Shinji Ikari: The Origin
The opening strings of Bach's Cello Suite #1 were heard in the room.
It was being played on the cello, the young, brown haired, blue eyed boy wearing the black school uniform holding the instrument playing it with efficiency. He put his concentration into this, lest he be disappointing the old man sitting in front go him.
When he finally finished, his teacher nodded in approval.
"Very good. You are done for the day."
Shinji Ikari nodded in return. "Understood."
Kokoro is covered in smog.
When the meteorite impacted the Earth in 1999, the world had changed. Much of the world was destroyed in the wake of the calamity. Weather was fixed in countries around the world, with Japan being in perpetual summer heat.
Nagano was a casualty of Second Impact's destruction, and as such it was sometime before it was given the go ahead for rebuild. Luckily, the Yashida Company was able to pick up the slack, the large corporation funding various reconstruction efforts to rebuild the city. It was renamed Kokoro, to symbolize becoming the heart of technology and commerce for the rebuilding Japan. Smog was common, since construction and factories were common, and very busy. It was quite a large enterprise.
Shinji reset the tape from track 26 to 25.
To a place leading you
Flocks of birds flap
It is in the dry earth
Lots of cracked hearts
He didn't think too much of the city. It was too busy and loud for his tastes. He always seemed to find it… overcrowded for lack of a better word. Sitting on the train, he listened to his S-DAT player while ignoring the rest of the passengers. He enjoyed music. He found it relaxing, like locking himself off into his own landscape, where he could ignore the world and be the only one that exists.
I tell you, hear a voice calling you
Be strong enough not to beat the rumor
Shinji was one that let things happen as they happened. Without dreams or aspirations, he just existed and did what he was told. He was never entirely comfortable with people, and people were never comfortable with him, so they never connected. He saw no problem with this arrangement, he had little reason to care.
You are the only one. Surely you.
He stopped this thought process when he realized the train had reached Imai Station.
Shinji picked up his bag and stepped outside. He might not have aspirations, but he still needed to go to school.
That does not mean he liked Kawanakajima Junior High School.
Shinji is sitting in Science class, trying to listen to Prof. Kuruto Inumaru explaining the experiment. Something to do with mixing the appropriate chemical compounds.
"This is exciting, Ikari! Can you feel it?"
The key word being trying.
Too bad he had Tsuyoshi Kotei as his lab partner.
Kotei was the Class Representative. Tall, imposing with black hair and shining wide blue eyes, he was well respected among his peers. He was at the top in terms of grades and was considered a well behaved young man by the teachers. He had a charm that won over most people.
Whenever he was around though, Shinji couldn't help shake a foreboding feeling.
"Kotei, could you please be quiet? I'm trying to take notes." Shinji hissed, scribbling notes on his notebook.
Tsuyoshi looked over him apologetic, "Sorry, it's just that taking classes and performing my duties makes me feel great."
"Okay, I'm trying to concentrate!" Shinji whispered a little louder, which unfortunately got attention.
"Is there something you would like to add, Ikari?" said Prof. Inumaru with a condescending tone.
Shinji looked down. "No sir."
"Good, let us begin the experiment," Prof. Inumaru turned back to the board as Shinji blushed hearing his classmates chuckle.
The class experiment was mixing compounds to produce a particular chemical. Tsuyoshi was a pro at this, mixing and matching with ease with Shinji struggling to keep up with him. Still, he did his part and was able to produce the right chemical for the job. He was about to place them in the mixer-
A sudden force pushed him and the glass containers with chemicals he held slipped from his hands and fell onto the floor, spilling the materials and shattering the glass.
At this, Prof. Inumaru turned his attention to Shinji, and he wasn't pleased.
"Ikari, you're staying over after school for clean up duty. That is not a request."
Bitterly, Shinji looked over at Tsuyoshi, who merely smiled.
With a sneering grin.
Clean up duty was a chore.
Shinji used his gloved hands to drag the mop across the classroom, cleaning it like he was told to. The rest of the day was boring enough, but Kotei's little prank made his day an extra waste. It was sunset by this point. Shinji wanted to hurry back home so he could sleep in. Not like he had much to do after all.
The laboratory door opened as Prof. Inumaru stepped out. He seemed rather stressed about something.
"I have to make a call, I will be back in a minute. Make sure you finish cleaning the room," was all he said as he slammed the door shut.
Shinji made a quick glance through the opened door. For some reason, he felt curious about what was inside.
So he placed the mop in his hands over a table and went inside.
The laboratory was a dark and small room. The lights were dimmed, the office was messy and disorganized, and it was clear only Inumaru used this lab.
