Words from the Author:

This episode will be a little tough. I have a good idea of what it will be about, but like I almost always do, I'm going to be improvising until I'm happy with the episode. I'll do my best to entertain all of you nonetheless. So enjoy while remembering that I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion and I will never selfishly say that I do.

Episode 7: Awkward Love Triangle Followed By The Sudden Rejection

After defeating the two enemy Evas, Mari met up with everybody inside Central Dogma and was welcomed by each of them, except Asuka due to her continual anger towards the foreigner. This issue is forgotten for now, compliments of another dilemma having been brought up that involves Mari's housing situation. It's ultimately decided that the glasses-wearing chick will join Misato and the others, although has to stay in the living room since the only other available space for her contains a lot of stuff within it. Mari sees no problem with that, but Asuka does because she doesn't like the fact that the new pilot will be living there for obvious reasons. Although something Asuka never considered to be possible arises a couple of days after Mari moves in, causing things to change. Right now, it's the morning as all the children are in their respective rooms while Misato and Kaji reside inside theirs. The focus is on Shinji and Asuka's room thanks to the 3rd Child waking up first.

Shinji gradually opens his eyes with a tired look displayed while Asuka's facing away from him as her slumber persists. Following that, the Japanese boy navigates his head to the closet that's currently opened and reveals his clothing. Afterwards, Shinji steadily sits on the edge of the bed with his head lowered as he gains some of his composure before commandeering his attention to the right to view Asuka.

Ironically, Asuka randomly turns around at that instance as she confronts him while still sleeping. 

Shinji smiles and thinks, "She looks even more beautiful when she's asleep. I'm so lucky to have her." He then closes his eyes while navigating his attention towards the bedroom's door. After doing that, Shinji rises to his feet as he casually walks to the doorway, quietly exits the room and heads toward the kitchen. Once he's there, he starts preparing breakfast for everyone.

As Shinji gets the food ready, Mari's lying on the couch that's adjacent from the television with her entire body covered up by her blanket. Eventually, the Problem Child's woken up by the noise Shinji makes during his cooking. This leads to Mari removing the blanket from her face while lying onto her back as it's noted that her hair isn't pinned nor tied since she takes them off when she goes to sleep. Thanks to that, her hair is presently down and will always be that way at the beginning of the day, as well as throughout the night.

After navigating the blanket away, Mari reaches for her glasses via her left hand while the object is resting upon the floor beside the couch. She puts them on as she continues to be quite tired until noticing Shinji in the kitchen. Soon enough, Mari fully removes the blanket from her person and reveals that she's wearing a light pink tank top and light blue denim shorts. Then, the teenager slowly sits up as she observes Shinji with a grin and thinks, "He seems to be the thoughtful type. It's the third time I've seen him cooking breakfast for everybody." Sadness promptly takes over Mari while still thinking. "I wonder if he does it to get everyone's gratitude, or does he do it because he feels like he has to?" The brown-haired girl abruptly lets out a mild cough with her vision maintained onto Shinji.

Shinji barely hears Mari cough and drives his head to see her with mild curiosity brimming, simultaneously stirring the food that's in the cooking pot as it's placed on the stove. Right after, the 3rd Child smiles while saying with a laid back tone, "You're awake. Sorry if I woke you."

Mari yawns, mounting her right hand over her mouth, as she gets up. Following that, the dame puts her hand down while walking towards Shinji with a smirk. "It's alright." Mari halts right next to Shinji and checks out what he's preparing prior to detecting a certain smell. Because of that, the teen gawks at Shinji out of minor astonishment.

In the meantime, Shinji fails to take notice of Mari's sudden reaction due to his concentration being back on the food with a cheerful conduct portrayed.

Taking advantage of that, Mari leans a bit towards Shinji with her eyes closed and inhales the aroma around him. This ultimately leads to the Problem Child being overcome with joy while smiling widely.

Shinji finally registers Mari's action while fairly baffled, confronts her amidst retreating from the new pilot a tad and inquires with a very nervous tone, "Uh... W-What are you doing...? Are you... S-Smelling me?"

Mari reopens her eyes as she fixes her posture with her hands behind her back. After doing that, she looks at Shinji with pure happiness showing while commenting in a slightly seductive way, "You smell like LCL... And with the way you are naturally, you make it smell REALLY good."

