Akio was finally able to stand about half an hour later, and he spent the remainder of this down time between victims being very peeved. If he hadn't known any better, he would have suspected that someone was trying to prevent him from making any headway; it was almost as though he'd been included in this for comic relief. Of course, he knew that was ridiculous, if not impossible, but he simply could not shake the feeling that the odds were against him.
It didn't matter. Akio decided that he was going to win the next round or make everyone regret that he had not - and that, as they say, was that.
"Well, I don't know," Juri said, sweeping some crumbs off the computer console before setting down the large plastic covered notebook she carried. "We have lots of choices, of course, but... eh. That last one didn't really seem to be much of a challenge."
"Well, she wasn't - but then, Kome was pretty messed up. She might need a memory wipe before she leaves, but she'll certainly go with a better self image, at any rate. Remember, this IS supposed to be theraputic for the subjects on some level. Which reminds me," said Washuu, and pushed a button. Kome, who had just fallen asleep, was suddenly transported to a safe holding cell, where she could go right on sleeping in relative safety before being returned to her own home. She seemed fairly content, so all was well; it wasn't as if Fuuma was going to miss her.
"So who's next, whooooo's next," Washuu said, flipping through pages of possible subjects, each page lined with pockets that carried baseball-card sized information on various characters. "Hm... well. In the mood for a challenge, Juri-san?"
"Aren't I always?" Ms. Arisugawa affirmed, and ate another bon-bon. "Who are you thinking?" She looked at the card Washuu was touching, and her jaw fell open. "No... no, that's too mean, Washuu-sama. They'll never... do you think?"
Washuu just smiled.
Juri laughed weakly and collapsed back into her chair. "You're a very frightening woman sometimes, Washu-sama," she said, and turned to watch the screen.
Seishirou sighed and wished for a cigarette. Or an ice cream cone. Or something - anything to break the monotony. Whatever his impression of this initially had been, he'd thought there would be more going on than this; for the last 40 minutes, there had been nothing. Well - except for the noises in the corner, and then a strutting and very full of himself Fuuma - but everyone knew that didn't count.
"So what are you thinking, Nakago-san?" he asked, watching the "door" in the opposite wall for any sign of its opening. "I thought, from what you said, you were going after that girl once you began to remove your armor. Or was that merely for my benefit?"
Nakago smiled coolly. "I didn't want that one," he explained, and left it at that.
Seishirou chuckled. "You have a prerequisite?"
"Several," Nakago answered. "But I'm not going to tell them to you."
"Well, that's as you wish, then," Seishirou said and shook his head, smiling softly. Things, he supposed, could certainly be worse.
And, at that moment, the door swung open.
A very pale, pretty young man stepped through, wearing casual slacks and a plain white shirt. He had extremely fine features; pale, almost grey hair and red eyes framed an sensitive face, but except for his almost albino appearance, he seemed to be relatively normal.
Seishirou, who was used to summing up a person's spiritual state the moment he saw them, took one look at this boy and inhaled softly. "Oh, my gods," he said, and decided to stay well back in the shadows.
Experiment #3: Nagisa Kaoru, Neon Genesis Evangelion, 16:00 hours
The newest subject, calmer than any of the previous applicants had been, looked around and said nothing. He showed no surprise or confusion or anything else at all, which meant to Akio that the boy was either an extraordinarily good actor -
Or one hell of a challenge.
"Greetings," Akio said, once again back in cool administrator mode. "I am Akio; this is Treize, Fuuma, Nakago, and Seishirou in the corner. And you are?"
The boy regarded him for a moment, head slightly angled to the side as if he were trying to understand a puzzling riddle. When he spoke, his voice was soft, but resonant - in spite of its youthful timbre, something about it made all five men in the room shiver.
"I do not belong here," he said, sounding as if nothing in the world could interest him.
"None of us do," Akio confirmed, and took a step closer. No one else made a move; for whatever reason, they were letting Akio have this one on their own. Treize even stopped trying to clean off his shirt; it was as if he did not want to draw this boy's attention to himself.
"Now - your name, please?" Akio said, letting a hint of authority creep into his tone.
"Nagisa Kaoru," said the boy, still sounding dreamily uninterested. "I am a pilot."