On the table, there was a small glass cage that was broken.
Shinji figured whatever was inside the cage was probably the cause of Prof. Inumaru's worry. He went over to the cage in order to inspect the thing.
He also grabbed some gloves and a bag. If nothing else, he could clean this mess up. He went back to the table and picked up the shards.
Piece by piece, he brought the shards into the bag with his hand. He was intently focused on the task. Enough that he did not notice a small little creature making its way towards him.
Then, a stinging pain was felt on his right hand.
"Nggh!" Shinji grabbed his wrist, groaning while suffering from the pain. A quick glance and he saw the small little creature, a spider, scurrying off the table.
He shut his eyes… and saw darkness.
"You alright kid?"
Shinji heard those words in a blurry haze, as his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room. As he gazed up, he realized he was in a hospital room. A bearded doctor was in his vision, holding up his hand in front of him.
"How many fingers am I holding?"
Shinji looked at it, focused on it.
"Th… three?" He said hesitantly, unsure if he saw it properly.
It seems it was correct though, since the doctor nodded in approval. "Good, very good. Your teacher brought you over here as soon as he could after he found you on the ground unconscious. From the vitals you seem to be pretty healthy, but we're going to need a blood sample just to be sure. Will that be alright with you?"
Shinji did not object to that. He did have a question though. "You said my teacher brought me here?"
"Yes, Professor Inumaru brought you here. Your legal guardian came over briefly to sign off on the appropriate documents." The doctor said as he waved at a nearby nurse to come in.
"… I see." Shinji said with his head downcast. The nurse went over to him, carrying a needle.
"I'll be taking a sample now okay?" She said smiling in an attempt to reassure the boy. Shinji smiled briefly in return and held out his hand for her.
She cleaned the needle right before stabbing it into Shinji's arm.
"Huh, that's strange…" She frowned a little. "You got surprisingly thick skin. I had a little bit of a problem getting the needle in. Oh well." She didn't say much more as she got the sample. "Your guardian also left something for you."
Shinji was confused. "What did he leave?"
"It's this." The doctor brought out from his pocket a familiar object. Shinji's S-DAT player with his earphones. "You're going to be here for an hour or two, so listening to some music will probably help you pass the time while I get the sample ready."
Shinji nodded. As he put on the earphones, he thought about how he couldn't wait to get out of the hospital soon.
After he was given the clean bill of health, Shinji returned to his house.
He wouldn't call this place his home. It never felt like it, even if he did live here for most of his life. A quaint, normal place, it was with very little decoration outside nor inside. Shinji let himself in through the front door (he had the keys in his pockets). He walked in, passing by the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, Shinji noticed an older man reading a newspaper on the dinner table.
This man had been his caretaker since he was four. He taught him how to play the cello, schooled him for a bit in his childhood before sending him to a proper school. The two of them weren't close, neither spending too much time making contact unless it was through cello practice.
"I'm home." Shinji said dispassionately.
The old man let out a small groan in response and placed the paper he was reading down on the table. "I see you are."
They stood there, eye contact established. It was broken when Shinji looked away from his teacher.
"We'll begin practice in a few minutes. Get your cello."
Shinji went up to his room to get the instrument.
Drowning.
Shinji was drowning in an ocean of red. He struggled repeatedly to get up, to get some air. But some invisible force is dragging him down, further and further…
Gasping for any semblance of oxygen, he felt his energy fading.
In spite of being underwater, he heard words all around him. Painful words.
GET AWAY FROM ME
HOW PATHETIC
I HATE YOU
Shinji's eyes were wide as he witnessed dark shapes with cruel eyes, disgusted at his very being. The final gasps of air left him-
As he awoke from his dream with a tiny gasp.
Shinji felt sweat on his body. The nightmare gave him a panic attack that left him shivering and cold. He brought a hand up this face to wipe it off.
He often had these types of dreams after particularly bad days. Dreams of hate that make his heart pound in fear. Even as he never formed a human bond, he did not wish to be hated. The thought terrified him, though he did not know what he could do about it. So the feeling came back no matter how much he tried to bury it.
It was after that train of thought Shinji noticed some of his sweat drops were falling… upwards?
He turned his head up-
He saw his bed.
He looked around himself-
He was on the ceiling, stuck it through his hands and feet.
"What the- AAAH!"
He fell down from his position on the roof and fell into the bed, breaking the stools on it as he fell.
With a panic, Shinji ran off into the bathroom panicking.