Shinji promptly turns a little red with a stunned behavior established.

Mari gets near Shinji again, but a bit closer this time, and smells him on the left side of his neck. Soon enough, the brown-haired girl backs away from Shinji while shutting her eyes and contentedly squeals with her head tilted rearward, "Oh my God, you smell so good!" Mari issues Shinji a delighted grin.

Anxiety totally consumes Shinji's person while becoming a deeper shade of red and thinks, "W-What's up with her?! Is she getting turned on by the way I smell?! B-But how can she?!"

Mari narrows the space between Shinji's face with her's to an extreme point as she licks her lips. "I would SO enjoy waking up next to you every morning. The 2nd Child is super lucky to have you."

Shinji gets really nervous, attempting to create some distance from Mari. "Well... I'm actually the fortunate one..."

Mari stays near Shinji and implements a skeptical look as she's smiling. "Is that right? Why?"

Shinji rebuttals with no difference to his current behavior as he persists his efforts in retreating temporarily. "I-If it wasn't for Asuka... I'd... Um..." He diverts his attention away, ceasing his mobility, with a hint of sorrow in his eyes. "I'd still be alone..."

Mari vaguely giggles while slowly shaking her head and says with a sincere tone, "I don't believe that."

Shinji's eyes widen from show and swiftly directs his concentration toward Mari. "R-Really?!"

Mari nods with enthusiasm, "Of course, 'cause I'm definitely interested in you! You ought to gaze deeper to justify your answer better!"

Shinji's completely stunned as his jaw hangs a little.

Mari makes her face get closer to Shinji's one more time and remarks with sincerity, "With such a good smell, and from what I've seen these past few days, I think any girl would love to have you. Though I will admit, as a person, you have some bad qualities based on what I've heard about you while I was in America. You got the tendency of doing what you're told with the expectancy of being praised, which isn't too bad, but you need to do stuff for yourself more. Not to mention improving your self-esteem. You're still really dependent on others for validation."

Shinji keeps on exhibiting some redness with his anxiety growing. "I've been... Working on that..."

Then, out of nowhere, Pen-Pen exits Misato/Kaji's room as the door is opened enough for him to slip through while substantially exhausted since he recently awoke. The animal eventually detains its movement and turns to witness Mari being near Shinji from beside the kitchen table. Suddenly, a confused expression can be depicted on Pen-Pen, releasing a soft squawking sound with its head lightly tilted eastward. After that, the warm-water penguin steadily straightens his composition while steering itself around to return to Misato/Kaji's room with neither Shinji or Mari aware of his brief presence.

Meanwhile, Mari maintains her close proximity with Shinji, happily saying in response to Shinji's words before Pen-Pen's appearance, "That's good. Now tell me... Do you like what I'm doing at the moment? Be honest." The blue-eyed female giggles as she registers that Shinji's becoming even more red while reaching a level of nervousness that could possibly render him unconscious. Not long after, Mari smirks and innocently pouts her lips a tad. "Oh come on. It's not that hard of a question. Unless you don't want to admit that you enjoy it." The foreigner pauses amidst looking towards the left, viewing the living room, prior to focusing onto Shinji once again with a smile and seductively utters, "Plus, I have bigger tits than Asuka. Everyone knows that guys prefer them big."

Shinji's in complete shock, starting to feel light-headed while commencing to breathe heavily. 

Mari gently presses her breasts against Shinji's chest. "I bet you'd enjoy seeing me naked. You'd even love to fondle my tits too, huh?"

Shinji rapidly turns pale before passing out, falling to the floor in the process. 

Mari's baffled at Shinji's abrupt collapse amidst frantically exclaiming, "Oh no! Shinji!"

Asuka quickly comes out of her room, having heard Shinji's name and discovers him lying upon the floor as she shouts with worry demonstrated, "What happened?!"

Mari draws her vision towards Asuka, significantly distraught. "He just passed out!" The Problem Child laughs internally as she thinks, "I went a bit too far with my teasing... I really am a nuisance..."

Asuka softly gasps from surprised as she temporarily rests her concentration onto Mari until directing it back to Shinji. After that, the redhead rushes towards her fellow pilot and knees down beside him as she feverishly shakes his body via both hands. "Wake up, Shinji! Are you okay?!"

