I wonder if she'll be alright with his plan."

As Misato and Kaji go to see Gendo, the children have made it to the medical facility as they are now getting ready to enter the room that Touji is in.

Asuka decides to open the door as she leads into the room, however, is amazed when noting that Hikari and Kensuke are in the room.

Touji's lying on his bed while wearing a plain, blue gown as the lower half of his body is covered by a white blanket. Concurrently, Hikari's sitting on a chair that's to the right of Touji's bed with her eyes on him while Kensuke is standing on the other side of the bed as both of them are dressed in their school uniform.

Asuka instantly yells out, compliments of her being delighted to see her friend, "Hikari!"

Hikari's eyes widen as she had sustained her concentration toward Touji before commandering her attention to Asuka and suddenly smiles while shouting, "Asuka!" The teen hurriedly gets up from the chair and rushes toward Asuka.

Asuka takes a few steps forward and, upon coming into contact with Hikari, hugs her while representing a big smile. "I'm so happy to see you!"

Hikari attempts not to cry out of joy as she's also embracing Asuka. "Me too!" She then looks at Asuka in the eyes while retaining her hold onto the red-head. "I thought I was never going to see you or anyone ever again!"

Asuka's looking back at Hikari. "I know! I thought the same thing! But thanks to Shinji, we're all still here!" She then closes her eyes as she smiles once more.

Kensuke's surprised after listening to what Asuka said and then mounts his vision toward Shinji. "For real?! Shinji, did you save the day?!"

Shinji looks at Kensuke amidst scratching the back of his head via his right hand as he sheepishly grins. "Umm... Yeah."

Kensuke promptly yells out of being impressed, "That's amazing!"

Shinji gets extremely nervous while veering his attention from Kensuke.

Asuka looks at Shinji with a hint of annoyance, letting go of Hikari to put her hands on her hips, and leans a tad onward while facing the blue-eyed boy. "Don't get so full of yourself, idiot! You may have brought everyone back, but you better not let it bloat that head of yours!"

Shinji mildly maneuvers backwards while even more nervous. "Uh... Okay, Asuka."

Touji shuts his eyes and laughs while yelling out, "I can't believe stuff still haven't changed!" He opens his eyes to look at the others. "I thought the day Shinji would save the world, he woulda' grew a back bone, but that hasn't happened yet!" Touji keeps on laughing.

Hikari shifts her gaze to Touji with a moderately upset expression. "Suzuhara! That wasn't nice to say!"

Shinji quickly starts laughing a little as he tilts his head back prior to viewing Hikari with a smile. "It's fine, Hikari. That's just Touji being himself. I wouldn't want it any other way." He then stops smiling and looks at Touji's lower body while depression surfaces somewhat. "Now that I think about it, I haven't apologized for what happened before." Shinji makes eye contact with Touji.

Asuka sighs while rolling her eyes as irritation envelopes her and mumbles, "Here we go again. Stupid Shinji saying he's sorry."

Touji gives Shinji a sincere grin. "Don't ya worry 'bout it, man! I know it wasn't ya fault!" He chuckles a little.

Shinji's momentarily baffled by what Touji just said prior to showing a look of gratitude as he delivers a short nod. "Thank you, Touji."

Touji keeps smiling and sits upright on the bed. "No problem, man." He then uncovers his lower body and shows that the leg which was crippled has been replaced with an artificial leg that's very close to looking like a real leg.

Asuka sees Touji's leg with a bit of sympathy surfacing while thinking, "Damn... He looks so pathetic with that. It makes me not want to insult him anymore."

Meanwhile, Shinji silently stares at Touji's artificial leg with sadness overtaking him.

Touji makes an annoyed expression and shouts while tilting his head back with his hands placed on his head, "Ahhh! Don't ya do that!" He gazes at Shinji while putting both elevated limbs down. "I told ya not to worry and I mean it!" Touji then gives Shinji an intense stare with determination displayed.

Shinji's surprised at first, however, eventually portrays a light smile and nods. "Okay."

Touji contentedly grins. "Good." He then tries to get up.

Hikari takes a step towards Touji while extending her arms in his direction a little with concern brimming. "Don't! You haven't practiced walking that much!"