"No, this is a dream, obviously that wasn't real-" Shinji said in a haze of confusion, "I wasn't just up in the ceiling for no reason-"
After turning on the lights he went over to the sink and washed his face repeatedly, convinced he was hallucinating. It was only then he noticed something in the mirror.
Namely that where his thin scrawny form was stood place a slightly more muscular form that he didn't have before.
"This can't be real…" Shinji said looking at his reflection. He reached out to it with his hand, waving it around for a bit, before bringing it over to his face. Upon closer inspection of the hand he noticed that his fingers contained tiny pincers that stretched out from the tips.
He walked out of the room unsure of what was going on.
'How did I get like this? I was just fine yesterday when I got out of the hospital.' Shinji thought to himself. 'The only thing that happened was-'
The spider.
Shinji remembers that time when the Spider bit him. It sounds completely stupid and insane and yet…
Shinji placed a hand on the wall. Then another.
Both hands were joined by a pair of feet as Shinji Ikari climbed up to the ceiling once more.
Now that he could think clearly, Shinji only had one thought on his mind.
"No way."
The next morning was rather strange for the boy as one can imagine.
Shinji was tired from a lack of sleep. How could he when he got weird powers and broke his bed by accident? He only wished his teacher wouldn't find the broken bed before he could do something about that. Exactly what he could do is beyond his guess, but he had to do something.
Rubbing his eyes, he walked past the groups of students walking together talking about random life activities or something. He wasn't paying too much attention.
Maybe if he had, he wouldn't have bumped directly into Prof. Inumaru and making him drop his papers.
"Eeeh! Sorry Professor!" Shinji yelled out loudly as he tried helping Inumaru get his papers, but the good professor merely held out his hand to silence him.
"It is alright Ikari." He readjusted his glasses as he stood up to properly meet his student. "I've been meaning to ask you something."
Shinji shifted slightly. "Sure. What do you want to know?"
"It was about the incident from yesterday." Inumaru said nervously. "The doctors said you were fine, but have you felt any side effects at all? Any changes?"
Shinji contemplated whether to tell Inumaru about getting his powers last night. On the one hand, he was curious about the spider and what it had done. But on the other hand…
"No sir. Nothing much happened."
He was not quite sure he could trust him.
Inumaru scratched the back of his head, "Very well. Could you do me a favor and make sure you don't tell anyone what happened alright?"
Shinji nodded, and Inumaru went back to walking down hallways with papers like teachers usually do.
From there, the boy for his part went about his day as normal. Other than nearly falling asleep in classes, nothing much really happened that was worthy of note.
Until lunchtime.
Shinji was eating alone at his own table. He rubbed his hand over his forehead, feeling a slight headache come over him as he stopped eating for a second. The headache grew stronger and he groaned.
"Just what is up with my head" Shinji grabbed his head with one hand, the other hand went in search of the tray to grab onto.
He felt a slight pricking on his wrist, which Shinji took a brief glance at from the pain on his head to see-
Some sort of fluid material covering a part of the tray.
Momentarily forgetting his headache, Shinji reacted similarly to getting his wall crawling power; by panicking. He got up quickly, the tray sticking from his hand and-
Hitting someone that was coming by, spilling all the food on his uniform. Whoops!
Oh, and not just another student either, it was 'kind and loving' Tsuyoshi Kotei.
Double whoops.
After hitting Kotei, the fluid material snapped from Shinji's hand and fell to the floor.
Thank goodness no one witnessed that, it would have exposed Shinji's secret right then and there. Narrowly avoided triple whoops.
"I'm sorry Kotei!" Shinji waved his arms around, "I didn't mean to- It was an accident!"
If one payed close attention to Kotei, one would notice one of his eyes twitching, "It's perfectly alright Ikari. I'm sorry for disrupting your lunch as well. How about we meet after school so we could eat some lunch together?" he responded with a polite tone.
Shinji felt another headache coming on. He knew that it was going to lead to trouble, but everyone was staring at him…
"Okay, I'll do it." While he wasn't a social butterfly, it would seem rude to reject an offer just like that. Not if you want everyone else to turn on you.
Meeting at the rooftop of the school is pretty normal for students. It had a nice view when you wanted to get away from the crowds at the lunch table.
Another thing that was normal was Tsuyoshi Kotei and his goons surrounding and beating up people they don't like.
Truth was, Kotei was massively popular and the class representative. He has earned everyone's trust and admiration, so they didn't seem to notice or look too deeply when some students came in with bruises into the classroom, looking away from Kotei when he smiled at them holding some yen.
Or maybe they did notice. Maybe they just chose to look the other way.
