Words from the Author:

Here we go. After seeing how my first two episodes are really long and they're even longer than a lot of the episodes from the 2nd Branch story, I might make this episode shorter, but I doubt it will be that short. In a way, I should think that the longer the episode, the better. Enjoy the episode and I still don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Episode 3: True Feelings and Developed Feelings

A couple of weeks pass and, during that time, the children had grown accustomed to their new living conditions as they're starting to get used to each other. Although there are some moments where Asuka enters an argument with Touji thanks to that being the way those two are, everyone's able to live quite peacefully while the reconstruction of the city, the progress of repairing the Evas and creation of the new Evas transgresses. As the reconstruction moves along, all the civilians had returned to Tokyo-03 and are doing everything they can to help out. Amidst the children's wait for their Evas to be completed, they perform synchronization tests to verify where they stand as individual pilots. Even though Touji hasn't had that much experience when he was first made to be a pilot while Hikari and Kensuke will be going through their first test, they are encouraged by the others that they will do pretty well. Right now, Shinji, Touji and Kensuke are changing into their plugsuits within the boy's locker room as Asuka, Rei and Hikari are in the girls' area.

Shinji's currently endowing himself with his plugsuit while looking at the floor, spacing out a bit in the process, as he mentally registers, "I didn't think I would actually have to wear this so soon." The 3rd Child steers his concentration to the ceiling while containing the plugsuit half-way on and thinks, "I guess this proves I'll have to pilot again..." Shinji's then filled with sadness as he finishes putting the plugsuit on and fasten it to his body.

Simultaneously, Touji had slipped into his plugsuit, but it hasn't been fastened onto his body since he's helping Kensuke put on his plugsuit. The brown-haired lad's plugsuit has the color light grey on the upper part of the plugsuit and blue for the rest of the plugsuit, except for the arms that possesses some black onto them. It's similar to Shinji's plugsuit with the lone difference being the white on the upper part instead of light grey. 

In his case, Kensuke wears a plugsuit that has dark green on the higher part and light green for the rest, excluding some sectors of the arms due to all of the children's plugsuits having black on the arms. During that, the glasses-endowed boy emanates a decent quantity of irritation thanks to his plugsuit getting stuck upon his legs as he persists his effort in putting it on. "Oh come on! How hard can this be?!" Kensuke looks up and sees that Shinji already has his on while Touji's just one step away from doing the same, provoking a yell of jealousy, "How the hell do you guys do this?!"

Aggravation appears on Touji's demeanor while sighing and rolling his eyes. Afterwards, the jock veers his focus back at Kensuke as he fervently shouts, "Come on, man! It ain't that hard!"

Kensuke's about to respond, however, loses his balance because of his legs still being tangled as he falls face first onto the floor. 

Both Shinji and Touji watched Kensuke hit the floor with sympathy as they say at the same time, "Oooh! That had to hurt!"

Kensuke stays lying atop the floor while his glasses had come off and is situated beside his left. He then turns his head to view his glasses and mumbles with depression brimming, "Why me...?"

Touji abruptly begins laughing due to it finally dawning onto him that Kensuke falling face first is amusing. As he does that, the teen places his left hand over his forehead while tilting his head back with his eyes shut. "That shit was funny! Way to go, Kensuke!" He continues to laugh.

Shinji walks toward Touji's left, having been behind him, and bends towards Kensuke with worry established. "You okay, Kensuke?"

Kensuke grabs his glasses with his left hand and then impulses himself off the floor as he puts on his glasses. Once he accomplishes that, he commandeers his vision toward Shinji while portraying a slightly embarrassed conduct. "Yeah... I just wish that I wasn't having such a hard time with the plugsuit."

Touji ceases his laughter and presses the button to fasten his plugsuit as he's plainly looking at his friends. "It ain't that hard, man. Just pull up the plugsuit to cover ya body and push the button on ya wrist."

