Patient: Misato Katsuragi

Name: Misato Katsuragi

Age: 34

Risk Level: Medium

Patient Overview: The patient, Ms. Katsuragi, had expressed interest in visiting the Sternway Institute. It was decided that she be given a tour of the facility, per her wishes. However, soon after our representatives arrived at her residence, the patient had a spontaneous mental breakdown. As our doctors have not yet had the opportunity to analyze the patient, we do not know what caused her sudden psychotic episode, but outside information suggests that her work for the government may be a possible cause. Thankfully, some orderlies were nearby, having accompanied the representatives, and were able to successfully restrain her before anyone was hurt. And, fortunately for the patient, nobody was there to witness her institutionalization and subsequent transport to our facility, as being seen in such a compromised state can be a source of great distress for patients. At the moment, she is safe and sound within the walls of the Institute, where she will be well taken care of by our staff. Her experience in the military makes her more of a danger than the average patient, so she will be kept in her initial restraints for the foreseeable future.

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3 months ago, Misato saw Asuka for the last time. 

The redheaded pilot was disrupting important work at NERV and causing conflict with other staff members. In simple terms, she was being a brat. More than usual, but Misato couldn’t write that down in her reports.

While Misato could handle Asuka’s behavior and knew how to deal with her, her superiors had started putting pressure on the major to do something. Knowing Asuka’s history, Misato felt sorry for her and so, very reluctantly, she had agreed to send Asuka to a mental hospital for treatment. The Sternway Institute was highly recommended by NERV doctors, so she told herself it was the right choice. Of course, deep down she knew that there was no choice to be made. Either she would have Asuka institutionalized or her replacement would.

Predictably, Asuka hadn’t taken the news well. She accused Misato and other NERV staff members of all sorts of things: jealously, not minding their own damn business, picking fights with her, and blaming her for their problems. But the one that stung most was betrayal. Misato had spent their last conversation trying to calm her down, but it didn’t work. Once Asuka realized Misato could not and would not help her, she broke down in angry tears and retreated to her room. The next morning, Misato had to watch as the young redhead was forced into a straitjacket and strapped to a gurney. Her last memory of Asuka was of her yelling and cursing as she was wheeled out of the apartment. They had fastened a muzzle to her face to quiet her down, but it hadn’t had much of an effect.

Well, at least they didn’t have any neighbors.

2 months ago, Misato started getting suspicious. 

Humanity’s battle with the Angels was all but won, so having someone around to pilot Unit-02 wasn’t necessary, but she wanted to check up on how Asuka was doing. Maybe even visit her, if Asuka was well enough to have visitors. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find a location for the Sternway Institute, even from the doctors who had recommended it to her before. Nobody in NERV knew where this place was, which struck the major as odd. At the time, she rationalized it as the same kind of pointless secrecy she had encountered working for NERV, where even the lunch menus were considered classified. It had been her way of holding out hope for Asuka’s sake.

Misato was determined, however. She was used to dealing with bureaucracy and kept pressing her superiors about Asuka. But as time passed, her suspicions only got worse. The doctors she had spoken to were reassigned to other bases and her superiors began denying having ever heard of the Sternway Institute. She started getting very worried for Asuka, but a diplomatic incident suddenly increased her workload, leaving her less time to argue with NERV top brass on her pilot’s behalf.

1 month ago, she officially started investigating.

It was only when Asuka’s name started disappearing from official records that Misato realized something truly awful was happening. And when some of the people inside NERV started denying Asuka ever existed, she realized she couldn’t even trust those around her. At the start, she kept what she was doing a secret to her bosses. She researched the Sternway Institute on her own time, stealthily taking pictures of any classified documents she needed at work to use once she got back to her apartment. The building sometimes got lonely, especially with Asuka gone, but Misato was thankful for the privacy as she tried to learn more about the mysterious mental hospital.

1 week ago, Misato was escorted from the base by armed guards.