"Oh, how... interesting," Akio purred, and took a step closer.
Treize, meanwhile, had backed into the shadows to join Nakago and Seishirou.
"What IS he?" Treize said sotto voce, leaning closer to Seishirou.
In response, Seishirou looked at him. "You can feel he isn't human?"
Nakago looked as well. "I thought you had no powers other than the psycho-sexual."
Treize shrugged lightly, eyes on Kaoru. "Technially, I do not - but practically speaking, I have a modicum of so-called 'intuitive' ability which assists me in my projects, and you have not answered my question."
Nakago looked at Kaoru. Seishirou looked at Kaoru. Neither of them seemed to have an answer.
Akio, meanwhile, had moved even closer. "Do you recall how you arrived here?" he asked solicitously, either not feeling the what the others felt or simply surging ahead in spite of it.
Kaoru regarded him. "No," he said; and then added something very surprising. "You cannot seduce me," he said, and looked away as if bored.
Akio laughed softly, trying not to sound annoyed that this victim had been tipped off. "Seduce you? Whatever gave you that idea?"
"It is in your heart," Kaoru said, and walked past him.
"Now, wait a minute - " Akio said, and reached out to take the boy's arm. Several things then happened in quick succession.
One, Kaoru stopped walking; but he did not merely just stop - he went utterly and completely still, as if he'd been on a television screen and someone had put him on pause.
Two, Akio also stopped - but not quite for the same reason. Something strange was happening; he couldn't be sure quite what it was, but he knew that it made his head feel fuzzy and his body feel warm. His vision swam before him, then multiplied; in a moment, he was seeing three Kaorus - and somehow, they seemed to have gotten taller.
The remaining four competitors watched with interest as Akio, for no discernable reason, abruptly buckled at the knees and curled to the floor. Smiling vacuously, he stared at the ceiling as though it were the most fascinating thing on earth.
Kaoru ignored him; turning his gaze to the dark shadows which held three of the remaining four, he spoke.
"Once I am seduced, I may leave?" he asked politely, looking around the room.
"I... think so," Fuuma said hesitantly, standing well back.
Kaoru nodded, then looked back toward the shadows. "There is only one here who may seduce me," he said, and headed right for them.
"What? WHAT? What the hell is happening?" Juri said, half-standing from her chair and staring at the screen.
"I don't know, I don't KNOW," Washu replied, typing frantically and watching the screen as well. What happened to Akio? Gods, his life signs are all over the place!" When Juri did not reply, Washu looked at her. "We need to get him out of there," she said, almost chidingly, and Juri came close to pouting.
"Do we have to?" she asked.
"Yes. Or he'll die. And you can say goodbye to Ohtori Academy."
Juri muttered, "That's his sister's doing, not his," but stood obediently anyway, intent on getting him and getting the hell out of there.
Washu resumed typing, intending to remove Kaoru from the room as she had Wufei; but then, she paused.
"Juri," she said, interest creeping into her voice. "Look."
And Juri looked; and what happened next amazed her.
Kaoru walked into the shadows, and as he did, they became light; frozen in revelation, the three men in the corner looked back at him, daring neither to speak nor attempt to flee - because truth be told, they could not.
Kaoru looked at them. "There is only one here who may," he said, fixing his eyes on the middle of the three men before him. "And that one knows the human strangeness known as love." With that, Kaoru walked up to Seishirou. Sliding his arms around the taller man's waist, Kaoru planted a kiss in the center of Seishirou's chest and looked up at him with half-lidded eyes. "I am seduced," he said, and Seishirou grunted.
For a moment nobody moved; then, when Kaoru resumed his kissing of Seishirou's body, the light began to dim, and both Nakago and Treize knew it was time to move. They looked at one another over the boy's head for a moment, similar disbelief on both their faces, then stepped away.
There were a few sounds of protest from the renewed darkness; then the door in the wall opened and Juri stepped into the room again.
Disgustedly, she eyed Akio. "You stupid weakling," she said miserably as she hoisted him up by his arms. Turning back, she eyed the rest of the room. "You'll have a replacement competitor soon enough," she groused.
Akio looked at her. "Pretty," he said, and Juri looked nauseated.
"...uuuugh," she muttered and dragged him away.