Kensuke looks at Touji with a bit of irritation. "I know! I wasn't having a problem with that. It was that I kept getting my leg stuck while trying to pull the plugsuit up." He looks at the plugsuit to pull it as the outfit covers his body and then presses the button to fasten it. Upon doing that, Kensuke smiles as he retains his vision on his person with his arm stretched out downward. "Finally!" He laughs while making a proud pose and aims his attention to Shinji with excitement. "How do I look?!"

All Shinji can do is smirk at Kensuke as he shuts his eyes, giving him a thumbs up with his right hand. 

That gesture causes Kensuke to let out a big smile at Shinji while getting even more excited as he throws his now clenched hands up towards the ceiling. "Awesome!" He drops his hands down and runs towards Touji. Once he reaches him, the lad wraps his right arm around Touji's neck while situated at his friend's left to draw his face a bit too close to Touji's. "Now that I'm a part of the team, things are going to be amazing! I can't wait to pilot an Eva that's specifically made for me!"

Shinji nervously grins while observing Kensuke. "Um... You do know the Eva that will be made for you is going to be based on the design of Eva Unit 04, right?"

Kensuke sets his concentration to Shinji with no alteration to his demeanor. "I know! But in a way, it will be made just for me! That's what I like about this! I'll finally have my own Eva!"

Touji's becomes very agitated as he's feeling uncomfortable from Kensuke clinging to him and ultimately shouts, shutting his eyes and tilting his head upward in the process, "Kensuke! Get the hell off me!"

Kensuke relinquishes his contact with Touji amidst maneuvering backwards and displays an amused smirk. "Okay, Touji. You don't need to yell." He chuckles lightly.

Shinji chuckles while briefly watching them until turning to face the exit. "Alright, guys. Let's go." The 3rd Child walks towards the exit as both Touji and Kensuke look at each other with determination after seeing Shinji leave. After doing that, they quickly exit the room and follow Shinji to the testing room.

As the boys leave the locker room and head towards the testing area, the girls are still in their locker room while almost ready. 

Asuka gradually removes the bandages that are on her right arm and left eye while sitting on a bench that's installed into the room. She nearly possesses her plugsuit completely on while gazing down at the bandages that are now onto the floor. The 2nd Child then peers at the mirror that's inside the door of her locker as she sees that her eye and arm have fully healed. This causes Asuka to contentedly smile and stands upright while quickly concluding her preparation.

Hikari navigates her attention to Asuka and then happily grins due to seeing Asuka without her bandages. During that action, it can be noticed that the brown-haired chick's already dressed in her plugsuit that's the color orange with black on the arms while both Rei and Asuka have the same plugsuits they always wear. Soon after, Hikari says with an immense amount of happiness presented, "Your wounds have healed!"

Asuka hastily looks at Hikari after putting on her plugsuit and nods. "Uh-huh." The blue-eyed girl shuts her locker and journeys towards the exit while not realizing that Rei's right behind her. 

Simultaneously Rei watches Asuka with no real emotion displayed as she grabs onto Asuka's left arm with her right hand.

That interaction startles Asuka a little while gazing at Rei with surprise before focusing downward, witnesses that the teenager's hand is holding her arm and exhibits slight annoyance as she yanks her limb out of the grasp of Rei's hand. After doing that, the red-head faces Rei to ask in a defensive tone, "What's the big idea, First?!"

Rei commandeers her hand to her side and calmly replies. "I want to confirm something."

Asuka's still a bit irritated, but eventually settles down her emotion while tilting her head slightly to the left with curiosity. "And what would that be?"

Rei vaguely blushes with her vision directed to the left out of the corner of her eyes. "What is Ikari to you...?"

Asuka takes a step back, blushing a little as well, prior to contorting a little towards Rei while clenching her fists and fiercely questions, "The hell is that supposed to mean?!"

All that Hikari can do is observe her fellow pilots and is somewhat stunned.

Rei reverts her sight to Asuka with a bit of determination showing while not blushing anymore. "I want to know if you have feelings for Ikari, just as I have feelings for him."

Asuka jerks her head back a little as she turns bright red while baffled by Rei's statement until growing even more defensive and gets closer to Rei. "What would ever make you think that I have feelings for an idiot like him?!"

