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Sighing, putting his backpack down, he walks to the bed, where the half dozen stuffed animals are. He starts tossing them off, eyeing the remote on the night table for future use, tossing aside the stuffed bear, stuffed walrus, stuffed panda, stuffed Sahaquiel, and stuffed Gaghiel throw pillow.

The last one is odd, as the others were wild animals but this one is not. Instead, it is a stuffed cat, with a big bushy tail and gray hairs mixed with his black and brown.

Sighing, he grabs the stuffed cat by the back of the neck and the tail, lifts it up, and moves to toss it. Which is the exact point that he finds out that the cat is not stuffed at all, as it opens slitted, green and yellow eyes, and twists in mid throw with a combination shriek and growl.

Jamming out its paws, the three inch long claws pop out, and somehow, some way, the cat manages to launch itself from Shinji's throw and directly onto Shinji's face.

The scream echoes through the apartment, followed by a sound resembling a buzz saw and a meat grinder. Yui exits the bedroom, perking an eyebrow, and calmly walks across the living room and to Rei's old room, swinging open the door to find Shinji on his knees, four paws and claws on the top of his head, the cat holding his tail up and shrieking like a banshee.

"Merrill! Stop that!"

The cat looks up, and relaxes the hair on his back. Flicking his tail up, he extracts his claws from Shinji's skull and hops off, trotting out of the room. Collapsing against the bed, Shinji feels the top of his head, finding no blood at all. Either the cat was careful, or he regenerates fast.

"Oh, that's Merrill. He was my cat when I was growing up," Yui says.

"That...how old is he?"

"Old enough to know better," Yui says with a shrug, "I think your grandfather experimented on him to extend his lifespan, because cats normally don't live into their forties. He comes and goes. He tends to spend months out exploring Tokyo-3, so you haven't met him before. I think he might not like you, since when you were born I stopped fawning over him and Gendo keeps his shoes hidden so he can't crap in them."

NGE: Nobody Dies, Chapter 88