A/N: Well, here's a new project of mine. The Angelic Days of Haruhi Suzumiya will be just like it sounds like – a crossover between The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days or Girlfriend of Steel 2, however you want to look at that particular manga… although this is more of a pseudo-sequel to the NGE story.

You'll notice that Shinji's grown up a little and less whiny – in a sense, he's a mix between his Angelic Days counterpart and his manga adaptation. The result is a character that thinks much like Kyon, but still retains himself within there. I have to be careful for this story; I'm treading two fine lines that could snap at any moment; one is the NGE fandom, the other the Haruhiists that threaten to slit my neck while I sleep. But I promise to keep myself in line.

Also, until I get used to writing this and falling in line with what I want out of the story, you'll probably notice that Shinji and Kyon's statements will seem very similar. I'll be using lines straight from the book sometimes, but please bear with me.

If you had asked whether or not I believed in Santa Claus or the mysteries behind White Day, I'd firmly tell you that I didn't. I've known that Santa Claus hadn't existed since I was old enough to communicate with the outside world, and as far I was concerned, White Day was just a pointless holiday to force men to give expensive chocolate to women. That, and being the child of two scientists in charge of protecting the world will also take some of the mystery out of life.

However, if you had asked me if I believed in the existence of Aliens, Time Travels, Espers, and Sliders, then up until a year ago I would've said that I thought they did. Well… to be honest, they probably didn't, but you know, it's nice to dream. And until about six months ago, I knew for a fact that only Aliens existed.

Except these aliens were called Angels. And it was my duty to defeat the earth against them in a 60-meter tall bio-mecha called an Evangelion. You'd be surprised at how fast you get tired of a world where all you do is train in a mecha, fight giant aliens, and at the same time juggle work and real life. I'm 15, Damnit, I'm not ready to be doing things an adult wouldn't consider doing! I'd much rather be on the sidelines of something like that, watching like my friends and being in awe, rather than being a part of that awe.

Okay, then, here's an idea: Let someone else take over the position of Third Child. I'll sit on the sidelines and enjoy an average high-school kid's life, and be happy for once. No robots to worry about piloting, no angry redheads to put up with, and no super-sappy albino chicks to screw with my libido, please. I've had enough.

When I had finally reached my first year as a high school student, life was finally okay. There hadn't been any Angel attacks in many weeks, and life was finally starting to settle down. I was enrolled in Tokyo-3 Second Municipal High school, and for once in my dreary existence I had something to look forward to.

With a thought like this, NERV and my mission was but a distant memory. For a while, I could be a normal, carefree highschool student until the next Angel attack. That is… until the day I met Suzumiya Haruhi.

-

The Angelic Days of Haruhi Suzumiya
Chapter 1

-

And so, the first day of the rest of my high school life began. Oh joy.

The first thing that I have to do is climb up an impossibly tall hill to even reach the school. I honestly hope that whoever's genius idea this was got themselves crushed under my Unit-01's foot… purely by accident of course. The thought of having to climb this hill for the entirety of my high school career was somewhat depressing, but it wasn't entirely bad. I've faced worse; try climbing a mountain in an Evangelion! Now that's a struggle if I've ever felt one. And boy, did I feel that one. I think I was sore for the week after that.

Oh, and also, I have a habit of oversleeping. I woke up fifteen minutes late today, and so I had to run up the hill. I made it in the auditorium about 4 seconds before we were told to find our seats so the principal could give us a speech that was more'n likely going to put me to sleep.

I searched around and quickly found Kensuke Aida, the bespectacled military otaku from eighth grade, and probably one of my best friends. He smiled and waved at me, and I caught up to him and sat down in the seat adjacent to him as the room quieted down.

"Strange combination," I whispered to him, noting the fact that, while we were required to wear a black sport jacket and black slacks, the girls wore teal and white sailor uniforms.

"Must be the principal's fetish," Kensuke whispered to me, pulling his trademark camera out of his bag and beginning to fiddle with it. "I'm gonna get everyone's introductions on camera today."

Joy.

"What's with the sarcasm?" he asked me. I shook my head as the principal smiled at everyone and thus began a snore-inducing speech that allowed me to catch a few winks before we were dismissed. The effect of the principal's speech was grand – so grand that I won't bore you with the details I did hear – and together with my classmates I entered classroom 1-5. Kensuke left me there, going alone to class 1-9 and wishing me luck.