Mari smirks in a sinister manner, observing Asuka's effort while thinking with her left hand placed atop her hip, "I doubt Shinji will wake up any time soon. Even when he does, I don't think he'd tell her what I was doing. She'd go ballistic and Shinji's known for wanting to avoid conflicts." She giggles to herself without detaining her thought process. "It'll occur no matter what though. I was being honest about everything I told him after all."

After a little time transgresses, everybody else awakens thanks to the commotion Asuka was making during her strive to awake Shinji. Once Misato and Kaji find Shinji passed out, they decide to take him to the clinic to be checked on, believing the reason he's unconscious involved something mental. Ultimately, Ritsuko determines it has nothing to do with that when she checked Shinji as she tells the others that he passed out from hyperventilation and only needs to rest for a bit in the clinic. Following the lad's recuperation and was released, Shinji returned to the apartment as he informs Asuka what happened with Mari, although the teen hesitated a bunch beforehand because of him understanding the consequences. This obviously causes the German girl to become consumed with anger and goes to confront Mari, who's currently watching television on her couch. 

At that instance, Mari's accompanied by Rei and Kensuke as the couple are sitting at the other couch. Simultaneously, Touji's with Hikari in their room while Kaji has gone out again to search for information on SEELE's whereabouts. Finally, Misato is doing paperwork in her quarters as Pen-Pen's relaxing atop her bed.

Asuka marches out of her room, the location of where Shinji made the revelation, while infuriated and advances towards Mari amidst thinking, "That bitch is SO going to pay!"

Shinji chases after Asuka as he tries to plead with her while radiating concern. "Please let it go, Asuka! It isn't that much of a deal!"

Asuka stops right next to Mari's couch, irritation rising from within, and turns around to face Shinji with her hands clenched while leaning towards him as she shouts, "What was that?! She came on to you, Shinji!"

Kensuke hears Asuka's outburst prior to steering his head toward the right to mount his vision upon Shinji while very astonished. "She what?! I can't believe it!"

Rei looks at her fellow pilots as she has a moderately bewildered expression until setting her sights onto Mari with a serious stare while thinking, "Why would Makinami do such a thing, when she does not even know, Ikari? She also comprehends that Soryu and Ikari are together." Rei becomes quite upset as she glares at Mari a bit.

Unaware of Rei's actions, Mari watches Asuka and Shinji with a smirk while thinking, "I guess I was wrong. He did end up telling her."

Shinji makes an attempt to calm Asuka down, but can see from her behavior that it won't work. Because of that, the blue-eyed boy forfeits his effort while lowering his head with a hopeless demeanor portrayed. "Sorry..."

Asuka gets extremely upset. "Why are you apologizing?! You didn't do anything!" She turns around to confront Mari and aims her left hand's index finger at the brown-haired individual. "You're the bitch who tried to hit on MY boyfriend!"

Mari giggles while having her sights set onto Asuka before getting up from her couch to stand in front of the 2nd Child while facing her. "Just 'cause he's your boyfriend, doesn't mean he can't change his mind and go for a more attractive girl, like me."

Asuka grits her teeth as she drops her hoisted appendage, mildly progresses towards Mari and clenches her hands once more. "I dare you to say that again!"

Mari arrogantly shrugs with her eyes closed and has her head navigated away from Asuka. "I don't need to repeat myself. It's your fault for not comprehending." She views Asuka out of the corner of her eyes. "Also, I'll tell you the other benefits that Shinji will get from being with me." Mari directs a confident smirk towards Asuka, having steered her head to be poised properly.

Asuka fiercely retorts. "Really?! And what precisely could he get from you that he can't from me?!"

Mari gingerly laughs while shifting her attention to Shinji. "Well first off; he'll have a girl with bigger tits." The girl resets her focus to Asuka. "That's one of the most important pros."

Asuka becomes bright red as she grinds her teeth furiously.

Mari's amused by Asuka's reaction with her attitude mainly staying the same. "Admit it. Yours come up short to mine, making it hard for him not wonder how it'd be to fondle them. I bet he'd love it."

Kensuke randomly yells out with a smile, "Go for it, Shinji!"