Shinji was no stranger to the sight of Kotei and his goons surrounding him. Kotei had support from all around, and they were all waiting to see Kotei kicking the butt out of whoever he brings in.
He tried to get away from Kotei, but the other students held him still for Kotei.
"You ruined my uniform just now Ikari." Kotei said with a sadistic grin, much like in lab class. "You have to pay, so STEP RIGHT UP!" He had his mighty fists of steel (as he called them) raised up to beat the snot out of his new victim.
Shinji felt his headache again. 'Not now!' he thought as he clutched his head waiting for the right hook shot to the face that was coming towards him.
Then though, time slowed down.
The grinning Kotei and his fist of steel was now coming at Shinji at a snail's pace. Seemingly without thinking, Shinji moved his head aside-
Time returned as Kotei struck one of his classmates instead.
"What the hell?!" The punched out student yelled. The smug grin from Kotei disappeared in favor of confusion and anger. This volatile combination of feelings lead to Kotei throwing another fist at his missing target.
And another
And another-
Shinji was dodging all of the punches! Through some sort of instinct, Shinji's headaches seem to alert him the incoming danger, allowing him to reflexively move out of the way of the fists!
The crowd surrounding them cheered on Kotei to knock Shinji's ass to the ground, which only made Kotei more determined than ever to oblige.
"Finish it up Kotei! We're gonna check out at the warehouse down the marketplace to see if we could turn it into a crib!" yelled out one of the students surrounding the fight.
Shinji for his part was confused as to how he was sensing the danger. These headaches were only making it worse, unable for him to think properly.
But the crowd was getting anxious so finally when Shinji moved away once more some students grabbed his shoulders to keep him still.
"We got him right here for ya, Kotei! Finish off the lil bastard and we'll got the arcades next!" said an eager student. Kotei smirked.
"Nowhere to run now, Ikari. Now get ready!" Kotei raised his left hook and launched it right at Shinji's stomach.
Shinji struggled from the grabbing, but he was kept there like a lamb for the slaughter. His headaches were getting worse so without thinking as Kotei's fist reached-
Hand to hand contact was made; Shinji's hand blocked Kotei's fist.
A sickening crunch was heard.
"GGRRAAAARRRGGHH!" Kotei yelled out in anger and pain as he clutched his now broken hand.
The others let go of Shinji as they went to look over their Class Representative in Pain.
"I'm… I'm sorry…" Shinji let out in a small whisper. Kotei looked over him, rage filling his eyes.
"YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURS, IKARI!" At that, Shinji turned around and ran off quickly ignoring the yells that came from behind him.
Breaking someone's hand with your newly gained super strength? Now THAT was a triple whoops.
"I got a call earlier today. It was from a parent."
Bach's Cello Suite #1 was something Shinji had been practicing for a long time. Today he was playing it with the efficiency he always had when playing it. The older man had his arms crossed as he sat facing Shinji's direction, disapproval evident on his face.
"What did they say?" Shinji asked.
"They said something about you breaking their kid's hand."
Shinji frowned, stopping the cello playing and remained silent. The older man took it as confirmation of guilt.
"I am disappointed in you. Getting into fights with students? That's very unlike you." He rubbed his eyes in frustration. Shinji returned to playing the cello, but there's a change in the way he played it.
"So? It was an accident anyway." Shinji kept his head down, his tone turning to anger.
"Accident nothing. The parents were angry, I had to apologize to them for you. They're threatening to sue. Don't you feel any sort of remorse for that?"
The cello playing became harder, to the point that it was messing up the rhythm of the piece.
"Why do you care?"
The question surprised the older man. "Come again?"
"Why do you care now?" Shinji's voice took a darker tone. "You've never cared before. How would you even know it was unlike me?"
Dropping the cello to the floor, Shinji stood up from his chair to face his teacher. Anger boiled directly in his eyes as he started yelling, "You never talk to me, you never ask how I am or how I feel! You didn't even visit me when I was in the hospital the other day. The only thing we ever do together is you teaching me how to play the cello! If you cared before, you would have said something A LONG TIME AGO!"
The older man also stood up to face his student, "Sit back down!"
"No I won't!" Shinji got out of the room fuming. He took a raincoat and slammed the door open.
"You will get back in here right this instant!" The older man may have said more things, but Shinji wasn't listening as he ran away from the house.
The boy ran as far as he could, but even he got tired after a while. He stopped at a near by lamppost to catch a breath.
