Then the Letter Came
Shinji sighed as he walked home from school. Another ordinary school day had passed, but it was not exactly ordinary for him. Today was his birthday. Not that many people knew when his birthday was. He tried not to expect anything special on his birthday, but every year he half-heartedly hoped for just a little something. His current guardian usually would offer Shinji congratulations and would sometimes cook his favorite food but that was all.
Shinji sighed again as he realized what he really wanted was to hear from his father. Every time he had a birthday, he would realize another year had passed since his father had contacted him. He had lost count of the exact number of years since he had last had contact with his father, but he guessed it would be around five years.
What was his father doing? The only thing he knew for sure was that his father worked for the government. Well, it didn't matter. Shinji would only get in his father's way if he were with him.
Lately school had been more unpleasant for him than usual. They were doing a group project in history and Shinji disliked group work. The only thing their group ever seemed to do was argue. Each person wanted to do the least amount of work and get the best grade. When they were dividing up the work to be done, the other members of his group had argued so heatedly and loudly that he could hardly follow what was going on. By the time they had finished arguing, he was so overwhelmed that he just nodded when his group members gave him the hardest part of the project.
Why did everyone have to be so loud and pushy? He hated anything that was too loud. He did not particularly like people either. Most of the time he was happy to just be left alone. Fate seemed to agree with him as people seemed to effortlessly drift out of his life. The first person to leave him had been his mother. This had happened so long ago that the only memories he had of her were of her warm smile and soft voice. Several years after his mother had died, his father had also left him. Even though he wanted his father to contact him, Shinji was also reluctant to see him.
His father had always been cold towards Shinji, but Shinji could never figure out why. Maybe that was just the man's personality. Or maybe Shinji himself was the problem. Maybe Shinji was so unlikable that his father never wanted to see him. Maybe that was why when his father had dropped him off at a relative's house he had not even said good bye to him.
As he walked up the stairs to the apartment he shared with his guardian and former teacher, Shinji dismissed thoughts of his father and tried to think about how he could complete his project for history.
He unlocked the door and noted that the mail had not come yet. As he shut the door he decided that before he started his homework he would play his cello for a while. Playing the cello was one of the few things he believed he did well at. When he played the cello all thoughts went out of his head and he could live in the peaceful world of pleasant sounds for a short time. When he could not play his cello he listened to his portable music player. It was not quite as good as actually playing an instrument, but he still enjoyed listening to the music.
As he started to play, his mind drifted and he became lost in the music. He was so deep into his playing that he was startled when he heard the door to the apartment open and close.
His guardian walked into his room and said "Playing again Shinji? You should spend more time on your schoolwork."
Shinji did not reply to this.
The next thing his guardian said surprised Shinji so much that he almost lost his grip on the cello.
"A letter from your father came today; I left it on the table."
As his guardian walked out of his room, Shinji could only gape at him in surprise. After he recovered from this unexpected statement, Shinji carefully put the cello down and ran out of his room into the kitchen.
He grabbed the letter off the table and hurriedly started to open it, but then stopped. Why was his father contacting him now? Maybe the letter contained some bad news. Maybe the letter said that his father never wanted to see him again. He started to put the letter back on the table, but stopped when a small card fell out of the envelope. He picked up the card and studied it. It was an ID card. NERV, the card said at the top. What was NERV? He tore the envelope the rest of the way open and read the short note from his father.
His father. He wanted Shinji for something. Shinji could be useful to him. Shinji carefully put the note and the ID card back into the envelope as many different emotions swirled inside him. He was going to see his father again.
Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion.