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“Good afternoon, Akagi.”
“Good afternoon, sir.” They heaped on the formality to make up for how close they were last night.
“How are this afternoon’s results looking?”
“Very positive, actually. In Unit-01, Rei’s synch rate was almost identical to Shinji’s. Shinji’s synch rate with Unit-00 wasn’t quite as good, but the numbers were still more than acceptable. Harmonics were normal in both cases. This indicates that it is possible for the core of an Eva to function with someone – or something – other than its ‘designated’ pilot. I’d say we are now in a good place to begin developing the Dummy Plug.”
“And how long will development take?”
“It’s difficult to say, but it should probably be fully ready for implementation in three to four weeks’ time.”
“That’s really not good enough, Akagi.”
“Well, at this point we have optimised the manufacturing process of entry plugs to the extent that much of their building no longer requires the skills of the specialist Eva team, so we have the advantage of being able to source labour from the wider Technology Division there. However, Lieutenant Ibuki, although she’s dedicated and highly skilled in the programming side of things, is morally opposed to the project after seeing the Eva series’ real-life destructive potential; so I predict a slight dip in her productivity from ‘impeccable’ to merely excellent. But Sir, even if we have the manpower to deliver a working Dummy Plug at pace, it will undoubtedly require thorough quality control and safety testing. I’m not happy to compromise on that.”
Gendo was annoyed. “You were the one who had the pilots’ wellbeing tugging at your heartstrings.”
“Be that as it may, this really isn’t the kind of thing we should be rushing.” He felt like punching her: it was him who had the authority to decide what Nerv should and shouldn’t be rushing. “I see,” he responded with a cold stare, although the retaliatory instinct still burned hot within him.
Ritsuko’s office was not the place for Commander Ikari to regress to the criminal who used to resolve arguments with his fists twenty years ago. However, that man was still who he was on the inside sometimes, and the stuffy air gave him an idea for retribution.
“It’s hot in here, Dr Akagi. You must be melting.”
“It is kind of warm,” agreed Ritsuko, “but I don’t mind.”
He walked over to her, gently reached for the zip pull on her high collar and unzipped her blouse – not to the absolute borderline of decency, but undeniably lower than was necessary to merely “let some air in”. If it was a stranger that had done it, she’d have slapped him; and if it was Ryōji she’d have zipped herself back up. But it was Gendo, whose penis was one of the few pleasures she had left in life. To call sex with him a “privilege” would be the wrong word to use, but… she certainly wouldn’t want to give him the wrong idea and stop getting it. For this reason, she didn’t move.
The human in her was surprised, nervous, and mildly humiliated. What was going on?
The animal in her knew what tended to come after unzipping her clothes. Chemists do it periodically on the table, said this part of her brain, aware that she was wearing a lab coat. What? The human part of her brain was just going to pretend it didn’t hear that.
Gendo could see that Dr Akagi, on the inside, was now part scientist and part rabbit caught in the headlights; which amused him greatly. Suddenly, he noticed the freshly-brewed coffee in the coffee maker on her desk and had another idea.
“And you’ve just made coffee. That’s not likely to cool you down.” He reached over her to get to it. “Sometimes I forget you’re not a natural blonde.” He took one of the empty mugs she kept beside the machine in case of company and filled it with coffee. He could tell that it wouldn’t be cool enough to drink for another couple of minutes. Perfect.
He now stood over her with the hot cup of coffee she thought he had poured for her. Finally, a normal gesture! She relaxed a little. Still sitting, she smiled gratefully and reached up to take it from him; but instead of handing it to her, he poured it over her chest.
By the time Ritsuko realised what was happening, it had already happened. She yelped as steaming black coffee hit milky-white skin, turning it a furious pink. A zipped-up blouse, while potentially keeping her skin in contact with the hot liquid for longer, could at least have acted as a barrier. A small amount of coffee pooled in her cleavage as if the shallow crevice was an unfortunate makeshift cup. As her initial shock faded, the pain began to really bloom and her eyes started to water.
Gendo smirked, now fully satisfied that he had taught her a lesson.