Rei instantly mounts her gaze upon Kensule with a displeased expression and sternly utters, "Kensuke! Do not say such a thing! We all know well what Asuka feels for Shinji is real. Makinami could not possibly experience that so quickly!"

Shinji diverts his vision towards Rei with surprise brimming as he thinks, "That's the first time I've ever heard Rei call Asuka by her name. She rarely does that with me either."

Asuka grins while watching Rei and states proudly, "You said it, Rei!" She points at Mari with her right hand, retaining her eyes glued to the 1st Child. "No way in hell that she could ever reach the level of my feelings for Shinji!" Asuka commandeers her concentration back to Mari while lowering her hand as tenacity is exhibited.

Rei's a bit surprised and looks at Asuka while thinking, "She refered me by my first name..." The blue-haired character smirks as she keeps up her thought process. "We indeed are becoming friends."

Mari tries to restrain herself from laughing as she's specifically observing Asuka. "That so? Well, I'll speak the truth. My feelings are pretty shallow. The only things I know about him is what I've heard, but as long as he got that great smell, I could never be rid of them."

Asuka glares at Mari with an irritated expression. "Smell? What the hell are you talking about?"

Mari sighs while shutting her eyes with her head hanging. "Not many people understand my taste in guys." She steadly reopens her eyes with sincerity surfacing. "I normally like a guy based on his scent. All I need, for starters, is to enjoy waking up beside him." Mari peers at Asuka. "That's my weird definition of love at first sight."

Asuka's in complete awe, unable to reply, as she finally unclenched her hands.

Suddenly, Touji and Hikari exit their room while seeming to have fun with each other. They then both realize there's an issue going on within the living room and halt their movement to be next to Shinji. 

Hikari stands to the right of Touji with him poised towards Shinji's right while whispering to the teen, maintaining his focus on Asuka and Mari's confrontation, "What's going on?"

Shinji glimpses at Touji with sadness forming. "Something complicated." The male reverts his vision to Mari and Asuka while thinking, "But even that's an understatement."

Asuka solemnly glares at Mari as she talks in a commanding tone. "Listen up, Mari! You better forget those thoughts of wanting Shinji. As long as I'm here, that'll never happen!"

Both Touji and Hikari gawk at each other while temporarily shocked until turning their attention back to Asuka and Mari. 

At the same time, Mari giggles while deviating her gaze from Asuka. "You can't tell me what to do about this one." She shifts her focus back to Asuka with tenacity portrayed, "I listened to you on the subject of Unit 02 'cause it belongs to you and I have my own Eva. But, when it comes to Shinji, he's fair game." Mari glances at Shinji with a smile. "Right now, you're lucky to have him out of the current common feelings you two share. There are folks who stay together for years, and yet, they fall out of love for whatever reason. Shinji could too." The brown-haired girl views Asuka once more. "I'll do my best to make sure that person's me if he wants someone different. It mostly comes down to how stuff go and what gives him pure happiness."

Asuka's about to retaliate with anger escalating, however, is interrupted by Misato's appearance. 

Misato positions herself beside Hikari's right with a firm conduct demonstrated as she declares, "Enough! You guys shouldn't spend your free time arguing! All of you have a synchronization test tomorrow, so relax while you can!"

Thanks to Misato's outburst, the children swiftly shift their concentration to her and nod as they're fairy serious. 

Misato maintains her personality amidst looking at Mari. "I just received word that your Eva has arrived. So for the next time SEELE attacks, you'll pilot it."

Mari smirks while joy overruns her. "I wouldn't want it any other way!" She reduces her glee to speak in a lackadaisical manner. "Besides, Asuka would probably kill me if I even go near her Eva."

Asuka glares at Mari with ferocity emanating. "You're damn right I'd kill you! I should kill you at this moment!"

Misato specifies her attention onto Asuka. "Calm down, Asuka." She then expands her focus to  the whole group of pilots. "I think it's better that everybody goes to their respective rooms." Misato sets her eyes solely upon Hikari with intrigue established. "You mind if you cook dinner by yourself? I can't let Shinji be out here to help you. Knowing Asuka, she'll complain and Mari might try causing more trouble."

Hikari grins at Misato. "Not at all. I'll handle it."