Clutching the lamppost, he looked around to see where he was. Judging from the various stores around the area, he seemed to have taken a turn into the marketplace unknowingly. Sighing as he put his hands his pockets, Shinji realized he still had his S-DAT player and earphones with him. With this, he made the decision to just walk around the street to clear his thoughts while listening to music.
He placed his hood on and walked away not noticing the dent he made onto the lamppost from clutching it too hard. He put on the earphones and set the tape to 25 as per usual.
To the sorrowful town
Wind of sand plowing blows
Walking around alone while listening to music, that was something Shinji was comfortable with. He didn't have to fear what people think of him, how they saw him, didn't have to think about his problems… that was good.
A piece of faint hope
Although it turns into an irregularity
This was good. Shinji just let himself get caught up in the same track he always played during those moments, especially on the train rides to school.
You are the only one. Yes, you alone
His eyes took a quick glance around, coming upon a random scene.
Someone (around his age, Shinji thought absentmindedly) was mugging a random middle aged woman.
"Gimme the damn purse, old hag!" said the guy grabbing onto to the purse while the lady is desperately trying to get it back.
"No! Let go of it!" The lady bit her lip but eventually she lost the battle. The guy dragged the purse away from her, knocking her to the ground. He ran straight into Shinji's direction.
Feeling another headache, Shinji looked up-
and without thinking, stepped to the side.
The woman looked up, her eyes watering up as the mugger got away. "That man stole my purse!" She said desperately trying to get up to chase down the man.
As she went past Shinji, another man patted the boy's shoulder.
"It's okay, kid. Anyone would be scared of that." He said Shinji with an understanding tone. "I'm gonna try to help her out, get home safe!"
That man ran off to help the poor woman. For his part, the boy continued trekking down the area, not once thinking of what happened there.
'Was I supposed to stop it? It's not like it was my problem or anything.' He thought, turning around a corner desperately trying to avoid any thinking.
His headaches increased by a strong amount-
Shinji jumped away just in time to avoid a car.
He heard some yelling but really all he could focus on was the fact that he clung onto the walls of a building.
And that he was high up.
"WAAH!" Shinji nearly slipped off the building before firmly reattaching his hands to it. He looked around quaking with a tinge of fear.
Luckily the hood on his coat managed to decently hide his face from anyone looking below. It seemed luck was on his side a lot these days. He crawled up the wall to avoid getting seen by more people.
Getting to the rooftop, he stopped to catch his breath. 'Climbing up walls, getting headaches whenever I'm in trouble… breaking hands,' Shinji cringed at the thought, 'and that stuff from the tray. How much can I do?'
If he wanted not to break someone's hand again, he needed to test out his new powers. But where could he find a decent place for it?
He remembered one of the students during the fight mentioning a warehouse down this district… maybe he should check that out?
The warehouse as it turned out was not too far.
Indeed, Shinji was surprised the building wasn't torn down already. The place was deserted, no one in sight. He was surprised not even Kotei's gang was here, given the earlier proclamation of turning it into a "crib".
Whatever, this will have to do.
With his new "wall crawling" powers, he managed to get inside the place just fine. Once he got in, he surveyed the area. Lots of crates, an abandoned car, but a whole lot of empty space as well.
Empty space for which to practice.
Shinji jumped right into the center of the area. With his new strength, he landed with ease. He took off his jacket and other stuff to make sure they don't get broken. Lord knows he doesn't want his walkman broken, how else would he hide away from his issues?
He thought about lunch period earlier. A fluid came out from his hand that latched itself to the tray… that bumped into Kotei. Shinji let out an involuntary chuckle. 'How did it come out..?'. He tried to think about how to release the white fluid from his body (his face blushed at how that came out- oh get Shinji get your head out of the gutter!). He looked over his hand. Maybe it was how the hand was positioned…?
He held out his hand away from him, "Go?"
Nothing happened.
Flexing his hand again, he tried a thumbs up gesture, "Release."
Nope.
This time, he faced his palm outwards, triumphantly crying out, "HONEEEYYY FLASH!"
Nada to the third power, receiving a large blush for his trouble.
Trying out various more poses and flexes, Shinji was getting frustrated with the lack of results. 'I was able to do it before, why doesn't it work now?,' it feels like the luck he possessed earlier had disappeared. Grabbing his head in his hands, he kicked some dust from the floor. Waving his arms around, 'I really hope that wasn't a one time thing, that wouldn't be very good-'
Thwip!
