Night had fallen.
The hum of the kitchen refrigerator mingled with the faint wash of the red ocean outside the window, forming the only background noise in Misato's home late at night.
Rei Ayanami's gentle footsteps stirred the moonlight outside, which slowly draped her in a white veil and left a faint trail of light and shadow.
She wore no shoes. The hem of her white nightdress brushed the wooden floor, stirring a cool breeze. With her bare feet against the floorboards, she could feel the lingering warmth of the day in the gaps between them.
The rooms in Misato's home were packed close together. Shinji's room was at the end of the hall, right next to hers.
Rei Ayanami stood outside Shinji's door. Her fingers hovered over it for two seconds before she knocked softly three times.
Her touch was very light, as though she feared waking Misato, who was fast asleep downstairs, or disturbing the peace of their home.
A rustling sound soon came from inside, followed by Shinji's wide-awake voice. "Who is it?"
"It's me, Rei Ayanami." She kept her voice low, a barely perceptible trace of unease hidden beneath its steadiness. "May I... come in?"
The door opened a crack. Shinji stood inside, scratching his head, his messy hair sticking up, his body as bare as usual.
Shinji Ikari looked utterly puzzled. He had already been lying in bed, waiting for her for quite some time.
Normally, Rei Ayanami neither knocked nor asked permission when she came to his room.
That was why he had asked who it was when he heard the knock.
Rei Ayanami suddenly doing all this felt like some mandatory ritual before a sacrifice to an evil god.
"Ayanami? What's wrong? Want to sleep together?"
During their days under the same roof,