While I had expected to meet Kaji, I felt my heart sink into my stomach when I saw who was at the table with him.
Misato was smiling; never a good sign. "So, Emi," she cooed, "who was that you were talking to?"
My cheeks burned. "It's not like that! I was just giving him directions out of here." I decided to try to turn things around on her. "So why are you here making goo-goo eyes at Ryouji, when you could be filling out your paperwork?"
Kaji gave a lopsided grin and put his arm around her shoulder. "Well, Emi, we've . . . reconciled our differences." Misato blushed, and I smiled gently at the resonance in their souls.
"I'm glad for you, then," I said. I set my school satchel on the table and pulled the memory card from the small digital camera I'd brought into Terminal Dogma. I handed it to Misato, causing Kaji to pout.
"You still don't trust me?" he asked. "I'm hurt."
"Says the former triple agent," I murmured, knowing that Kaji had a white noise generator going to disrupt recording devices. "I trust Misato. I trust Rei and Shinji with my life. If I could get Asuka to trust me again, I'd trust her."
"You'd tell her everything, then?" Misato asked.
I smiled ruefully. "She wouldn't believe some of it, but I'd at least tell her as much as I thought she'd believe." I turned back to Kaji. "Look, Ryouji, as long as Misato trusts you, she can do what she wants with what I give her. SEELE's scenario is screwed, anyway. It was flawed from the start, and the last three Angels are proof of that."
"And what about your 'special insight?'" Kaji asked.
"That's been getting less and less special since Yroel." They blinked in confusion. I sighed. "The 11th angel. Anyway, I've got to get home and do my homework." I stood, slinging my satchel over my shoulder. "Now don't do anything I wouldn't do," I teased gently and began my trek to Furinkan-cho.
'I hope she doesn't freak too much when she sees the photos of the 'Quariums,' I thought. Reaching the geofront's exit, I pulled on my Hanshin Tigers cap and whistled Williams' Duel of the Fates as I walked to the train station.
*****
Shutting down his holotank after SEELE's last conference, Cardinal Segel blinked in consternation. Kihl had recently become evasive when asked about the ultimate goal of Instrumentality, where before he would wax eloquent about the benefits to humanity. Perhaps the recent unexpected events in Tokyo-3 had more impact on the scenario than they'd expected.
After putting away his conference equipment, he pulled out the last communique from Agent Kaji. The audio disc contained over two hours of prophetic verse in Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, Arabic, Japanese, English and four other languages that SEELE's linguists hadn't been able to identify. Apparently, the Fourth Child was a Sybil, spouting prophecy in her sleep. It was disturbing that her prophecies tracked the Dead Sea scrolls, but matched how things had actually turned out, rather than how SEELE had thought it would.
He sighed and turned to the German translations of the prophecies, idly flipping through it. And stopped suddenly when he realized something.
With shaky hands, he reread the passages in chronological order, skipping the Japanese and English. Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, Arabic. All of the passages had a common theme: they started with scripture from the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, the Gospels, Saint Peter's Revelation, and the Koran. They also specifically quoted the Archangel Gabriel.
He carefully put the materials back in their hiding place and began to walk towards the Vatican's archives. He needed to do some research.
*****
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Misato was smiling; never a good sign. "So, Emi," she cooed, "who was that you were talking to?"
My cheeks burned. "It's not like that! I was just giving him directions out of here." I decided to try to turn things around on her. "So why are you here making goo-goo eyes at Ryouji, when you could be filling out your paperwork?"
Kaji gave a lopsided grin and put his arm around her shoulder. "Well, Emi, we've . . . reconciled our differences." Misato blushed, and I smiled gently at the resonance in their souls.
"I'm glad for you, then," I said. I set my school satchel on the table and pulled the memory card from the small digital camera I'd brought into Terminal Dogma. I handed it to Misato, causing Kaji to pout.
"You still don't trust me?" he asked. "I'm hurt."
"Says the former triple agent," I murmured, knowing that Kaji had a white noise generator going to disrupt recording devices. "I trust Misato. I trust Rei and Shinji with my life. If I could get Asuka to trust me again, I'd trust her."
"You'd tell her everything, then?" Misato asked.
I smiled ruefully. "She wouldn't believe some of it, but I'd at least tell her as much as I thought she'd believe." I turned back to Kaji. "Look, Ryouji, as long as Misato trusts you, she can do what she wants with what I give her. SEELE's scenario is screwed, anyway. It was flawed from the start, and the last three Angels are proof of that."
"And what about your 'special insight?'" Kaji asked.
"That's been getting less and less special since Yroel." They blinked in confusion. I sighed. "The 11th angel. Anyway, I've got to get home and do my homework." I stood, slinging my satchel over my shoulder. "Now don't do anything I wouldn't do," I teased gently and began my trek to Furinkan-cho.
'I hope she doesn't freak too much when she sees the photos of the 'Quariums,' I thought. Reaching the geofront's exit, I pulled on my Hanshin Tigers cap and whistled Williams' Duel of the Fates as I walked to the train station.
*****
Shutting down his holotank after SEELE's last conference, Cardinal Segel blinked in consternation. Kihl had recently become evasive when asked about the ultimate goal of Instrumentality, where before he would wax eloquent about the benefits to humanity. Perhaps the recent unexpected events in Tokyo-3 had more impact on the scenario than they'd expected.
After putting away his conference equipment, he pulled out the last communique from Agent Kaji. The audio disc contained over two hours of prophetic verse in Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, Arabic, Japanese, English and four other languages that SEELE's linguists hadn't been able to identify. Apparently, the Fourth Child was a Sybil, spouting prophecy in her sleep. It was disturbing that her prophecies tracked the Dead Sea scrolls, but matched how things had actually turned out, rather than how SEELE had thought it would.
He sighed and turned to the German translations of the prophecies, idly flipping through it. And stopped suddenly when he realized something.
With shaky hands, he reread the passages in chronological order, skipping the Japanese and English. Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, Arabic. All of the passages had a common theme: they started with scripture from the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, the Gospels, Saint Peter's Revelation, and the Koran. They also specifically quoted the Archangel Gabriel.
He carefully put the materials back in their hiding place and began to walk towards the Vatican's archives. He needed to do some research.
*****
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll