After three or so months the crops sprout again, prompting Asuka to grab a bucket and a serving spoon- Rei's substitute for a proper trowel- and go dig everything up. The carrots yield without a fight, as do the radishes and turnips; the only ones that she struggles with are, again, the potatoes. Though she'll never admit it to Rei, Asuka is glad their infrequent trips to the city have uncovered something other than potato seeds- even if their replacement is cucumbers.

Rei comes out of the apartment when Asuka is elbow-deep in the garden, pulling on a potato that's snagged on something Asuka can't seem to find. "How is it?" she asks.

"Everything's fine," Asuka grunts, holding the spoon like a knife and stabbing it into the ground. "Just this- this one's caught. Can't find what..."

Rei crouches in the dirt next to Asuka and places a hand over the hole she's dug. "It's a root," she says. "From that tree over there. The potato grew around it."

"So you're saying I have to cut it out?"

"You could just leave it there."

"Ohhh, no," Asuka says. "I've had enough of potatoes. It's coming out."

"I could use my A.T. Field on it."

"And what'll happen then?"

"I don't know. Maybe it'll just… stop existing." Rei frowns, peering down at the mud-covered potato. "I wonder if that's what happened to everyone."

"Hey." Asuka shuffles her feet, kicking dirt into the hole. "That was different. It wasn't…" Asuka sucks in a breath, remembering- the hands that caressed her face, that one moment of peace before she turned into LCL- "Look, Rei, it's a plant," she says. "Just try it."

Rei bites her lip, but she nods and closes her eyes. From under their feet comes a hum and a little orange spark, followed by a pop. Where there once was a potato, there is now a gaping hole through which Asuka can see the tree root. "Huh."

"Not what you expected?" asks Rei.

"Not really. But thanks." Asuka squats down and shovels dirt into the hole, packs it down with her shoes. "So what'd you come out here for?"

"I wanted to tell you I was making food," Rei says. "I'm trying stew this time."

"I told you, anything goes as long as you don't burn the apartment down."

"Yes, because you're an expert at that."

"Hey." Asuka turns away, trying not to remember the cause of the ten-foot scorch mark that now decorates the floor between the kitchen and the bedroom. "It was an accident."

"Right. Anyway, I thought I'd ask if you wanted to... maybe sit and watch the beach with me?"

"Sure. Why not?" Asuka stands, dusting her hands off on the sides of her jeans. "Potatoes aren't going anywhere, unless you decide to assimilate them into Instrumentality, too."

"You won't let that go, will you?"

"Nope." She grins widely at Rei, linking their hands together and giving hers an affectionate squeeze. "Come on. Let's go."

They walk to the edge of the cliff in silence, as they always do. Asuka's tried talking to Rei before on these walks, and has never received a reply. Rei, she thinks, must be trying to see if anyone else has climbed out of the ocean, and yet she's never asked about it. Some part of her, the same selfish part that had wanted Shinji all to herself when they had stayed together in Misato's apartment, doesn't want anyone else to come out. Or if they do, let them come out near Shinji, and they can be his problem.

But the other part of Asuka, the one that sets her heart aflutter at the sound of Rei's laugh and memorizes all the small smiles Rei gives her, knows that this must happen. Rei might not talk with whoever comes back; certainly won't look at them the way she looks at Asuka (like the old ocean is preserved in her eyes, she'd said), but she needs someone to come back, if only to prove that Third Impact is not the end of mankind. That she, the trigger of it, has not sentenced humanity to a slow extinction.

Rei reaches the cliff first and sits down, folding her legs under her. "It's a nice day," she says. "Not too much wind."

"It means rain's gonna come soon, that's what."

"Then you'd better plant some more seeds."

"Later. Tomorrow." Asuka nudges Rei with her shoulder. "We came here to relax." Rei nods, reaching across the grass to grasp Asuka's hand. "You know, it's been what, a year since Third Impact? I thought at least something other than plants would be back by now."

"Third Impact wiped out all life on this island. While it may exist elsewhere, it will take some time for it to return here."

"Don't tell me we'll have to build a boat," Asuka groans, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "I've had enough of being stranded in the middle of the ocean for a lifetime."

"We won't have to. Someone will, eventually," says Rei. But even though she looks away, Asuka can see her face falling.

"You're worried that no one's shown up, aren't you?" Rei's fingers tense around Asuka's, squeezing them tightly. "Hey," Asuka says. "It'll be fine. Just give everyone some time."

"You returned," Rei whispers. "As did Shinji. I thought more people would have come back by now."

"You said it yourself. There might be life somewhere else. Besides, I'm pretty sure there's other places people are coming back. It'd suck if everyone on earth lived in Japan."

Rei giggles softly at the comment. "I guess you're right," she says.

"Come on." Asuka reaches around Rei's shoulders, pulls her closer so she can press her lips to the top of Rei's head. "I'm always right."

"Mm." Rei closes her eyes, feeling the warmth coming off of Asuka's skin, enjoying it even more than she does the light of the sun. The sun, at least, will remain for several thousand more lifetimes, and far beyond that. Asuka's warmth is fleeting and rarely given, and when the pressure on Rei's head lifts suddenly she opens her eyes, confused by this change. "Asuka?" Asuka doesn't answer verbally, but lifts her free hand to point at the horizon. Rei follows the slant of her index finger, staring with confusion out at the sea. "What is it?" Asuka jabs her finger into the air, at whatever this thing is she sees- and just as Rei is about to give up and ask Asuka a third time, she sees it too.

Something has appeared at the edge of the red waves, too large to be driftwood. It rises on shaky legs, stumbles, stands again and slouches a few feet up the beach, repeating this motion like a child learning to walk. Rei's breath catches audibly in her throat, her hand now squeezing Asuka's so tightly it's a wonder that the other girl doesn't complain. Rei almost wants to turn and ask if Asuka is seeing this as well, but she must be; after all, she'd pointed this- this person?- out in the first place.

The splashing of the waves is the only sound Rei hears for the long minutes it takes for the person to fully emerge from the water, where they collapse on the beach spread-eagled, like a sea star. Asuka leans over, her hair tickling Rei's cheek. "Do you wanna go say hi?" she whispers.

Rei shakes her head, still watching the prone figure on the beach. After a while, Asuka turns away to look at them as well. The person retracts their arms and rolls over, pushing up into a standing position. They turn on the spot, taking in the rocky coastline and the ruins of the buildings half-flooded by the sea. Then they start down the beach as if guided by some unseen compass, heading away from Asuka and Rei.

The two girls sit on the cliff, watching the person wander off in a meandering line, leaving behind a trail of footprints that the sea is all too happy to wipe away. When they disappear beyond a curve in the cliffs there is one single moment where the only proof they had ever existed is the marks left behind in the sand- and then those too are gone, and Asuka looks over at Rei.

Rei is still looking out at the place where those last footprints had been. But something in her face has changed; the hard lines that Asuka had seen before are gone, and now Rei sits with her shoulders back, like this immense weight has been lifted from her and she can once again breathe freely.

Rei turns while Asuka is staring at her, and from the way she tilts her head Asuka knows that she's been caught. But Rei only smiles that soft, gentle smile that churns up butterflies in Asuka's stomach and sends her pulse racing, and she squeezes Asuka's hand. "I think the stew should be nearly done by now," she says. "Let's head back."

Asuka returns the smile and climbs to her feet, not letting go of Rei's hand. Together they walk back down the path to the apartment, their shoes leaving little imprints in the clay of the cliffside, each indistinguishable from the other's.