Identity Crisis
Chapter 3: Barefoot in the Park
DISCLAIMER: Sometimes, I question why I continue to type this in, but hey, it takes up space, so why not? Anyway, yes. I still don't own the Evangelion franchise, its characters, or other stuff like that.
A/N: I don't know if you've already guessed, but I intend to make this a fairly short fic, like Innocent Trip, so likely less than ten chapters, considering my attention span is low, so I'm going to do my best to make this short and sweet. Also, I named this chapter after a song in the Evangelion OST of the same name. Why? Well…I think the song fits the general tone of the chapter. Most of it, anyway.
The purple monstrosity continued to haunt his dreams. He couldn't escape it. But what was this monster anyway? What did it want from him? Where did it even come from? And what did it have to do with Father, for that matter?
Shinji felt disconnected from his body. He felt like he was there, but at the same time, he also felt as if he should be inside the giant machine. Standing atop a tall building, watching from afar the monster's handiwork. Debris everywhere, buildings destroyed, and a giant monster as frightening as the purple one on the ground, pinned down by the robot.
The android-looking one seemed to be more savage at this point, though. It had been fighting the green one, and had gained the upper hand. It fought so viciously, like a barbarian beast whose primal instinct was to kill, to murder, to take life away.
It roared a mighty yell as it practically slaughtered the beast before it, and though the green one did everything in its power to resist at first, clawing at its enemy, it was powerless before its foe, and eventually stopped moving. Its life had ceased to be.
Shinji felt sick. He had never seen a dead body of a human in real life before, much less some sort of cosmic being seemingly from outer space. Some wind blew in his face as he continued to stand at the edge of the tall building, and he closed his eyes briefly to protect himself from the wind. However, when he opened his eyes, he saw that the violet beast had spotted him.
It wasted no time leaping towards him, as if intending to attack him as well.
His own screams were the last thing he heard before the dream ended.
"Ikari, wake up," a soft, feminine voice said.
"H-Huh…?" Ikari opened his eyes, waking up and being met by red, apathetic eyes and light blue hair, "Oh, good morning, Ayanami. Do you need something?" He asked Rei, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with a soft yawn.
Shinji didn't usually wake up early on Sundays. Well, in comparison to the actual weekdays, that is. He enjoyed sleeping in as much as the next person, but he was also slightly more of a morning person than the next person. Then again, by "the next person," he usually compared himself to Toji and Kensuke. He didn't know enough about Hikari's personal life, or Asuka's for that matter, while Kaworu seemed like he was off in his own world, and so on.
"Let us go out," Rei said bluntly, her expression never changing.
"Okay…" Shinji murmured, still half-asleep, before his eyes bolted wide open, "W-Wait, what?!" He then said all of a sudden in shock. W-Was she asking him out on a date?! But they had only just met! Oh my, she's…she's certainly direct, but I don't even know her! Oh god, oh god, I've never been asked out on a date by a girl before! I—
"Since I have only recently moved to this town, I am unfamiliar with the layout of the place, and I will need a tour guide to show me around," she said calmly, "I'm not being a bother requesting that, am I?"
Oh. Not a date. A tour, the young boy thought to himself. He was relieved, yet disappointed at the same time. He was relieved that he didn't find himself waking up to a date request being so suddenly shoved in his face, yet he was disappointed because he'd like the chance to go out with a girl as pretty as Ayanami.
…Even if she is his cousin.
"N-No, no. You're not being a bother at all, Ayanami. If you're curious about the place, I'd be more than happy to show you around," he said, calming down gradually. For a second, he couldn't help but notice the faintest trace of a smile on Rei's face for a second, but it disappeared rather quickly, to his disappointment.
"Thank you, Ikari. I trust you'll be making breakfast for us?" She asked, stepping back to give Shinji room to get up.
"Yeah, I'll be right out. Just let me get changed," Shinji responded, grabbing some clothes from the closet and walking into the restroom. As he got changed into his casual clothes; a light red shirt and purple pants, he glanced at the mirror, wondering if his hair was alright. However, his hair quickly became the least of his worries.
Because when he looked in the mirror, he didn't see himself. He saw a horrible, ugly monster. A beast that haunted his dreams. A purple terror looked back at him in the mirror. Before Shinji could even react properly, the mirror shattered as the monster stuck its arm out, as if the glass was actually a window instead of a mirror, before harshly grabbing Shinji by the neck.
The boy could only gasp as he was violently assaulted by the creature behind the wall. He could feel the mechanical hand squeeze the air, the life out of him, but he was powerless to resist. It was far too strong for him to resist. Its bright, yellow eyes stared mercilessly at him as its fingers made their way up to his head, before forcefully slamming his head into the counter.
Shinji fell to the ground, his elbow breaking his fall and preventing him from hitting his head on the ground. He groaned in pain, holding his forehead. He heard a few knocks on the door, but he was too focused on other pressing matters at the moment to do anything about it.
What in the fiery hell had just happened?! Greatly alarmed, and rightfully so, Shinji's heart was pounding faster than it had ever in a long time. He recklessly did his best to stand back up, and when he hesitantly looked into the mirror again, he found that the monster was not there anymore.