Inside, I was greeted with at least one familiar sight; the smiling face of Hikari Horaki. She waved me over to the empty seat behind her, which I took quickly.

"No Touji?" I asked her. The ex-class rep shook her head.
"Nope," she said. "He's two classes down… and he arrived ten minutes late. I feel bad for him," I offered a smile.
"Well, it won't be the first time," I told her, reminiscing. "How many times was he later than me, after all?"
"Quite a few," Hikari laughed. "But you and Asuka-chan were later than anyone."

I blushed. Thanks for reminding me.

About then, our teacher walked in, whom I almost instantly recognized as someone very important. He was Professor Kouzou Fuyutsuki… one of my commanding officers, and my father's right hand man. I stared at him with wide eyes, unsure of how to act; I had never spoken to him more than a couple passing times, and even those were short. My palms started to sweat; what was he doing here, I wondered?

As if sensing my thoughts, he looked over me and offered a quiet nod. I relaxed only slightly. The purpose of class 2-A was to observe potential Evangelion pilots; with that out of the way, we were told that we would be separated during High School somewhat… or at least dispersed. This is why Kensuke went to a different class from me. Seeing Fuyutsuki as my homeroom teacher was only slightly discomforting.

Well, at least he provided a more serene face than my father. And since no one knew either him or my father, it's not like anyone would wonder why the Vice Commander for NERV was acting as a homeroom teacher; no, as far as anyone knew, the smiling face of one Maya Ibuki was the face for NERV.

With a practiced speech, Fuyutsuki-sensei rattled off about a dozen lies in half a minute; he was the science teacher, and in university he was in quite a few clubs, and starting "remembering fondly" the likes of his contemporaries (which I quickly identified as the Bridge Bunnies and Misato-san) and some such. I stopped listening until in a very calm voice, he said.

"Now, let's introduce ourselves!"
It was common to do (and I had to the first day of middle school), so I wasn't surprised; I just didn't want to do it.

One by one, the class introduced themselves, going down one row after another. When Hikari stood up, I suddenly felt nervous; would anyone recognize my name? Would anyone else from 2-A recognize me? Everyone from our old school knew the Evangelion pilots (mostly because a certain redhead wouldn't shut up about it), and it's not like no one knew what Evangelions were. On three occasions we've stomped around the city fighting Angels, and on 3 occasions we won… although this last time was less of a victory…

I flinched as Hikari sat down. Bad memories and nervousness do not make good buddies. Slowly, I stood up and looked around the class; I caught glimmers from people… people who I knew would recognize me. Sighing at Fuyutsuki-sensei, I began.

"My name is Shinji Ikari," I said. I recognized no less than ten signs of recognition at that name. "I graduated from Tokyo-3 First Municipal Junior High School, Class 2-A."

Damnit, I shouldn't have said that. People were giving me "that look", and a couple of the girls had that weird fangirl look to them.
"So, what do you do in your off-time from school, Ikari?" Fuyutsuki asked me. He gave me an almost imperceptible nod; so it was okay if I accidentally let it spill.

Which came out a lot easier than I had wanted it to.

That's right, class; standing before you, this wimpy little boy is the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01, which is the big purple and green mecha that's been in no less than three missions to save us all from the end of the world. My half-hearted smile reflected absolutely no love for what I had just said.

Murmurs started up like the breeze.
"…he's one of the pilots?"
"Didn't you hear his name? Ikari Shinji! Everyone knows that name!"
"Oh, man, what do I say to him?"

"Well, you're not much to look at."

I paused; the normal comments of fear and awe at me were suddenly reversed into a snide slap to the face. I looked at the person who had said it; a girl with long black hair, tied up in two ribbons, giving me an odd glare and a quirked eyebrow that instantly reminded me of a certain redheaded whore.

Embarrassed, I sat down.

The class settled and continued on. The boy in front of the girl gave her a weird look before giving his introduction. It was short, simple, and nicely planned. He seemed likeable enough as he sat down, letting the girl stand and uttering words I will never forget.

"My name is Suzumiya Haruhi. I graduated from Tokyo-2 East Junior High."

I quirked an eyebrow. Tokyo-2? Why not stay there?

"Normal humans don't interest me. If anyone here is an alien, time traveler, slider, or an esper… or a mecha pilot… then come find me! That's all."