Misato contentedly smiles. "Good." She looks at the others with seriousness. "Then everyone else, go to your room until it's time to eat."

All the children, except Hikari and Mari, do as they are told with Asuka being upset throughout. This results in the redhead not talking to Shinji at all because of his lack of totally comprehending why she's in the first place. Dinner's soon prepared as everybody, saved Kaji since he won't be returning for a couple of days, is eating while there is a lot of tension. Amplifying that is the fact Mari had inconsiderately chosen to sit to the right of Shinji while Asuka's situated toward his left.

Asuka intently stares at Mari during her consumption of some food to ensure that the Problem Child doesn't attempt anything.

Mari, on the other hand, neglects that Asuka's watching her as she is too busy with paying attention to Shinji while brimming admiration amidst eating.

Misato and the other pilots don't know what to do about the current situation, so they decide not to get involved. After everyone finishes eating, they go to bed to be well rested for their synchronization test. The next day arrives in no time as the children are now getting ready in the locker rooms while Misato works with Central Dogma's personnel.

Inside the girls' locker room, Mari slips on her greenish/brown plugsuit with a slightly annoyed attitude while pressing the button to fasten it. "Damn! I hate that I gotta wear this one just 'cause it's specifically made to work with Unit 05!" The blue-eyed dame places both her hands atop her breast as she pouts and gazes at them with a minuscule amount of sadness shown. "The pink one fits a lot better... This sucks."

Asuka gives Mari an aggravated look, already having her plugsuit on, and has her right hand planted upon her hip. "Quit your whining!" She promptly mocks Mari while rolling her eyes, "My plugsuit's too tight!" Asuka issues Mari a smart-ass smirk. "Not so good having big tits now, huh?"

An irritated scowl overcomes Mari as she sets her focus onto Asuka while lowering her hands until realizes something with her gaze upward. After that, the foreigner suddenly starts laughing hysterically while closing her eyes with her head dropped, holding her stomach via her left in the process, and aims her free appendage at Asuka. "That means you like owning small tits!" Mari continues her laughter.

Asuka blushes while putting her hand down before glaring at Mari and bends towards her a tad as she shouts in anger, "My breasts aren't that much smaller! Stop making it seem as if they are!"

Mari lifts her head to view Asuka with an arrogant expression surfacing. Right after a few  seconds, the teen stands in a sideways position via her right foot poised toward Asuka and tilts her head accordingly to looking at the 2nd Child out of the corner of her eyes. "What size are they then?"

Asuka turns a bit more red and then exhibits a solemn behavior. "They're between 34 and 36C!"

Mari tilts her head backwards as she shuts her eyes and laughs proudly. "Mine are 38C at the very least!" She instills her vision onto Asuka again while grinning. "They even fit perfectly in a size 34D." Mari giggles lightly.

Asuka becomes pissed off while the coloring to her complexion remains the same. "So what?! They aren't that much bigger! That was my point!"

Mari replies in a taunting way with her right index finger elevated beside her face. "But. They. Are. Still. Bigger!"

Asuka grits her teeth while greatly annoyed prior to closing her eyes in the effort of calming herself. Afterwards, dame commences advancing to the exit right behind Mari as she soon reopens her eyes and utters with a composed tone, "Forget it. I'm tired of arguing with you." Asuka walks pass Mari and out the exit that had automatically opened when she pressed a button on the wall.

At the same time, Hikari sees Asuka leave with concern engulfing her as she recently finished getting dressed, quickly follows Asuka and tries to catch up to her.

After that, Rei observes Mari with an emotionless expression and fastens her plugsuit to her constitution.

Unaware of Rei's action, Mari stares at the doorway with both hands joined behind her posterior while thinking, "Looks like I win." The brown-haired chick steers her attention to Rei and hurriedly witnesses the 1st Child's expression, invoking mild concerned from Mari as she asks, "What's with you?"

Rei immediately calms herself as she closes her eyes with her head slightly lowered while walking towards Mari. Once that's done, the pale character opens her eyes while halting a few inches ahead of Mari and abruptly tries to smack her face via her right hand.

Unfortunately for Rei, Mari swiftly catches the oncoming limb with her left hand and smiles with curiosity portrayed. "What was that for?"