Upon some further examination, the mirror seemed perfectly fine, as if it had never been shattered by a monster's arm. The only thing staring back at Shinji was his reflection, as it should be. He seemed to have a small bruise on his forehead, however. Did that really just happen? Why did it happen? Was he half-dreaming? Did he just imagine whatever the hell that was? No, he couldn't have! That had to be real!
But Shinji was never one to believe in anything supernatural or paranormal like that. He was usually a rational and realistic person, but whatever just happened…it was all possibly beyond his comprehension. Or was it?
Three more knocks were heard from the door, and this time, Shinji opened the door with no reluctance. Ayanami was there, as expected, with a worried look on her face. "I heard a bang from inside. Is everything alright, Ikari?" She asked.
"U-Uh, yeah!" Shinji said nervously, hoping he wasn't sweating. "Sorry, I…I sorta slipped and hit my head on the counter. Silly me, huh?" He lied, putting a hand on the back of his neck as he painfully attempted a forced, though still nervous-sounding chuckle.
Rei looked at him silently for a moment, prompting Shinji to question whether or not he was a good liar. Before long, the blue-haired girl simply gave him a nod. "Very well, then. Please, do be more careful next time, Ikari."
Shinji nodded. "R-Right."
After making breakfast for himself and Rei, the two young teens made their way out of the apartment, not needing to say goodbye to Gendo, who was already gone at this point. They walked around the town, the boy showing the girl around the shops, attractions, and whatnot.
Admittedly, Shinji didn't really care for Tokyo-3 that much. He would've liked to see and maybe even live in different places, but for someone who just got here, this place was likely quite the sight, as seen with Asuka. He hoped Rei was having a good time with him right now.
She probably was, actually.
After all, Shinji would be a fool not to take notice of the fact that she was walking quite close to him. Then again, that may be because this was a foreign place full of foreign people for her. It might be, dare one might say, a bit scary for her, but the boy didn't think too deeply into it. All he knew was that if Rei decided to walk this close to him, which must mean that she trusts him, despite the fact they only recently met, right?
As the two of them passed by the arcade, Shinji pointing it out just in case, yelling could be heard from inside. Familiar yelling. This yelling caused the young boy to stop dead in his tracks, recognizing the shouting voice.
"Is there something wrong, Ikari?" Rei asked, puzzled.
"Maybe. It's just that…that yelling…" He said a little cryptically, leading Ayanami into the arcade. And thus, with that, his suspicions were confirmed. The shouting came from a certain Asuka Langley Sohryu dressed in a beautiful yellow sundress, who needless to say, got the attention of everyone in the arcade as she practically mightily roared at…Toji and Kensuke?!
"I DON'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN WHY I'M HERE!" She screamed, flailing her arms about, almost hitting the claw machine behind her. "Maybe I wanted to play a few games! What's it to you, monkey boy?!" She said, the monkey boy insult likely being directed towards Toji, unless for some reason she found Kensuke to be one who resembled a monkey.
Toji looked intimidated, and he looked like he was about to say something. Knowing him, he'd try to produce some insult of his own, but Shinji, recklessly, decided to butt in.
"Guys!" He called out to them, running over, "What's going on here?"
"Oh hey, Shinji!" Kensuke said, hoping that his friend would be able to get them out of this situation. After all, the "Three Stooges" of Tokyo-3 each had their own jobs to do.
Toji was the brawler. As the jock and tough guy, he was the most suited to fighting, just in case someone decided to mess with him, or any of his friends for that matter. Shinji was the negotiator who didn't like fighting that much. He'd try to talk people out of doing something they may end up regretting, and in retrospect, it seemed like Shinji played the biggest role out of the three of them. After all, Kensuke was only the "witness" since he carried his video camera everywhere. He wasn't skilled in fighting or negotiating.
"Shin-man! There you are!" Toji exclaimed, "Do us a favor and talk some sense into this broad!"
"I am NOT 'this broad!' I am Asuka Langley Sohryu, and I demand to be treated with respect! Besides, you're the ones who attacked me first with your harsh interrogation! Geez, is this any way to treat a lady?!"
"I don't see any lady here!" Toji spat.
"Why you little—" Asuka began, before being interrupted.
"Guys, guys! Please, calm down! We're in a public area! No need to give yourself this much attention. Come on…let's all get some ice cream and calm down. You can come too if you want, Sohryu," he offered, to the slight chagrin of Toji & Kensuke, while Ayanami simply stood there, silently watching with those blood red eyes of hers. She wasn't entirely apathetic towards the situation, given how she wanted to see how this would end.
"Hmph!" Asuka crossed her arms, looking away and considering Shinji's offer, before nodding, "Fine! At least one of you stooges know how to treat a lady! I'm not paying though!"
"Yeah, yeah. Just come on or we'll leave you," Toji muttered in annoyance.
"What did you just say? You wanna say that to my face?!" Asuka growled, catching up to the group who began to walk away.