Rei plainly comments, "Because when you kissed him, you actually enjoyed it and that scared you since you thought you only felt that way for Mr. Kaji."

Asuka's totally awestruck while her mouth is open a little, however, manages to snap out of it through shaking her head rapidly with her eyes shut. This results in the redness in her face to disappear and then stares Rei down while becoming upset. "How the do you know about that?!"

Rei answers with a firm look demonstrated. "During the 3rd Impact, I was capable to see the desires of others and some of their memories. This was because I had fused with Lilith. I saw the memory of you and Ikari." She issues Asuka a light smile as her eyes glisten a little. "You enjoyed it and so did Ikari."

Asuka blushes as she's shocked from what she just heard prior to looking at the floor while thinking, "Shinji liked it? Well of course he would. It was a kiss from me, after all, but I wasn't too sure." The German dame grins a tad.

Rey responds without hesitation, momentarily losing her smile. "It is in my ability to accept you being with Ikari, although I want you to be honest about your feelings for him. Insulting Ikari constantly and hoping that one day he will make the first move isn't like him."

Hikari takes a step towards Rei with a hint of concern rising from her person. "But Rei, you just admitted you like Shinji. Wouldn't you want to be with him?"

Rei gazes at Hikari before closing her eyes and calmly utters with sincerity shown, "I would indeed enjoy that, however, Ikari requires someone who will make him a better person." She opens her eyes to view Asuka. "It must be you, Soryu. Your feelings for him are quite strong and it would be best if he's with you. With me, he would remain the same. Even though that isn't so bad, but he still needs to grow more. That way, Ikari won't always be so sad."

Asuka looks up at Rei as she's substantially astonished. "So you're saying I'm the better choice...?"

Rei smiles while inquiring with minor criticism established. "Are you not always the better choice?" She then giggles a little.

Asuka emanates an expression of disbelief for a moment prior to smirking and makes a proud pose. "Of course I am! Any guy would love to have me as their girl!" She laughs loudly.

Hikari giggles as she steers her hands to be behind her while concentrating on Asuka and thinks, "She basically confirmed her feelings for Shinji. I thought this day would never come."

Rei keeps smiling while thinking, "Although Ikari has helped me with trying to be happy, I have been giving it a lot of thought of who would be better suited for him. Despite my desire, it would be best that he and Soryu are together. She will aid him in growing as a person and he shall help her be more open, bringing her happiness in the end."

Asuka stops laughing before directing her focus towards Rei and Hikari with a determined conduct. "Okay! It's time to go! Everyone is waiting for us!" She swings herself around and walks out the exit as the other two girls follow her.

The girls head to the testing room while all being optimistic. Soon, the six pilots go through a simple synchronization test in their respective entry plugs, which Touji, Kensuke and Hikari also have since the entry plugs were the first things built with the funding from the government. At the end of the test, the results were told to the pilots. For the first time pilots, it wasn't so bad either. Shinji held the highest sync ratio at 94% while Asuka wasn't far behind with 92% and actually didn't complain that much about Shinji being first as that was a shock to everyone. Rei was next with 85%, then Touji was lucky enough to have 48%. This might have to do with his prepping in Unit 03 before it was taken over by Bardiel. Kensuke was able to achieve 37%, which for the dumbest of reasons, he felt really proud about himself and Hikari achieved an acceptable sync ratio of 31%.

Upon hearing the results, the children went to the locker rooms and quickly got changed. After depicting how well the children had done, Misato and Kaji had decided to take them all out to eat. This turns out to be quite an interesting situation for the children. For a funny reason, they had gone to a pretty expensive restaurant that happens to have tables that only sit four people each and this causes them to split up into two groups. Kaji, Misato, Shinji and Asuka are in one table while the one next to theirs will have Touji, Kensuke, Hikari and Rei seated there. Thanks to certain arrangements, Misato sits next to Kaji, causing Shinji to be stationed beside Asuka. In the separate table, Hikari makes it a little obvious to Touji that she wants him to be next to her, so he does, meaning Kensuke is sitting with Rei. 