Shinji heard it, and turning to meet the noise he saw the fluid had again flown, this time from his left hand attached to a pillar. The fluid-
"No… webbing." He thought. The webbing had detached from his hand this time, when it didn't during the tray incident. 'Maybe back then, I was suffering the headaches and wasn't thinking straight. Now that my head is clear and thought about it, it detached itself from my hand.' He memorized the form of his hand (the index, little and thumb fingers extended with the middle and ring fingers held down. 'The rock and roll pose,' Shinji thought somewhat amused). Trying it again with his other hand, he positioned upwards and thwip, another web line launched onto the support beam on the roof. He clutched the web with his hand, pulling on it to test the strength. His belief in the web established, he decided to try something.
Clutching the web line with both his hands, he climbed it. Slowly of course, he raised a hand up, and another hand up and sure enough, the web was strong enough to support his body! Shinji was grinning from ear to ear like a child as he marveled at the fact he was getting the hang of his powers.
"This is amazing! I can't believe I can do thi-WHOAH!" Shinji yelled out as he realized he made a mistake. See, while he tested the web line to make sure it was strong enough to hold him, he didn't check to see if the wooden support beam the web was attached to was strong enough to hold him.
As such, the support beam broke and now Shinji pays the price. He fell to the ground on his back, the web falling with him. And WHAM! The support beam wasn't too far behind, hitting him as well.
"Owww…" Shinji groaned in pain. Thank God he had super strength or else he would have broken his back in day one.
The next morning was a pain for Shinji.
Not just pain from last night's little endeavor (thought it did hurt a lot), but also the fact that in order to get to school he has to get past his teacher. The one he blew off last night in anger. The one he waited until he was sure he was in bed before coming back inside.
'Maybe if I'm lucky I could just get to the door and walk away before anything happens.' Shinji tried to think optimistically, a rare thing for someone with low self esteem like himself. The poor boy walked down the stairs sneakily, making sure not to make a sound. Step by step, he just had to make it past the kitchen-
"Ikari."
Yup, his luck definitely ran out last night.
Shinji cringed as he faced the older man sitting on the table. The lack of a newspaper and the way his arms were folded suggested a long conversation was about to ensue.
"Sit down. We need to talk."
And he was right. Shinji followed his teacher's instructions and sat down, placing his hands in front of him.
Facing each other, the two sat there in silence. Neither of them moved or made a sound, as it seemed both were thinking about what to say.
Shinji decided to try first. "I'm sor-"
"You're a lot like him you know. Like your father."
Shinji looked at his teacher surprised. The older man continued, "The two of us went to college together way back when. The two of you are ones to keep things close to your chest, never letting people see what's inside your heart. Then again… I'm not really that much better am I?" He took out his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Shinji stayed quiet to let him continue.
"The truth was… I hated your father. Ever since I met him. He was a smug and petty man who got into fights in bars for no reason and always got me and my friends into trouble along the way. We even called him the Bastard King as a joke once or twice. You though?" The older man stared at Shinji intently, "I never hated you. When the bastard left you all alone on that train station, I was angry he would just leave you like that, especially after your mother died. I took it upon myself to make sure you were taken care of. Taught you how to cook, how to play the cello, got you into school and got the tapes for your Walkman because I wanted you to grow up alright."
He turned his head down, "But when you yelled at me yesterday… I realized that wasn't enough. You thought I didn't care about you… and that was my failing."
Slowly, carefully, he extended his left arm across the table, his hand meeting Shinji's right hand. Shinji was surprised, but… he didn't remove his hand or turn away. That was a sign for the older man to continue. "Shinji… I'm sorry. For making you think I didn't care. You don't deserve that. You never did. You are my responsibility. I promise you, from now on I promise I'll try to be a better guardian for your sake. If you want me to."
Shinji swallowed a lump in his throat. What could he possibly say? This was something completely out of left field!
"Th- this is all so sudden! I don't know what to say." Shinji let out in a yelp.
"You don't have to say anything." The older man had a small, bittersweet smile. "Don't worry about it, just take your time with your answer. I didn't expect you accept this right away. But I hope I can make things right. That we can be better."
Shinji had a small frown, "Yeah…"
The conversation wasn't over though. "There was something else I need to mention. I believe you when you said it was an accident when you broke the Kotei boy's hand. You're not the type to pick fights out of nowhere, you were probably forced into that fight. I wonder how you got strong though to break his hand though. You never exercised once in the entire time you lived here."
"Uhhh…" Shinji didn't expect to be questioned on that, "I'll explain it when I get home today?"
The older man made a slight smirk, "Sure. Just be careful with your strength. The Kotei boy was out of line, but you could hurt someone with that kind of power. Be responsible okay?" He got up from the table. "Now shoo. I need to handle some paperwork. Go to school."