As Shinji and Rei, now suddenly accompanied by Toji, Kensuke, and Asuka, walked around the city to find an ice cream stand, the blue-haired girl looked around the area with much interest, all the different sights being a wonder for her.
"So what's your deal? You look amazed or something," Asuka said, snapping Rei back into reality.
"Uhm…well, you might say I am," Rei replied rather quietly, "This place…I don't often see this many people in one place," she admitted.
"Oh, yeah. Come to think of it, you're new to Tokyo-3, aren't you?" She asked, to which Ayanami simply nodded, "I'm sorta new too, but you get used to this place pretty quickly, believe it or not," the Red Devil said, glancing at Shinji, who was chatting with the rest of his stooge friends, "After all, I am pretty new to this place too, as a matter of fact."
"R-Really?"
"Really," she nodded, "Sorry, I don't remember your name. What was it again?"
"Ayanami. Rei Ayanami," she simply replied, "And no offense is taken."
Eventually, the five of them found an ice cream stand. Shinji was about to speak, before Toji stepped in front. "Five popsicles for all of us, please!"
Each teen got a popsicle, and it was all on Toji, which Shinji and Kensuke found unusual. "What's the deal, Toji? It's not like you to pay for five people, let alone for Sohryu," the latter of the two commented as he took his popsicle.
"Well, my sister's finally gettin' get out of the hospital today, so you might say I'm in a pretty damn good mood! Not even Sohryu can bring me down!" Toji said with a smile.
"I can hear you," Asuka muttered.
As soon as Toji mentioned his little sister, Sakura Suzuhara, Shinji froze for a minute. He didn't know why, but he simply stood there with a blank stare on his face and popsicle in hand, strange thoughts and images racing through his head. These images included a memory Shinji didn't recognize; Toji punching Shinji and Kensuke simply standing there.
As far as Shinji could remember, Toji had never hit Shinji with harmful intent. Why was he seeing this? Why was this image so vivid?! Why—
"Yo, Shinji! Your ice cream's meltin'!" The jock said, causing Shinji to snap back to reality and immediately, on instinct, begin chomping down on his treat.
The German redhead pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. "I'm surrounded by idiots and Rei Ayanami…" She simply said.
And Rei was happy she wasn't classified as an idiot. It's those boys' fault they were seen as idiots anyway, after all, right?
Suddenly, Kensuke walked over to Shinji and nudged him on the arm. "Hey Shinji. Isn't that Nagisa over there?" He asked, pointing his finger.
Shinji looked over in the direction in which Kensuke was pointing, and he did indeed see Kaworu Nagisa, sitting on a fountain with a rather large statue of an angel, reading a book. He had a fairly bored expression, his hand in his pocket as he made very few movements.
"Yeah, it is," Shinji said in mild surprise. He was just running into everyone today! Before he knew it, he'd probably run into Hikari too while he's at it! The boy made his way over to Kaworu, who eventually noticed Shinji and immediately smiled, closing his book.
"Oh hello there, Shinji!" Kaworu said, his smile as bright as his eyes, "I didn't expect to see you here today!"
"Hi, Kaworu. What are you doing out here all alone?" Shinji asked curiously.
"Oh, I'm just reading," he said, raising his hand that held the book, "I didn't want to spend all day inside though. Isn't this day gorgeous?"
"It sure is," Shinji nodded.
Kaworu continued to smile at Shinji, but when he leaned over and saw Ayanami standing behind him, his smile disappeared. "So you brought Ayanami along with you, hmm?"
Shinji raised an eyebrow as Kaworu's smile disappeared, but didn't say anything about it. He simply nodded and said "Yes."
"Ah, I see," he simply said.
Shinji could sense some uneasiness, so he tried to change the subject. "Do you want any ice cream, Kaworu?"
"No thanks, I'm not hungry, Shinji," Kaworu said, his smile reappearing. Sometimes, Kaworu could be the strangest person in the world to Shinji, but that's what made him so mysterious.
Eventually, everyone went their own ways once it got dark. Toji went with Kensuke, Asuka left by herself, and Kaworu remained at the angel fountain, leaving Shinji and Rei walking back home. It was just as well, considering there were less and less people as time went by, as expected since it was getting late.
"So ah, did you have a good time, Ayanami?" Shinji asked.
"Yes, I did," Ayanami replied, managing a small smile as she walked with Shinji, "I had a lot fun with your friends, though I would have liked to get to know that Nagisa person."
"Yeah, I think he would have liked you," Shinji said. He wondered why Kaworu seemed to avoid Rei, but there didn't seem to be anything he could do about it.
The day ended rather normally; Shinji made dinner for himself and Rei once they got home, and made an extra dish for his father whenever he'd be home from work. It was a shame that he didn't know what troubles he'd find himself in the next day…
I'm home.
Welcome home.
A/N: Ah, yeah. Sorry this is a late update, but I'm still quite busy with things. I'll have my hands free once Christmas Break kicks in, and hopefully I'll be motivated enough to write another chapter then, assuming I'm not busy with my Christmas presents by then. Anyway, cheers! Always remember to leave me a review to show me what you think and whatnot!