Shinji's table is on the left side of Touji's as that places none of them behind other. Shinji is located on Asuka's left while Kaji sits on Misato's right, signifying that Misato's in front of Asuka and Kaji is ahead of Shinji. Touji sits to Hikari's left while Kensuke's poised toward Rei's right. Because of this, with the way the tables are position, if Kensuke wanted to, he could give Shinji a High-Five without requiring any detachment from his seat. This means they are actually next to each other, with the exception of a gap between them for people to walk through, as they're all wearing street clothing while the time is presently 5:30 PM.

At this moment, Misato's flirting with Kaji while moderately drunk as the male makes some jokes that aren't that bad, however, does involve some mature content that shouldn't be said around the children. 

As example, Asuka demonstrates frustration while staring at them and thinks amidst while clenching her right hand into a fist with it being atop the table. "I actually thought Kaji was more mature than that, but I guess I was wrong! He's almost as bad as Misato!" The teenager specifies her gaze onto Misato.

Misato abruptly blurts out, pointing at Kaji with laughter mixed in, "You remember that joke about the dog and the peanut butter?!"

Kaji tilts his head rearward and laughs too. "Of course I do! How could I forget?!"

Asuka's irritation escalates as she persists her thoughts while glaring at the two of them, "It seems like they really are perfect for each other! I seriously need to work on my taste in guys!"

Worry overtakes Shinji a bit while observing Asuka as he's holding up his head via his right hand under his chin prior to thinking, "Asuka's getting annoyed. I wonder if it would be a good idea to ask her to come outside with me, so she can calm herself down."

Asuka continues to watch Misato and Kaji until looking at Shinji, having noticed that his eyes are on her. This leads to Asuka remembering her discussion with Rei and vaguely blushes before tenaciously nodding to herself. Afterwards, the blue-eyed female inhales with her eyes closed and eventually steers her attention upon Shinji as she speaks in a commanding tone. "Shinji!"

Shinji's eyes widen thanks to the manner that Asuka talked with timidness portrayed. "Y-Yes, Asuka?"

Asuka turns and gets out of her chair."Let's go outside! I need a break from these two!"

Shinji witnesses Asuka while quite nervous, nods and rises to his feet. "Um... Fine."

Asuka starts to walk as she yells out while maintaining her voice, "Come on then!"

Shinji obediently follows her as he thinks, "Well, that saved me from having to ask her." The brown-haired boy smiles lightly. 

Misato and Kaji concurrently watch them walk away. They then make eye contact with one another and nod while smiling as if they had planned the entire thing.

Rei also watches Shinji and Asuka leave the room while thinking, "I do hope she tells him how she feels."

Touji suddenly speaks in a very hyperactive way as he randomly gestures his arms. "Though I don't care that much 'bout pilotin', I'd still do it if it's to help out my friends!" He sets his vision to Hikari. "And to be sure that nothin' happens to ya, Class Rep." Touji wholeheartedly grins.

Hikari exhibits a mild level of redness while looking away from Touji. "Thanks, Suzuhara." She then reverts her focus onto him while shyly questioning, "Uh... Can you do me a favor though?"

Touji displays a curious expression with his eyes fixed onto Hikari as he's still hyper. "Whatever ya want?! Just name it!"

Hikari scratches the left side of her forehead with her left index finger. "Well... Can you try to call me by my name? I don't really mind that you call me "Class Rep", but I would prefer..."

Touji instantly interrupts her. "No prob, Hikari!"

That quick response causes Hikari to be surprised while blushing a bit more and then smiles at Touji. "Thank you."

Touji steadily calms himself and leans towards Hikari to have his face close to her's. "Now, do me a favor."

Hikari's redness elevates further, compliments of his closeness, and gradually nods.

Then, Touji's face partially matches Hikari's as he asks with a slight strain in his voice, "Will ya be my girlfriend?"

Hearing that question renders Hikari dumbfounded and commences hyperventilating a tad. After a few seconds, the girl tries to regain some composure as she smiles at Touji and states with joy, "Yes! I would love to be your girlfriend!"

