Chapter 1 - An Early Appointment
7:10 A.M. March 30th, 2051.
Tokyo-3, on the northern shore of Lake Ashinoko, Japan.
It was a cold and dreary Thursday morning. A little past seven, my appointment was at an outrageous hour, but it was the only time the psychologist had available. He was a very busy man. I begrudgingly exited my car into the cold embrace of the cloudy, early-morning air. I am by no means a morning person of any sort, and that day was no exception. The signs were easily decipherable. My hair, which was still in disorder from my usual turbulent sleep, was enough of an indicator to convince anyone. To make matters worse, my face was unprepared for the day, nor was I clothed properly. I didn't have much time, for as it was I had slept in too late, so I just threw on whatever I could find in a timely fashion. I was a complete mess.
The door swung upon and I pushed my way into the room.
"This better be worth it for Shinji. Getting me up at this hour, who the hell does he think he is?" I snorted under my breath. I slowly made my way to the front desk, pausing for a moment before I spoke to the office attendant. "I have an appointment for 7:00 with Dr. Katashi."
"Miss Misato Katsuragi, is it?" the lady at the front desk kindly asked.
"Yes, that's me." I replied impatiently.
"Yes, the psychologist will be out shortly. He's just finishing up with his last patient." the lady kindly stated.
"Thank you." I begrudgingly replied, as if common custom forced me to do so. I tried to act hospitable but my spoiled demeanor ruined my entire mood, and there was no way of hiding it. It was obvious I wasn't happy to be there. I sat down with a muffled thud on the soft couch in the waiting room as if I was ready to return to my disturbed slumber right where I was. I put my arm on the elbow rest, placing my tired head on my openly accepting palm and let out a large yawn. I tried to mask it as a sigh, but it was already too pronounced. The lady at the front desk turned her eyes towards me for but a moment, not wanting to get distracted from her work. She returned her gaze to her computer screen almost immediately, rolling her eyes at my disorder. She said nothing.
"This is so stupid. Getting up at such a god-forsaken time should be banned! Why the hell would anyone even dream of getting up this early for a dumb appointment? It's ridiculous! Shinji better get some serious benefits from this guy..." I mumbled to myself. No time at all passed before the psychologist opened the door to his office, letting out his previous patient with a warming farewell.
"Thank you so much for your time." The young woman that exited the room said.
"Oh, it was my pleasure. You can schedule your next appointment with Stephanie here." The psychologist explained.
"Ah, you must be Ms. Katsuragi. Pleased to meet you." The psychologist said as he noticed me. He openly extended his hand as a greeting. I slowly rose, still a little drowsy, and sluggishly accepted the man's hand, shaking it with a weak grip.
"Indeed I am. And you must be Dr. Hiroto Katashi." I replied, trying to perk myself up and be a bit more professional.
"That is what people call me." the doctor replied humorously, "You work for Nerv, am I correct?"
"Yes I do, but what I do there is strictly classified." I declared, making sure to get the point across that I was not interested in talking about my job.
"Fine by me. I don't concern myself with the affairs of others... unless it pertains to my work, of course!" Dr. Katashi said jokingly. Noticing my impatience, he quickly cut to the chase. "Please, come in." He warmly beckoned me to enter his office.
"My pleasure." I replied as I entered the room, trying to be hospitable, "You've got a lot of nerve scheduling my appointment for such an early time. I'm not a morning person, you know."
"I can tell." Dr. Katashi replied, observing my disorder. He closed the door to his office behind himself, offering a seat to me. I was quick to tumble back down into my comfy seat, and the doctor was close behind, though his descent was more elegant; more professional. "So, you called about your son?"
"No, he's not my son, I'm just his guardian. You're referring to Shinji." I replied.
"Ah, yes! That's what you said his name was. Shinji Ikari… he is one of the pilots for those Evangelion doohickies you concern yourself with, right?" Dr. Katashi asked.
"Yes, he is, but I can't say more on the matter."
"That's alright, I don't need to know. As for Shinji, you told me that he has been acting strange?"