"R-right." Shinji didn't have to think twice. He got up and went out as quickly as he could.
"Yeah, haha!"
It was sunset at the warehouse. Shinji jumped from a column onto the wall, only to shoot a web up to the ceiling and swing across the room. Shooting another web string up for another swing, Shinji was elated!
School was about the same as usual. Kotei didn't mention his hand getting broken to the class, claiming he got hurt in an accident, so Shinji didn't have to worry about having everyone turning against him even more. Prof. Inumaru looked at him suspiciously, but hadn't said a word. Shinji wanted to get away as soon as possible.
Which is why after school he went back to the warehouse to train his powers. As the afternoon passed by, he found himself getting better and better. Now he got enough mastery over the powers that he could do tricks.
Shinji swung into a pack of crates, where he attached himself to them with his hands, hanging himself upside down, then jumping up to the ceiling.
Swinging around the webs was fun, but Shinji wondered what if he could swing across the buildings in the city! Or if he could travel from jumping from rooftop to rooftop like a parkour expert would! With his spider sense (he decided to call it that, considering he didn't know what else he could call it), he could sense any danger so he would be able to get himself out of any problems he faced in town. Now that he didn't have to worry about Kotei, Inumaru, his teacher, anyone else, Shinji was truly excited about what his new powers bring!
He ran across the ceiling and zipped up to the wall.
What his teacher said though…
Shinji jumped back to the ground. He wanted to believe it. He so badly wanted to believe it was true. But what if it was some kind of trick? Why now? The poor boy hadn't known affection, so to hear his teacher make his confession earlier shook him.
Thinking back though… though he didn't visit him in the hospital, he still brought Shinji his S-DAT Player. The older man taught Shinji life skills he would need for the future like cooking and even taught him to play the cello when the boy expressed an interest in it when he was four. He wasn't good at showing it but… maybe he did care?
"This is all so confusing…" Shinji said to an empty room filled with boxes.
But he was being honest. The older man opened up to him and said wanted to make things right. Shinji wasn't sure if it was going to happen, but-
"I'll tell him… I'll tell him about the spider, that I have these powers. I'll tell him everything." Shinji decided firmly.
If his teacher was able to let his defenses down, then Shinji must do the same.
He jumped out of the warehouse and started his walk back.
Turning around the corner, Shinji eyes widened at the sight in front of him.
The house was surrounded by a police car and an ambulance, sirens blaring loudly.
The initial shock wearing off, Shinji panicked and ran straight through the officers to enter the house though some officers stopped him from entering.
"What's happening? What's going on?" Shinji yelled out as he tried to break away from the cops' grabbing hold on him.
Another officer came over. "You must be Takuji Yamashiro's ward, Shinji Ikari. I'm sorry to tell you but…"
"Let me go! Where's-" Shinji stopped when he saw another thing that made his heart stopped.
A group of officers were carrying a bag. A body bag.
Shinji looked over the cop who came over. "I'm sorry, but your guardian…"
"No… nonono NO!" Shinji escaped the grips of the officers as he ran to the body bag being carried away towards the ambulance car.
"Please no! YAMASHIRO! Please…" He felt his eyes getting watery as he tried to grab onto the bag, only to be pulled away by other officers. "Why… why did this happen?"
One officer held a shoulder over the poor boy. "A burglar broke into the place an hour ago. A witness heard a gunshot sound and called us in, but he managed to get away before we could arrive. From what we heard from other officers he was last seen around Mayonaka Park. We're gonna catch him-"
At that, Shinji ran away from the officers, onto the streets on his own. The officer saw for a split second trails of tears falling on the boy's face, along with fiery eyes twisted onto an angry face. He let out a heavy sigh.
"Poor kid… he needs some time to himself."
Nighttime reigned in Mayonaka Park.
One of the various changes introduced to the newly christened Kokoro was the creation of a large park around the small neighborhood. It was a rather popular area for dates and tourists, intentionally done to bring some nature into the city. A forest was grown in this area, which was what the burglar was counting on when he ran inside the park to escape the police. Nighttime, fairly large trees and being very good at running are key factors in his plan. When the time is right, he'll get away with the money he stole.
This would be his lucky night!
So why was his whole body shaking? He took a brief glance at his gun. He managed to swipe it off a police officer he passed by. He thought it would make things easier for himself, but shooting that guy in his house… that wasn't part of the plan. That wasn't supposed to happen! He just wanted the money! Why didn't he just give it to him?