Touji smirks and then kisses Hikari on the lips, whom is immediately filled with delight as she shuts her eyes to reciprocate his action.

Kensuke smiles as he pushes his glasses into place with his right and contentedly thinks, "Finally."

Rei watches her companions while decently amazed at how Touji and Hikari are expressing their emotions as she thinks, "I wonder how that feels like."

Kensuke notices Rei's expression, putting his hand down, and smiles at her. "Random, huh?"

Rei implements a curious demeanor as she views Kensuke. "What is?"

Kensuke glances at Touji and Hikari, who are still kissing, prior to resetting his focus towards Rei. "That people can abruptly say they like someone, turning into such a heartfelt scene." 

Rei keeps looking at Kensuke while surprised by what he said. 

An instance later, Kensuke sighs as he focuses on Touji and Hikari again with sadness starting to surface shortly after. "I wish I could express my feelings to a girl and she'll feel the same way as I do. Then we'll have that special moment."

Rei blushes with moderate bewilderment sustained and thinks, "Incredible! He really wishes for closeness, just as I do!" She makes a calm expression without removing her gaze from Kensuke.

Kensuke steers his head to Rei with concern emitted. "Something wrong, Ayanami?"

Rei faintly smiles while trying not to blush again as she rebuttals. "You may call me Rei."

Kensuke turns a small shade of red, dumbfounded, and thinks, "For real?! She wants me to call her by her first name?! But she never once said I could call her that!" He rapidly blinks a little and then thinks, "Shit... I rarely hear Shinji ever address her by her first name too!"

Rei hesitates a little. "Do you think... We could spend some time together? I would appreciate the chance to familiarize myself with you better. We have been classmates for a long time, however, I do not know much outside of what you obviously enjoy."

Kensuke nervously nods as he continues to be in awe by Rei's unexpected interest in him. "That's fine with me. Whenever you want, we can hang out."

Rei maintains her smile. "Good." 

With that answer, it's revealed that Touji and Hikari had stopped kissing. They are now watching Kensuke and Rei while significantly surprised at what transpired prior to them cheerfully grinning at each other.

Right after that, the focus promptly deviates to Asuka and Shinji being outside while in the parking lot that's ahead of the restaurant. Asuka is searching for Misato's car while Shinji's still following her as there are a decent number of vehicles in the parking lot. Eventually, the German girl finds the car and sits down on the hood as she's facing forward with Shinji standing toward her right while leaning against the vehicle.

Shinji looks at Asuka out of the corner of his eyes with concern gleaming, his body facing onward as well, and carefully inquires, "Are you alright, Asuka?"

Asuka has a slightly annoyed expression and responds without mounting her attention towards Shinji. "I'm fine! I'm simply getting over something really stupid!"

Shinji becomes a tad confused due to Asuka's retort as he cocks his head to the left. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what is it exactly that you're getting over?"

Asuka directs her concentration to Shinji with aggravation displayed. "What are you, stupid? Didn't you see how Kaji and Misato were acting?"

Shinji sheepishly smirks while shutting his eyes. "They're just glad stuff is so peaceful." He regains his view of Asuka. "Anyway, you know how Misato is."

Asuka hurriedly leans towards him and harshly yells, "I understand Misato's personality, but I didn't know Kaji can be so immature!" The German dame groans while planting her hands upon her head and pulls it backwards. "I had a crush on him because I thought he was mature and good-looking!" Asuka drops her head to her legs. "I even thought I was in love with him, but I was only being as stupid as you normally are!"

Shinji exhibits an annoyed composition as he stares at Asuka's performance and thinks in a sarcastic way, "Thanks a lot." The 3rd Child then diverts his gaze from her.

After a little, Asuka realizes her recent words and opens her eyes while setting her sights onto Shinji with worry brimming. The 2nd Child sees his irritation as she displays a hint of sadness while thinking, "Great...! I just insulted him! I was supposed to try not to do that anymore!" The red-head's concern then comes back, moving her hands from her head while placing them onto the car to shift herself accordingly to face Shinji. Having accomplished that, Asuka talks in an apologetic tone while instilling her vision towards her hands, "I'm sorry for saying that."