Touji smiles at Hikari. "Ya shouldn't worry 'bout that. I've practiced enough to walk. I only gotta go slow when I walk, that's all." The lad slowly rises from the bed and looks at everyone. "Anyways, I'm actually supposed to be released today."

Rei calmly responds to Touji's words. "In that case, we better all head to Central Dogma. Colonel Katsuragi would be glad to see the three of you."

The others look at Rei while fairly awestruck until glancing at each other as they smirk and nod. With that decided, the group of friends let Touji get changed before exiting the room and then head to Central Dogma.

As they head over there, Misato and Kaji are in Gendo's office with the pair having recently been informed of what happened with the Governor of Japan.

Misato makes a stern expression as she's watching Gendo while standing at the other end of his desk with her arms folded. "So from what you just told us, we have the support of the government. They will pay for the reconstruction for the city and they'll even help us repair the Evas, which includes the remake of Unit 00."

Gendo's sitting down in his usual position while peering at Misato with a calm demeanor. "Up to that point, you are correct."

Standing on Misato's left side, Kaji exhibits a decent sum of concern. "Is there something else?" He quickly looks back and forth between the two commanding officers.

Gendo nods with a hint of seriousness showing. "Yes, there is. However, this is by my decision."

Misato's overcome by a wary constitution while slightly drawing toward Gendo. "What is it?"

Fuyutsuki responds while poised at Gendo's left as his eyes are glued to Misato with no real emotion, "I'll answer that."

Both Kaji and Misato look at Fuyutsuki with seriousness quickly demonstrated.

Fuyutsuki temporarily takes a deep breath and exhales out before firmly saying, "It has been decided that we will make more Evas as the repairs are made to both the city and our current Evas."

Misato gasps a little while substantially surprised and then places her hands on the desk as she contorts herself towards Gendo with an upset glare. "Are you serious?! How the hell are we going to do that?! And who's going to pilot the new Evas after they're made?!"

Gendo remains calm and states without hesitating, "We will use as many parts of the Mass Production Evas as possible. It will help with the repairs and the construction. We also have the remains of Eva Unit 03 that was salvaged after its attack. We'll remake it as well and other Evas to the most that's manageable." The Commander pauses for a second as he softly sighs with his eyes closed. After that, Gendo opens them to bear witness to Misato again with a firm stare. "Now to answer the question of who will be the pilots."

Before Gendo's able to continue, Shinji and the others walk into the office. They stop behind Misato and Kaji while standing next to each other with the order they are in is as follow from left to right; Kensuke, Rei, Shinji, Asuka, Hikari and Touji.

Misato immediately steers her head to focus on the children, becoming even more surprised than before when she notices Touji, Kensuke and Hikari. This causes the female adult to turn her concentration back at Gendo as bewilderment is radiating while pointing at Touji, Hikari and Kensuke with her right hand's thumb. "They're the new pilots?!"

Gendo calmly nods. "I figured it would be best to utilize children who are already well associated with the current pilots."

Kensuke overhears what Gendo says as his jaw drops prior to shouting while happily surprised, "No way!" He then perches his right hand upon his chest to aim his index finger at himself. "I'm going to be a pilot?!"

Gendo nods at Kensuke. "That is correct. I chose you and Ms. Horaki due to your relationship with most of the other pilots. Additionally, Mr. Suzuhara will be reinstated as a pilot."

Hikari's instantly shows fear while speaking with a nervous tone, "Ummm... Excuse me. A-Are you sure that it will be a good idea to have me as a pilot? And don't you think I should ask my father first?"

Gendo calmly responds, specifying his gaze to Hikari. "I already discussed this with him about it last night. He said it's up to you to make a decision."

Hikari hesitates as she thinks to herself while kind of freaking out, "Oh my God! What should I do?! I never once thought of piloting! I never even asked Asuka how it feels like!"

Touji looks at Hikari, grabbing her left hand with his right, and displays a very determined conduct as that invokes surprise from her while the boy states in a sincere tone, "Listen, Class Rep. If ya don't wanna pilot, ya don't have to. But... If ya decide do, I promise that I'll make sure nothin' happens to ya."

Hikari swiftly blushes as she thinks, "That's the first time Suzuhara has ever said anything like that to me!"

Asuka's dumbfounded for an instance while looking at them before smirking as she mentally comments, "About time he admits his feelings."