'He just talked to me, asking about why I was robbing… keeping me distracted while reaching for the phone!' That's what the burglar tells himself, but he was having doubts about that. He couldn't be sure. If it was a trick of the mind or something, then he wound up killing a man for nothing. He couldn't be sure and that was driving him mad.
"Calm down, you gotta get outta here!" Slowly losing his mind. he started breathing heavily as he was suffering a nervous breakdown right in the middle of the Park's forest.
A twig snapped.
"WHO'S THERE!" The burglar waved his gun around, eyes bulging in a state of panic. Looking around he couldn't see anyone. "COME OUT ALREADY!"
After several more minutes of searching, he backed up to a tree as he saw it.
A shadow a few feet from him.
"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER, I GOT A GUN YOU HEAR ME!" He screamed out in fear.
The figure came two steps closer.
"GO AWAY!" He fired the gun straight at the shadow… but it didn't hit.
In the split second that the shadow dodged the bullet, it threw something from his hand above the burglar. Then a tree branch hit the burglar's arm, knocking away the gun from his hand!
Another few seconds and the shadow was right in front of the burglar and hit his stomach. Another punch was launched into his right cheek, and another to the left! The shadow was launching a series of punches at the burglar which he can't escape from!
"You bastard, I'm gonna GET YOU!" In a small break, the burglar managed to throw a punch… but the shadow grabbed it. He grabbed hold of the fist-
"GYAAAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!" and squeezed it for all it's worth, with the intent to make the burglar suffer.
The shadow grabbed hold of the burglar with the other hand and tossed him across the forest, knocking him into a nearby lamppost!
"Why you doing this?" The burglar said in rapid, ragged breaths. "What'd I ever do to you?!"
"You know what you did, murderer." The voice of the shadow was a cold, angry tone.
The burglar's eyes widened in surprise, "I swear, I didn't mean to kill him-"
"HE'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" The burglar tried to get up, but the shadow was too quick and just whaled on him. Each punch was damaging; a broken nose, loose teeth, chest hurting like mad. The shadow had no mercy for this man. He has gone berserk. "You KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM!"
"I didn't even know his name…" The burglar let out in a hoarse voice, reeling from his injuries. "I just wanted his money… why didn't he call the cops?"
His shirt was grabbed by both of the shadow's hands. "You're going to pay for what you did!" He held him up and pushed him straight into the lamppost.
The light from the lamppost helped the burglar get a good luck at his attacker.
A kid. A small, brown haired, blue eyed kid. Who was crying and angry. The burglar got a strange sensation he had seen him before…
But the kid's face went from righteous anger into one of pure shock. The burglar could have sworn he heard him say You… The shock caused his hands to let go of the burglar, who tried to scurry away from the young boy.
"Get away from me, you little psycho!" He folded his arms around his head, crying from the pain.
A short silence passed between the two as the burglar sniffled, hugging and weeping to himself.
The burglar felt himself getting covered in something.
"You won't say anything." The burglar heard footsteps growing distant with each second.
By the time the police arrived, the burglar allowed himself get arrested.
It was him.
The burglar. He was the same thief from yesterday. The one let escape with a woman's purse.
'It's all my fault.' Shinji thought as he rubbed his eyes with his shoulder. No matter how much he tried, the tears wouldn't stop. 'If I had stopped him-'
If he had stopped the thief, then Takuji Yamashiro would still be alive.
He would have told Yamashiro about his powers. They would have talked more, opened up more to one another and maybe at last have a true relationship.
'You could hurt someone with that kind of power. Be responsible okay?'
But he's gone now. And it was his fault, and he nearly beat a man to death in his anger.
The adrenaline gone, Shinji was ashamed of what he had did. What he had nearly done. He had powers and using them like that, wailing on a man… it made him sick. That and not using his powers to stop the thief when he could made him feel more shame. Shaking his head, he wanted to stop thinking. Shinji reached into his pocket. He pulled out his S-DAT player and earphones to listen to music once more. He started the walk back to his house, no doubt the police would want him to answer questions-
"HELP!"
Just as he was about to place the earphones on, he heard that word cried out in the darkness. He took a glance throughout the street and sure enough, in an alley he saw the same woman from yesterday getting accosted from some thugs.
Shinji couldn't take his eyes off of the scene. He tried walking off, to just put on the headphones and listen to his favored music.
A thug put his hand around her mouth and pushed her towards the wall while the other one dumped the contents of her purse onto the ground.
But he couldn't do that. He just couldn't.
You are the only one. Yes, you alone
His body moving without thinking, he dropped the earphones and ran straight towards the alley.
To save the overflowing tears,
You must fly away. I always say
Believe in the power to cause miracles.