The protests from the corner grew louder, and in another moment Seishirou came back into sight, his clothing slightly rumpled.
"No," he said, saying it in such a way to indicate he'd already said it before and was going to KEEP saying it until it had effect. Clearly, the effect was nil; Kaoru could be seen approaching him in the dark, his eyes glowing dully red. "Washuuu," Seishirou growled warningly, and glared at the ceiling for response.
Washu, apparently, knew when enough was enough. With the soft snick of one button, she removed Kaoru from the room, then turned to face Juri.
Akio had yet to awaken.
"Great. Just great," she muttered, not pleased how this had gone at all. "Now what do we do?"
"There's nobody else on your list you could use?" Juri asked, dropping Akio unceremoniously to the floor; well, he was HEAVY.
"No one I want to risk," Washu said, tapping her chin. "I know we have to keep an uneven number in The Room to maintain experiment paramaters, but... Hm. Unless..." She considered, looking at her list. "Maybe there is one."
Juri nodded. "I'll take bucket for brains here back to where he came from; hopefully he'll wake up in a while. And if he doesn't, I get his car."
Washu smiled weakly and waved her on. Juri picked up Akio and left again; it would take her perhaps five minutes to send Akio back via their interdimensional portal, and then whatever ailments he'd received became his sister's problem. Washu, meanwhile, turned back to The Room.
She knew whom she wanted to put in there; really, he was the only choice - and it seemed that there was currently enough distraction among the test subjects right now that she could afford the time to bring him in without much difficulty. Her attention split, she turned up the volume of the hidden microphones in The Room, and began to consult her database.
Experiment #3: Nagisa Kaoru, Neon Genesis Evangelion, 16:10 hours - end
Kaoru disappeared; Seishirou relaxed in clear and obvious relief. And Fuuma started laughing.
It was a low sound at first, growing in intensity as he continued laughing, the bass of his voice echoing just slightly in the far corners of the room. Seishirou tried to ignore it.
"Confirmation," Fuuma sing-songed, face and timbre both expressing clearly the fact that he already knew it, had already said it, and that this was one big 'I-told-you-so.'
Still, Seishirou ignored him. Facing the darkness from which he'd just escaped, he stood rock-still, almost as stiffly as Kaoru had in that one frozen moment of time.
"Now, Fuuma," Treize said, and even though he was trying to help, there was a hint of something almost... condescending in his tone. "Leave the poor man alone. I wouldn't have wanted that creature crawling all over ME, either."
"Oh, he wouldn't have done that," Fuuma said, not acknowledging the plea at all. "You're not the one in love with somebody."
Nakago watched Seishirou calmly, analytically, cool scrutiny in his eyes. "You love," he said, stating it as an observation.
"Nonsense," Seishirou said finally, and with that, he retreated back into the darkness of his chosen corner. The flickering light of his cigarette could be seen a moment later. Fuuma kept laughing.
Treize sighed and ran a hand through his golden hair. "So... that was interesting," he observed, trying to steer the subject away from poor Seishirou. Really, what a thing to have happened... "I somehow doubt that was quite how the makers had intended this round to run - and who, by the way, is Washu?"
"Nn. I do not know; but he or she is clearly responsible for our current condition," Nakago said, still eyeing the darkness. "I don't suppose he or she is the one you love?"
Seishirou did not answer, but Fuuma's low chuckle soared into hilarity for a moment. "Oh, DEFINITELY not," he said, smiling like the devil with a secret in his hands. "No, not her - wouldn't you agree, Seishirou...san?"
Seishirou did not answer; the flickering of his cigarette was the only indication he was still there.
"And poor Akio has left us," Treize said, still trying to steer the topic away from Seishirou. He wasn't completley without compassion, after all. "I wonder who this replacement will be?"
And then the door opened.
In stepped a man. His initial impression, dressed all in white and with a stethescope in hand, was that of a doctor, and this impression was right; unfortunately, it did not reveal nearly enough.
The door slid shut behind him. Pocketing his stethoscope - he'd apparently been working - the man looked around with a strangely intense gentility and smiled.
"Good afternoon," he said. "I am Muraki Kazutaka. I was told that I was to join you."
And in her control room, Washu took a deep breath and crossed her fingers; the next round of the experiment had begun.