Moonlight took shape in the fine dust drifting through the room, its soft strands caressing Rei Ayanami's face.
As though sensing something in her sleep, Rei Ayanami lifted her eyelids, revealing her ruby-red eyes. She looked toward the window with its curtains left open and let out a faint sigh.
A full moon hung in the night sky outside, and crickets chirped somewhere in the darkness.
"Why won't this emptiness inside me and this restless anxiety ever go away? I... wasn't like this before.
Did I never feel anything? Or did I simply not care before?
What's happening to me? What... should I do?"
Rei Ayanami pushed herself upright on the bed and gazed out the window. The wind blew, brushing against her too.
She had always closed the window before going to sleep. Why had she forgotten this time?
Rei Ayanami turned to glance at the broken glasses in the trash can, then rose to open the other curtain before lying back down.
Lying on her side, Rei Ayanami gazed at the night sky with confusion filling her eyes.
When had she started noticing the beautiful things around her that she had never seen before?
Rei Ayanami gently closed her eyes. Drowsiness swept over her, and she drifted back to sleep.
Moonlight fell across her entire body, as though dressing her in a silvery-white dress.
No more rejection or avoidance, and no more standing still.
Though she was confused and did not understand, she had to do something, to change something.
"The moonlight... is so beautiful."
NERV Underground Base, Headquarters central server room
Inside the vast, dim server room,
Misato sat on the cables piled across the floor, leaning against a machine. A miniature computer connected to the server room rested in her lap.
Misato's fingers flew across the