Upon hearing that, I began to wonder which of us was crazier. I looked at her again, taking in more of her features; She was cute all right, enough so to give Hikari a run for her money. Daring and challenge shone on her face, and her eyes glinted with seriousness and determination. Her lips were pursed.

Yeah, she was really pretty.

Haruhi scanned the classroom, stopped to glare at the boy in front of her (who had his mouth wide open), then glared at me (I also had my mouth open, I realized), and then sat down without so much as a smile.

I was confused. Was this girl serious? I looked around; everyone was having the same reaction as me. There was no way that this girl could be serious… but in hindsight, I realize that Haruhi is always serious. For 30-some odd seconds, nothing happened, but soon Fuyutsuki called on the next person.

And that is how in our own way, Suzumiya Haruhi and I met.

How unforgettable… I really wished that it was all a coincidence.

Soon after, she reverted back into being just another high school student. Contrary to what I thought, she didn't even bother to speak with me after that first day. I'm not sure whether that was a blessing or curse, but I really should've left things the way they were after that day.

Since Tokyo-3 was pretty much labeled a war zone, it was hard to find anyone who had also came from Tokyo-2 East Junior High. I searched for a couple of days to no avail, and quickly gave up on my search. I really wanted to know if she was serious or not, but the thought was quickly lost. It didn't help that after that second day the lot of us Children (minus a certain albino and redhead) had about four hundred tests to go through, and the morning of the third day found me wondering if my hair still smelled like LCL.

I met the guy who sat in front of her and found out that his nickname was Kyon. I started calling him that out of habit, and soon I guess we became friends. Our topic of discussion the first couple of days was of course the girl who sat behind him. On the third morning, I suggested that he try talking to her.

It was here that mine and his bad luck meshed together; and it was my idea!

It's not my fault… okay, it is. But when she sits there, Haruhi looks like your average everyday highschool girl. I thought she was cute and kinda liked her except for that whole… weird thing she had done earlier. I figured that Kyon should give it a shot. How stupid of me; someone please beat some sense into me. Yes, I'll even allow you to curse me.

I listened in that day.

"Yo."

I tried to look like my desk was really something to look at as I listened in.

"That stuff you said the other day, were you serious?"

I barely noticed Haruhi shifting her weight more on the desk itself than the seat and peer at Kyon.

"What stuff?"

"The stuff about the aliens."

"…are you an alien?"

I was shocked at her serious tone.

"Well, no."

"Then what do you want?"

This was quickly falling apart, so I stood up and walked over to their desk. Why I'll never know, but it seemed like a good idea. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, which would easily explain every day I spent in the presence of a certain bitch.

Just as the words "Don't talk to me" rolled off of her tongue, I waved.

"Hey," I said, smiling. "You said something about mecha pilots, too?" Kyon sighed, relieved that I was taking some of the pressure off of him.

"…yeah, so?" Haruhi asked, glaring. "You're not really what I'd call a mecha pilot. In fact, I don't think you are!" she looked away from both of us. "I have no time for liars; leave my presence at once!"

Defeated, I muttered "sorry" and went back to my desk. Kyon and I nodded to each other as I went back, though.

As I sight down, I looked at others who had been similarly defeated by Haruhi. All of us garnered looks of sympathy from each other before Fuyutsuki-sensei came in and greeted everyone.

I wondered how the others were doing as he called attendance. Touji, Kensuke, and I were all only able to talk during lunch, so it was hard to keep tabs on each other. As for the other two… I'd rather not talk about it.

Needless to say, I was depressed for the rest of the day.

A week passed after that horrible mix-up. I never wanted to speak with Haruhi again, and so I sat with my friends during lunch. We were once again the "Three Stooges" as a certain someone had put it one day, but soon we were accompanied by one other. Kyon had become part of our circle unofficially, and soon our conversations were filled with a certain eccentric girl.

We started to talk about Haruhi.

"That girl, Suzumiya-san," Kensuke said. "I hear she's pretty weird. Did either of you try talking to her?" he gestured toward me and Kyon.
Yeah, we did. And it was a terrible idea.

"And she said some weird crap, and you didn't know what to say about it, right?"
Well, yeah, to Kyon. She just insulted my mere existence.

"Sounds like a certain red haired devil," Touji said absently.
Don't ever mention her in my presence!

"Oh, sorry, Shinji," Touji apologized. "I'd forgotten."