Rei responds with a cold tone, having narrowed her eyes to physically reflect how she feels. "You are interfering in Shinji and Asuka's relationship. I want you to cease and dessist."

Mari slants her head to the left a little. "If they truly love each other, then I shouldn't be able to get in the way of that." She faintly laughs while straightening her head's stance. "That won't keep me from expressing myself though."

Rei alters her voice to utter in a criticizing method, "You merely like him for his smell. How could you possibly have any real feelings?"

Mari closes her eyes while shaking her head. "You're wrong for thinking that it's only that." She look at Rei again as an earnest conduct takes shape. "He's also a really good pilot, a great cook and a very nice guy. His main problems are that he's a bit spineless, isn't that confident, and still doesn't entirely understand what he's fighting for."

Rei glares at Mari and confidently retorts. "He will with the help of Asuka."

Mari suddenly exhibits an emotionless demeanor. "Does it have to be her? They don't fit too well, honestly."

Rei's momentarily surprised before replying as a bit of confusion joins in. "What do you mean?"

Mari smiles while radiating confidence. "I can tell they're together mostly to fix each other. They may feel like they're in love, but what will occur when they find someone who has a better connection with them?" 

Rei refrains from speaking, compliments of her not grasping Mari's explanation, and sustains her recent behavior. 

As a result, Mari persists her speech with no resistance from Rei yet, "That's the moment they'll figure out that their love is temporary, like some other people's. It's pretty natural. They may try to fight it, but there's a limit. The veil of certain misconceptions eventually do fade."

An intense attitude consumes Rei prior to her firmly declaring, "That will never happen. I know they truly love each other and always will."

Mari vaguely scoffs while turning around to face the exit. "We'll see. No one's right all the time though." She then walks towards and out the door.

Rei watches Mari leave with seriousness displayed until deciding to walk out the door too and thinks, "I am not wrong."

With that conversation over, soon enough, the pilots are in their respective entry plugs with the synchronization test beginning shortly. At first, everything seems alright, but a problem unexpectedly appears when they realize that Touji's having a hard time synchronizing with Unit 03's entry plug.

Maya's currently staring at her monitor as a worried conduct is emanating from her. "Something's seriously wrong! Touji's synchronization is barely reaching 20%!"

Misato looks at Maya with equal concern. "How come?! Touji's sync ratio was over 50% during the first fight!"

Maya doesn't answer Misato's question while commandeering her sight to Ritsuko from her left. "Dr. Akagi! Look at this!"

Ritsuko exhibits curiosity prior to walking to Maya's location and leans towards the screen so she can depict what's going on. As she reads the information, the blonde's eyes widen out of bewilderment while repairing her stance. "His sync ratio has stopped. It didn't even pass 20%."

Misato hurriedly comes up to Ritsuko's left as she views Maya's screen with disbelief radiating. "Are you serious?!" The Colonel shifts her gaze onto Ritsuko. "What's the deal?!"

Ritsuko makes eye contact with Misato while gingerly shrugging. "I haven't the slightest idea. There's no apparent reason for the 4th Child to be unable to synchronize."

Misato switches her concentration to Maya with a solemn expression. "Restart the test for Touji."

Maya nods in response to Misato's order and turns to her monitor again while commencing to type.

Simultaneously, Misato aims her attention to the main screen that displays the pilot's entry plugs as she says with a commanding tone, "Touji! We're restarting the test for you! Just focus like you always do, alright?!"

Touji has his eyes closed with determination displayed while nodding as his head is lowered. "Gotcha!" As the test restarts, the teen strives to synchronize, however, to no avail and causes him to become very irritated amidst mumbling to himself. "What's goin' on?! I should be able to do this! Why ain't this stupid thing listenin'?!"

Suddenly, a menacing voice comes out of nowhere and retorts to Touji's distress with an agitated tone. "Because you're not enough anymore!"

Touji gets startled as he frantically opens his eyes and peers at the ceiling. "The hell was that?!"

Misato's voice comes through the intercom while notably worried. "What's wrong, Touji?!"

Touji searches around for a moment until halting and gradually gawks at the floor while trying to calm himself. "I thought I heard somethin'... But it's nothin'."