Shinji's face snaps his focus to Asuka with astonishment because of him not predicting that she would apologize until earnestly grinning while responding in a content voice, "It's alright, Asuka. I should be use to it."

Asuka's eyes widen and looks at Shinji with a hint of surprise. She's then overcome by sorrow while slowly shaking her head a tad. "You shouldn't." Asuka gets a little closer to Shinji while determination takes over. "I promise that I'll do my best not to insult you anymore."

Astonishment plagues Shinji, resulting in him losing his grin for a moment, prior to happily smiling at Asuka with a sharp nod issued. "Okay."

Asuka smiles back at Shinji as she thinks, "Good." She then realizes a detail while peering down at her hands. Following that, Asuka commences to twiddle her fingers a tad and keeps thinking, "Should I tell him how I feel? I wonder if it'll be too random. He could reject me because he might like Wonder-girl."

Shinji detects Asuka's conduct while portraying worry. "Are you still bothered by the whole thing with Kaji and Misato?" 

Asuka shakes her head without looking at Shinji. 

Shinji unconsciously narrows the gap separating him from Asuka. "Then what's the matter?"

Asuka slowly looks up at Shinji while trying not to blush as she's a bit annoyed. "I'll tell you, but you better answer the question that comes afterwards." The teen gives Shinji an intense glare. "And if I don't like the answer, I'm going to kick you in the nuts."

Shinji's instantly scared while contorting backwards a tad and reluctantly rebuttals. "A-Alright. So what is it?"

Asuka sighs, shuts her eyes while striving to muster up some courage, makes eye contact with Shinji again and blushes slightly. "Shinji, I've..."

Shinji switches his behavior to show confusion as he slants his head to the left while thinking, "She what?"

Asuka begins to breathe heavily while attempting to concentrate on what she wants to utter. "I've had..."

Shinji continues to be confused while raising his left eyebrow a little and thinks, "What could it be that she's having such a hard time saying?" The Japanese boy then becomes a little worried while focusing towards the right out of the corner of his eyes. "Hopefully she doesn't want me to do something humiliating. If I don't do it, she'll kick me in the balls..."

Asuka peers down at her hands and clenches them into fists while frustrated with herself as she thinks, "Why can't I say it?! Did I really think that I would never say it?! Was Wonder-girl, right?! Was I really waiting for Shinji to make a move?!" She closes her eyes. "But obviously, he would never say it because that's the way he is! So, I have to do it!" Asuka opens her eyes with determination brimming, sets her sights onto Shinji, who has been waiting patiently, and tries to talk again. "Shinji... I've had feelings for..." She abruptly stops and this causes Asuka to drop her head as she's extremely stressed out while thinking, "Damn it! I almost said the most important part! Why did I have to stop?!"

Shinji turns his attention back to Asuka as he leans towards her a bit more. They're now about two inches away from touching as the lad smiles at Asuka. "Calm down, Asuka. If you're having such a hard time saying it, then don't."

Asuka suddenly realizes something with her eyes mildly widening while thinking, "That's it!" She then grins while uttering in an innocent tone, "Shinji, do me a favor."

Shinji's filled with curiosity due to the way Asuka's voice sounded. "Huh?"

Asuka sweetly replies, "Close your eyes."

Shinji's confusion returns as he hesitantly says, "Umm... Okay." He hesitantly does what Asuka requested from him amidst thinking, "Could it be that she couldn't say it because I was looking at her?"

Asuka blushes a little as she steadily lifts her right hand off the car as she thinks, "Do it quick, Asuka." She temporarily licks her lips and pinches Shinji's nose with her right hand while totally bridging the space dividing them. 

Shinji's eyes swiftly open as he felt the pressure on his nose and witnesses Asuka with a shocked expression. 

In the meantime, Asuka closes her eyes without noticing that Shinji's seeing her and kisses him. 

Shinji's completely stunned while his eyes widen and blushes. 