"Anyway," Kensuke continued. "I've heard a lot of weird stuff about her from some people who also moved here; using my connections, of course," he paused to take a bite of his koi. "There was this incident with a tool used to plaster field lines or whatever for soccer games. Anyway, one night she waltzed in there and used one to make these huge shapes, like some pictogram."

"Yeah, someone was saying something like that in class," Touji agreed. "She fessed up to it next day, too. She was taken to the principal, and even now none of tha students who went with her know why she did it."

Knowing her? To summon aliens. Hell, maybe she's the reason we have to fight Angels!
"That wouldn't surprise me," Kensuke muttered.

"So you guys are pilots too?" Kyon asked, curious. The three of us nodded.
"Third, Fourth, and Sixth Children," Touji proclaimed. "We save your asses every chance we get."

Ha, tell that to Haruhi! As far as she's concerned, I'm a liar! How depressing – it makes my missions look like manga chapters.
"I know of you guys," Kyon said. "I went to a different Junior High School, but I remember seeing your faces a lot. Never spoke to you though; I'd always figured you'd want privacy."

"Well, now you're part of the group!" Touji exclaimed, clapping Kyon on the back. "Whether you like it or not, you're now associating with heroes!"

Please stop, Touji. You're embarrassing.
"Anyway, about Suzumiya," Kensuke went on, picking up his camera. "She's pretty popular with the guys." I nodded; I could see why; as long as she doesn't talk, she's okay.

"She's really cute," Touji said, closing his eyes. "I watched her; she's also pretty athletic, and I hear that she's a brain, too; rivaling So… er, Hikari-chan."
I ignored the "-chan" part of his sentence as we continued talking about her.

"Anyway, I'd put her as an 8," Kensuke said, referring to a chart he had in his room that detailed the cutest 8th – now 9th grade – girls in our class. "Right by Horaki, but shy of the 1-5 class rep." Nodding behind us, Kyon and I turned around and looked at our class rep; Asakura Ryouko, a first year and the girl who won class rep by one vote. Hikari, I understand, was still upset over that, but she was among the girls talking with her.

"You have every single first year checked out?" Kyon asked Kensuke.

"You bet!" smiled the otaku. "And believe you me, Asakura is definitely 10+! Come on; her face, her personality, she must be first-class material!" I couldn't help but agree with Kensuke's observations; Asakura Ryouko was very different from Suzumiya Haruhi.

First of all, she was very pretty; plus she always let off a smile-like caring impression. Second, her personality did seem to match Ken's description. These days no one dared to talk to Suzumiya Haruhi anymore, except for Asakura Ryouko. No matter how harsh Suzumiya Haruhi was, Asakura Ryouko still tried to talk to her from time to time. She was so passionate that she almost acted like Hikari did when… nevermind. Third, from the way she answered Fuyutsuki-sensei and teachers' questions in class alone, you could see that she was very smart. She always answered the questions correctly— in the eyes of the teachers she was probably a model student. To top it off, she was extremely popular with the girls. The term had only been going for a week, and she was already well on her way to being the center of the female students in the class. It was as though she had fallen from the sky and had been born with extreme attraction in mind!

Kyon and I nodded in agreement. Between Haruhi and Asakura, Asakura was definitely top-flight. But both of these student were far too high up the ladder for Kensuke to even hope to reach. There was no way he could get either of them.

But then… considering my amazing ability to attract girls, maybe I did.

Stop that, Shinji.

April was a hectic month for me. Although there was nothing more to hear from Suzumiya, us pilots had a hell of a time outside of school. There were sync tests every other day, and we went on three sorties; once, we were contracted to pick up a tanker that had capsized during a typhoon in Osaka; another time, we practiced firing the positron cannon… using me as the target; and a final sortie sent us all the way to Hokkaido so we could practice climbing in an Eva. We had excuses for class, of course, but despite that, nothing could be heard from Haruhi.

It was up to Kyon to keep tabs on her. When the month finally settled down, and I could come to school without smelling like blood, he told me a few things.

For one, Haruhi had a habit of changing her hair style. I had noticed this too, but hadn't really thought of it.

For two, Haruhi would suddenly start changing in the middle of class; and by changing, I meant into her gym uniform. While normally I wouldn't mind this show at all, the fact that the only reason she did it was because she considered us so worthless she didn't care if we got a good look at her sent bad vibes through her body. Hikari later told me that they tried talking her out of it, but she listened about as well as the sun.