Hikari promptly involves herself via a separate intercom as she sounds a tad concerned. "Are you sure, Suzuhara?"

Touji nods while taking deep breaths to relax more. "I'm sure, Hikari. Don't ya worry 'bout me, okay?"

Hikari rebuttals with no alteration to how she's talking. "If you say so."

Misato eventually adds in a lackadaisical manner, "In that case, keep attempting to synchronize."

Touji continues inhaling deeply and shuts his eyes. "Fine." The brown-haired boy persists his effort to concentrate for some time, but can't manage to improve his results as he thinks, "Damn it! Why does it feel like no matter how hard I try, I can't really get into it?!"

The menacing voice abruptly responds again. "You could never bring out my full potential! That's the reason! You're a failure! You could never protect anyone!" It then laughs in a maniacal manner.

Touji becomes upset after hearing those words as he shouts while retaining his eyes closed. "No way! I promised Hikari I would!"

Misato rushes to speak with Touji again while immensely worried. "What are you talking about, Touji?!"

The menacing voice keeps on laughing. "You got to be joking! You're weak! I want someone willing to bring forth chaos to the world! it's over for you!"

Suddenly, Unit 03's entry plug turns off, making Touji open his eyes as he's completely awestruck while gazing upward. "What just happened?!"

Maya yells out in horror during her examination of her screen, "I can't believe this! Unit 03's entry plug shut down and refuses to reactivate!"

Misato's overcome by astonishment, concentrating onto Maya in the process. "How's that possible?!"

Hearing Misato's outburst, Ritsuko thinks while also attentive of Maya with a hint of concern presented, "This is similar when Unit 01 rejected both Rei and the Dummy Plug System. Could it be that Unit 03's doing the same thing?" She shakes her head with her eyes briefly closed until setting her focus upon the large monitor as seriousness takes shape while thinking, "Impossible. Unit 03 isn't supposed to have a soul."

Touji's now curled up into a ball, intently watching the controls thanks to being in shock, and mutters, "What the hell was that voice?! He says I can never protect anyone!" The 4th Child shuts his eyes while grinding his teeth for a moment and screams, "THAT CAN'T BE TRUE!"

Listening to Touji's cry from her entry plug, Hikari brims sadness as she thinks, "Oh, Suzuhara..."

The scene suddenly changes to be on SEELE's top five members while currently sitting at a table within a dark room that merely has a light shining upon it, each man located at their corresponding sectors.

Keel instills his vision onto the other members with a solemn behavior as his right arm's resting atop the table. "We will launch our next attack soon."

SEELE 03 nods at Keel with an aggravated expression. "We ought to finally quit holding back though. It was annoying seeing both of our Evas be destroyed by one of NERV's Evas."

SEELE 02 gives Keel a stern look and firmly adds, "It was even more annoying that Unit 02 revealed its 'Beast Mode'. That could be a real problem if NERV uses it often."

Keel momentarily shakes his head while gazing at SEELE 02 and 03. "We cannot diverge from the plan. But do not fret, we will be picking things up shortly."

SEELE 05 navigates his vision to Keel with minor concern exhibited. "I hope you're right. We don't need any more unnecessary losses."

Keel retorts via a harsh tone. "Ridiculous! Everything that happened so far has been fitting quite well with our plan!"

SEELE 04 responds to Keel's declaration as skepticism is portrayed. "If you say so, but I still feel uneasy."

Keel shifts his gaze to SEELE 04 and sustains his serious demeanor. "You shouldn't! As long as the plan is still reachable, then we have nothing to worry about!"

SEELE 02 continually observes Keel. "Yes, although let's pray that things don't turn out like last time. We thought we had Tabris under our complete control, but betrayed us in the end."

SEELE 04 temporarily veers his sight to SEELE 02 while nodding prior to drawing his attention back towards Keel. "And let's not forget the incident with the 2nd Branch."

Keel gets a bit irritated as he views all of them. "I already handled that! I have things under control!" He emits a fierce personality while stating, "I will not be denied this time!"

*Scene Cuts To Black*

To Be Continued...

Ending Statement:

I don't think this episode was that bad. As a lot of you can tell, I made this episode quite perverted, but I had to because this is my way of giving you all fan service. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed everything as a whole.

That's it. Talk to you all later.