Asuka retains her lips connected with Shinji's as her eyes are still closed.

During that, Shinji thinks to himself while no difference to his attitude occurs, "I remember this. Although she said it was to kill time, it doesn't mean I didn't really like it." The boy smirks as he shuts his eyes and presses his lips against Asuka's to return the kiss. 

Asuka slowly reopens her eyes due to feeling his lips apply their own pressure as she blushes a bit more until maneuvering from Shinji to stop the kiss while releasing his nose and lowers her hand.

In conclusion, Shinji takes in a deep breath since he couldn't attain much oxygen because of Asuka previously clamping his nose, quickly bears witness to the red-head as he's still blushing a bit and timidly asks, "Is this the thing you wanted to tell me? That you have feelings for me, Asuka?"

Asuka plainly looks at Shinji while nodding. "And I was going to check if you share similar feelings for me."

Shinji remains nervous and veers his attention to the right for a second prior to concentrating on Asuka again with a slight smile. "I do."

Asuka grins while experiencing a lot of joy and nods at Shinji. "That's Great!" She can't sustain herself any longer and shouts while pulling her head back with her eyes closed, "Yes! I'm so relieved!"

Shinji chuckles as he watches Asuka before thinking, "So am I." He then says to the teen with a somewhat confident demeanor, "Hey, Asuka."

Asuka shifts her vision to Shinji with a hint of curiosity showing as she's smiling. "What is it, Shinji?"

Shinji promptly gets near Asuka once more and kisses her on the lips.

Asuka's momentarily surprised by Shinji's sudden action, but then smiles as she kisses him back.

With Shinji and Asuka finally being able to express their affection for one another, the scene is concluded. It is now obvious that both Shinji and Asuka are in a relationship, and so are Touji and Hikari. But they aren't the only ones who get together. Over the course of a few weeks, Rei and Kensuke have started spending a lot of time together, ultimately coming to understand each other enough to agree that they want to be together. Thanks to Rei's relationship with Kensuke, the blue-haired chick is improving herself in terms of conveying her emotions and has become more social with everybody. This helped Rei's relationship with Asuka since the two of them formerly were at opposing ends for a long time, but presently are working on being friends. 

As a result, Asuka has better herself as a person via being open about some things she mostly was very reserved of, for example the subject concerning her mother. The German girl was able to tell Shinji, permitting him to be there for her when she even started crying. In addition, Shinji's improving as well, compliments of Asuka coaching him to be more aggressive, but continues to mainly possess a timid conduct with a happier vibe becoming common at the very least. 

When it comes to Touji and Hikari's relationship, the only thing that has been worked on is how the jock acts out sometimes. Hikari has been keeping him in check, which irritates Touji a tad, although he deals with it pretty well. Concurrently, Misato and Kaji are glad that the children are able to experience something as normal as relationships before they have to fight against SEELE.

A few more weeks pass by and the reconstruction of the city is almost complete. Also, Eva Unit 01 and 02 had been already repaired for some time while Unit 00 and 03 are nearly rebuilt from the parts that were salvaged, including the remains of the Mass Production Evas. The other Evas that are planned to be created from the Mass Production Evas are almost completed. Hopefully for NERV, SEELE doesn't make its move yet.

To Be Continued...

Ending Statement:

This won't be brief because I have a lot to explain and say. First off, my reasoning for Kensuke's plugsuit color is because I've looked through the internet and I normally see fan art that has him wear green, so I decided to stick with that. Hikari's plugsuit is based on me only seeing pictures of her dressed in an orange plugsuit, so I'll keep it like that. Touji's plugsuit is obviously the same deal, although I do see some that have the color dark grey on the top instead of light grey. So I had to make a judgment call. As you can tell, I abused the time skip so I can pretty much cut to the chase because it would have taken a long time to get Rei and Kensuke together if I had written it out. I will try to make the next episode have action since I want to give you all action, but I'm still not sure if I should just yet. I hope you all enjoyed the love-fest and pray for the fighting to come soon.

That's it. Talk to you all later.