Finally, Kyon told me that while I was on my climbing trip, Haruhi had joined and quit every club in the span of a week. When I asked why, Kyon shrugged his shoulders and said "She said they were all boring."

Well, what about her hair style?
"Well, it's Thursday, so normally that would mean three bows. But ever since I pointed it out, she starting using only two." He shrugged. "Oh well, I guess."

Yeah. Anything else, Kyon?
"Nothing important. People think I must be some sort of wizard for being able to talk for more than five seconds with her, but – and this is odd – I'm kind of envious toward her attitude toward life."

Want mine?
"No thanks. I don't think I could handle piloting mecha until I was old."

I sighed as I took my seat. Well, it was worth a shot.

When May rolled around, we were told to draw lots to determine our new seating order. It was stupid, but it was Asakura's idea, and the thought of hurting that pretty girl's feelings brought sad thoughts to my heart. So I went for it without complaint, Kyon and I both. I ended up getting the last seat in the second row; a perfect place to sleep in class. But who should sit directly to my left other than Haruhi Suzumiya herself? I thought so. As if that wasn't ironic enough, Kyon ended up directly ahead of her, one seat up. It was like we gravitated to her position.

From the scowl on her face, I figured that she wasn't happy about it. But alas, that wouldn't be the case.

"Why hasn't anything interesting happened yet? Like little grade school kids disappearing one by one, or some teachers getting murdered in a locked classroom?"

Kyon and I exchanged glances. Stuff like that would almost frighten me if I didn't pilot a giant mecha every day.

"I joined the Mystery Club Group."

I can see where this is going, but tell us anyway. What happened?

"It was so idiotic. Nothing interesting happened! Furthermore, all the club members are detective novel fans but there isn't anyone there that resembles a detective!"

Kyon and I sighed at the same time. Isn't that normal.

"I actually had hopes for the Mecha Pilot Group."

Oh dear, they actually have one of those?

"But they turned out to be Ikari-worshippers," Haruhi muttered, glaring at me like I had done something wrong. I withered under her gaze and found an interesting spot on my pen, that familiar feeling of depressing welling up within me. I had mostly grown out of it by now, but I still suffered relapses now and again. And also, what with a certain slut and a certain still-absent albino girl, my life still wasn't anything close to peachy.

"Oh, shut up!"

Her shout echoed in my mind as she glared at Kyon, who looked flustered. She made a huffing sound and turned away from him, crossing her arms. Damn, she's moody, I realized. But when was she not?

I had no idea that the two just had a world-changing conversation.

The afternoon sun had finally taken its toll on me. With Ken and Touji out for minor injuries (they fell off of Mount Fuji, much to NERV's embarrassment), I had nowhere to go. I was perfectly content with nodding off to sleep. But like so many things in life, that would be far too convenient for me to have.

Just as I had fallen asleep, I was abruptly grabbed by the color and dragged one desk over. I heard a thudding sound as Kyon's head met with Haruhi's desk.

"What the hell are you doing?!" we chorused. I opened one eye and glared at Haruhi, who had the brightest, cutest, and prettiest smile I had ever seen.
"I got it!" she declared, smiling at us. "Why didn't I think of this before?" Haruhi's eyes were bright as stars, and for not the first time in my life I felt that lump in my throat that told me I was afraid.

"…what did you think up?" Kyon asked reluctantly.
"If it doesn't exist, then I'll just create one myself!"

"Create what?" I asked.
"A club!"

My hand started to clench and unclench on its own for no reason at all.

"Really?" Kyon muttered. "That's an excellent idea. Can you let go of us now?"
"What's with your attitude?" Haruhi growled. "You should be happier!"

"Um…" I began. "That's great and all, Suzumiya-san, but…" I gestured. "Class is still in session." Haruhi let go of me and Kyon, grumbling and looking away as she sat down. The entire class was awestruck, and our English teacher looked about ready to cry, the poor girl. Kyon just shrugged at her. "Please continue with the session." He asked politely.

Create a new club?
…oh Gods. I'm already a member, aren't I?

Looking at the similar look of despair on Kyon's face, I realized that I was too right for my own good.

-

To Be Continued

A/N: Observant readers will notice that there is a subplot in there somewhere that I hope to quickly resolve. First off, why is Shinji mad at Asuka? Secondly, where is she? And where's Rei? I promise to answer these soon as I can.