"Yes. Shinji hasn't talked to anyone in weeks and he's always running away from home. He's done this sort of thing before, but never for such a prolonged period of time." I explained.
"Hmm, that's peculiar. He most likely has a case of depression, perhaps even an extreme case, considering that you said he does this often." Dr. Katashi stated.
"That was obvious…" I said snobbishly.
"Yes, well, I am not here to diagnose, I am here to fix the problem."
"Can you fix the problem, doctor?" I asked, now starting to get interested.
"I believe I can, yes. Do you happen to have Shinji with you now, I would like to see him." Dr. Katashi asked.
"Well, um, no, I don't. You see, he sort of ran away again, so I have to find him." I reluctantly replied.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Well, when you find him, just bring him on your next visit and we'll talk." Dr. Katashi stated, a little let down by the absence of Shinji.
"So, is that it?" I asked, as if I were pressed for time.
"Unless you want to tell me something that you didn't tell me on the phone." Dr. Katashi replied.
"No, I think you pretty much got the whole story."
"In that case, then yes, it seems we are finished here. It's a shame that we cannot talk more, but there's not much else I can do without Shinji. It was almost as if you didn't have to come this morning."
"That makes me feel so much better..." I snorted. It was quite unnerving to hear from the doctor himself that my endeavors here were useless without Shinji's presence, making my already enraging early wake-up utterly pointless. "I will try to get him back here as soon as I can."
"Please do. The sooner we can get help to Shinji, the better."
"Agreed."
"Yes, well, it was an honor meeting you Ms. Katsuragi." Dr. Katashi said as he extended his hand for a farewell shake.
"Please, call me Misato." I replied as I reluctantly took the doctor's hand, not particularly impressed by his current performance.
"You can call Stephanie whenever you'd like to arrange your next appointment, since you don't know where Shinji is at the moment. You do have our phone number, correct?"
"Yes, I do. Alright, thank you, I'll make sure to do that." I quickly blurted randomly as I hastily exited the building.
Misato pushed her way through the door and back out into the cold morning air, trying to get to her car as fast as possible. Dr. Katashi shook his head and laughed, turning to Stephanie as he did so.
"Do we really have to offer services to her?" Stephanie Goodman asked the doctor, making sure the door was closed and Misato gone before she spoke. The doctor finished his chuckle and let out a faint sigh.
"A doctor cannot chose his patients, he can only hope to help them as much as possible." he declared, "Make sure to call me when my next patient arrives."
"Sure thing." Stephanie replied. Dr. Katashi turned to prepare his office for his next customer but, before he could even change direction, the door chimed open and his next patient eagerly pushed through the door.
"You're early, Mr. Buckingham."
"I like to be punctual." the man declared, "As they say, if you're on time, you're late, so better be early!" Dr. Katashi chuckled before he responded.
"Good man! So, how has little Johnnie been doing?"
"He's getting better, all thanks to you!" Mr. Buckingham stated with much pride in his voice as he patted the back of his son's head with his left palm.
"You give me too much credit, but I thank you!" Dr. Katashi replied, bowing as he did, "Alright, Johnnie, come in, let's talk." The doctor beckoned Mr. Buckingham's young son. The two entered his private office space, disappearing behind the egg-white door. With that, Mr. Buckingham took a seat and cracked open a magazine, crossing his left leg over his right as he began to read. All once again became peaceful and the room feel silent, just as Stephanie liked it.
I did not like the cold. I quickly rushed to my car and jumped in. I placed my keys in the ignition and started the vehicle. I immediately turned on my seat heater and slumped back in relief. This meeting, despite being extremely abrupt and overall pointless, had been extremely stressful for me.
"Such a waste of my valuable sleeping time!" I softly mumbled. I lay motionless for several minutes within my waiting car, slowly calming my breathing. When I felt a little better―after my seat had warmed to a comfortable 98 degrees―I put the car in reverse and pulled out of my parking space. Swinging around, I put my car in drive and sped off to my apartment.
"That idiot, where the hell is he?"