As Misato kept on running into dead-ends, she sank more of her time into her investigation. Eventually, it started impacting her work, and her superiors found out about the documents she copied. They banned her from the base and revoked her security clearance. She had been discharged in all but name. The vice-commander told her she was lucky, as she could have been arrested and sent to prison for the rest of her life for the things she did. 

She didn’t take it well, spending the next day getting drunk alone in her apartment. Misato knew she should feel grateful, since NERV was capable of making her disappear completely in a blacksite deep underground. Just being allowed to leave the base meant she was being spared that fate. But honestly, she wished they would make her disappear, just like Asuka. At least then, she had the chance of meeting the redhead in their shared imprisonment.

1 day ago, Misato made her biggest mistake.

After getting over her hangover, she continued investigating in any way she could, but cut off from NERV, her leads were few. She had to resort to asking her old friends at the base for information. Some of them helped, but most refused, and eventually, the wrong people heard she was trying to find the Sternway Institute.

That’s why, 12 hours ago, the Sternway Institute found her instead.

A team of armed guards, accompanied by orderlies, broke down her door. Misato tried to fight back, but her fists bounced harmlessly off their body armor. They pushed her head against the floor and held her arms behind her back as she screamed for help. Unfortunately, the privacy of her apartment proved to be her undoing, as there was no one around to hear her. 

As she tried breaking free from their grip, she noticed the orderlies unfurling a canvas package. Her screaming stopped, to be replaced by a barrage of angry questions yelled at her captors. Nobody answered the struggling captive, taking off her jacket and undoing her top in silence, which made her start calling them all perverts. They stripped her down to her bra and panties, tossing her clothes in a plastic bag, as the orderlies revealed a full-body canvas straitjacket, opened wide to receive her.

Misato tried to resist, but she was a single woman up against a group of trained guards and burly orderlies. She had no chance. They slipped her legs into the lower half of the jacket, a legbinder that forced them into a single limb and took away her ability to walk. Her arms slid into the sleeves just as easily. The back of the jacket was zipped up, tightening it around her almost-naked body, before her arms were pulled against her chest and connected behind her back, securing them in a self-hug. Then, they started tightening up the many straps built into the restraint suit, further locking her into the jacket’s embrace. It fit perfectly, like it was made to her exact measurements.

After the final strap was done up, Misato felt her underwear dissolving as the jacket removed all non-human material inside it. She opened her mouth, trying one last time to call for help, only to taste rubber instead as a panel gag was forced between her lips. Once she was fully secured, the orderlies wheeled in a large metal transport container that was just large enough to fit a human. She watched in horror as they opened it up, revealing a padded interior with a pile of metal chains lying at the bottom. The orderlies took the chains out and started wrapping them around Misato, connecting them together to form a harness that squeezed her body tight. She could feel the hard metal even through the heavy canvas covering her from the neck down. Trying desperately to avoid her fate, she yelled and thrashed around as they set her into the box and fastened the chains to hooks on the inside. She let out one final scream as the lid of her metal coffin was closed shut.

As the container was soundproof, Misato made no noise as it was loaded onto a gurney and wheeled out of her apartment into a waiting truck, to begin the long journey to the Sternway Institute.

Now, the disgraced major is being kept there as a patient.

After taking her out of the container, the nurses immediately locked her in a padded cell. They didn’t bother undoing the metal harness wrapped around her, instead using the chains to tie her securely to a bed. And because her straitjacket has systems to remove waste and keep her body clean, there is no need for her restraints to be removed in the near future. 

Misato was finally able to see the place she had put so much time and effort into looking for. Of course, she hadn’t expected to see it from inside a full-body straitjacket, but life sometimes takes unexpected turns. Not that she has much of one anymore, having thrown it all away in her search for Asuka. Ironically, the redhead was only a couple cells away. 

With no life to go back to and no one to miss her, Misato will stay as a patient for a very long time, long enough to properly treat her self-destructive tendencies.

Which might be a good thing. Since Asuka is currently in a long-term therapy that can’t be interrupted, there’s no chance for them to meet any time soon.