Hikari momentarily looks to the side while trying to stop blushing. Soon enough, the uniformed teenager instills her attention toward Touji again with a hint of confidence exhibited. "I'll pilot!"

Having been watching the children's conversation throughout and hearing Hikari's declaration, Misato takes a step forward while quite concerned. "Are you positive, Hikari?"

Hikari looks at Misato with no alteration to her attitude. "Yes, completely!"

Kaji briefly glances at Hikari and then focuses his attention onto Touji while containing a curious expression. "And that obviously means you're in as well."

Touji nods at Kaji. "Ya bet I am!"

Kensuke hurriedly positions himself in front of Touji and excitedly shouts while pointing at his person via his left hand, "So am I! I've always wanted to pilot the Eva!"

Shinji sighs while rolling his eyes and thinks, "Sadly, it's true..."

Kaji looks at Misato with a halfhearted grin. "It's settled then."

Misato exhales in defeat while dropping her head a tad. "I guess so." She then lifts her head and looks at Kaji as she smiles.

Gendo quietly observes them for a moment prior to talking with a stern tone, "You three better go home and get your stuff together."

Everybody except Fuyutsuki looks at Gendo as they implement a confused expression.

Realizing that, Gendo explains himself with minimal effort, "The reason why I say that is because you all will be living together in Colonel Katsuragi's present residence."

After that, everyone aside from Fuyutsuki respond at the same time while profoundly surprised, "What?!"

Gendo quickly rebuttals in a composed manner. "Calm yourselves. This is for the benefit of us knowing where you all are at. It will be less complicated this way."

Rei becomes quite concerned as she journeys forth a little. "Is that the purpose behind why you had me move in with them?"

Gendo sternly looks at Rei and nods. "That's correct."

Asuka hurriedly yells out in distress while gesturing a bit with her right hand, "But there's only five bedrooms in that apartment and one of them is full of stuff! How's everybody going to live there?!"

Gendo turns his gaze towards Asuka. "Each bedroom can fit two people easily. You all have to figure out who will be with whom."

Everyone except Fuyutsuki hesitantly nods in agreement.

Gendo nods out of approval. "Then that is all. You are all dismissed."

The pilots, Misato and Kaji nod again as they then exit the room.

Fuyutsuki looks at Gendo after the others leave with concern noted. "You mind telling me why you didn't divulge to them about Eva Unit 05 and its pilot."

Gendo glances at Fuyutsuki as he mounts his hands on his desk and rises to his feet. "Simple." The Commander adjusts his stance to face Fuyutsuki while joining his hands behind his back. "It hasn't been confirmed that America will agree to send Unit 05 and its pilot. It may take a while before we hear a response, compliments of the originally designed Unit 05 just being remade not too long ago in the 5th Branch. This being the result of the incident that occurred in the 2nd Branch. Though, I'm confident they will agree... We merely need to give them time. Until then, we'll start the repairs for our Evas and make the new ones."

Fuyutsuki nods without having any issue pertaining to what Gendo had finished informing him.

After that, Touji, Kensuke and Hikari are taken to see their families to get some of their stuff to move in. Hikari is told to bring Pen-Pen, who's been living with her for a while now as the penguin is delighted at the sight of Misato and the others. They then head home and decide on who will be sharing rooms. Although Misato obviously wanted Kaji to be in the room with her, he suggested to her that it wouldn't be a good idea since two of the children of opposite sex will end up in a room together.

As a result, Touji and Kensuke would be in the room that use to belong to Rei. In the meantime, Asuka and Hikari would share Asuka's room while Misato and Rei are in Misato's room, which automatically includes Pen-Pen since he loves sleeping where Misato is. This leaves Shinji's room obviously occupied by Kaji and Shinji. With that, they all spend the rest of the day together and, when the day is over, go to their respective rooms as that marks the beginning of a new experience for everyone, however, it won't be the last.

To Be Continued...

Ending Statement:

Oh my God, this episode is long too! To be this long and not have a fighting scene is quite sad, but once again, I had to write as much as I needed for it to work out as I have calculated. At this rate, I'll get to the fighting in a couple of episodes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do a time-skip in the next episode, but I don't know how I'll fit that in. Anyway, I hope you guys liked my episode and I reassure you that your patience will pay-off.

That's it. Talk to you all later.