After Evangelion
Episode 3: Stepping up to the challenge
Shinji had reminded himself to be quiet about the entire incident on Saturday night, even if he told his friends, they wouldn't believe him. Misato said later that she wanted him to leave at four in the morning and do the deliveries in reverse, then practice a full course leg each morning. Shinji agreed, but didn't understand how this was punishment. For some weird reason, Misato not only past off the fact that what he was doing was illegal, but she was asking him to get better at racing.
It felt weird for a guardian like Misato to be so lax about the concept that Shinji was driving like this for over 18 months; And to ask him to race? That was unexpected, Shinji wondered for a while if she was drunk at the time she said that. No, Shinji overheard the debate between her and the owner of that hot springs hotel. Misato truly did care for Shinji, just like a mother would.
Shinji continued to walk down the street towards school, bored out of his brains, it felt frustrating that his day consisted of only work and school. It was true that everyone else worked, but Shinji didn't have any days off during the week. That being because Mecha gamers had only two employees and the boss himself. Even if he had time off, where would Shinji go? Karasuyama-2 wasn't very much to do, go to the lake maybe, but with whom?
In the reality of it all, the downtown district of Karasuyama-2 was designed for young couples; restaurants and cafes as well as every kind of boutique was open on one street that led straight to the pier. To Shinji; himself and Mecha gamers was kind of an opposite effect to the district. The only people that came into the store were lonely people looking for entertainment from their hobbies. Of course Shinji wasn't complaining about that concept, in fact.
He sometimes wondered how Misato even found this place, it felt the opposite to what Tokyo-3 was like; it was smaller, less populated and fresh air. But it didn't matter how Shinji looked at this place or what day it was. It felt like he belonged and didn't belong at the same time. After is upbringing in the city, the country felt too relaxing for his nerves to take.
"Morning Shinji-kun!" yelled a young female's voice behind him and down the street,
Shinji turned around and saw Naoko darting out and around the corner, attempting to catch up to him. Shinji couldn't outrun one of the school's best athletes so trying was close to pointless.
"Morning Naoko-san" Shinji said as she finally caught up to her
."Why you walking so slow?" Naoko replied,
"I don't know, just feeling slow today"
"Like that's anything surprising…" Naoko replied, "So how was your Sunday?"
"I was working, remember?" Shinji pointed it out "like I always do"
"Oh yea…" Naoko poked Shinji's arm playfully "you're so boring Shinji-kun, why don't you ever do anything fun?"
"I just guess I'm not that sort of person" Shinji stretch his arms up into the sky, "but it's not like I'm already use to it"
"What do you mean by that?" Naoko looked over to Shinji
"What I mean is, back in Tokyo-3, I use to work all the time and stuff"
"I don't know why you bothered to live there" Naoko drawled off "isn't that were all those Angels or what's-a-names tired to attack?"
"Yes, but their were bomb shelters and stuff like that" Shinji replied
"Still it's nice to know someone that actually survived the attacks, especially with those clumsy Evangelion robots NERV had"
Shinji had to let that kind of comment past. Shinji knew they were responsible for more damage to the city they the angel's were, but it was either that or third impact; and Shinji didn't want to be responsible for that. Ever since he moved to Karasuyama-2, he knew that he'd face people that would say harsh things about the Evangelions. Shinji wished he could yell out at everyone that ever said something bad about them and tell them the true pain and suffering each pilot had on their necks.
Of course he couldn't, it was his own promise that forced him to not tell anyone his true identity, and of course if someone put two and two together, he would have no choice but to admit he was the pilot. But so far, no one managed to bring him up about it, especially his friends whom honestly didn't care about Shinji's well being.
"Oh well, I guess they did something, I suppose" Naoko pondered off again in her thoughts "I wonder what happened to the pilots? They were celebrated a lot back then, but nobody even knows their name anymore, tells you how short lived they stardom was"
Shinji ignored that comment as well, but he felt it was funny that Naoko didn't realize that she was talking to the pilot of the longest serving Evangelion, Eva unit 01. Given the incapability's of Rei and Asuka's mental breakdown in the latter half of the angel attacks, Shinji was left alone to carry the burden of avoiding third impact and it didn't aid him as his father continued to make Shinji's life a living hell with all kinds of trouble.
"Oh my" Naoko looked at her watch "look at the time, class starts in ten minutes"
"What are you worried about?" Shinji pointed at the school building ahead of then "We're not late yet"
Naoko sighed in embarrassment as they approached the school and met up with everyone else. Shinji glad that me managed to swiftly avoid the topic of his past. But the race this Saturday was now at the top of his mind, maybe he should tell Kenesuke and Toji, they'd understand him, wouldn't they?
Location: Karasuyama-2 High School, Karasuyama-2
Time: 11:53hrs
Date: September 11th, 2017
"September of the year 2000, as the result of a military experiment, Antarctica was virtually wiped off the map and caused in what became known as the second impact…" droned on the history teacher, Shinji didn't exactly like this class, but at least what he was hearing the real history and not something that was manufactured from fake documents. Ever since the fall of NERV and SEELE, the history books were finally reprinted to tell the truth about what had actually conspired and caused the second impact.
"Initially, up until last year…we were lead to believe that the military accident was the result of a meteor that impacted in Antarctica, during the 2016 investigation on NERV another organization was discovered, called SEELE. While they haven't been put down, It was enough for the United nations to formally disband NERV from operational status"
"…in 2016, NERV's operations and research department were formally disbanded and removed from UN's 'above the law' treaty, following this many members of NERV were arrested and incrassated…"
Shinji smiled at that, by many members, it was referring to mainly insiders from SEELE and his own father, who finally was taught his own lesson in life. He was kind of annoyed that none of the history books clearly defined Gendo Iraki as the person behind the some of SEELE's crimes. But in another light, he was glad he wasn't mentioned, otherwise it would've been extremely hard to make friends here, if of course, they made the connection.
"…it's however been never established where the pilots disappeared to after the last angel attack, some people believe that the were all subsequently killed in cover-ups, but it's never been established"
'We aren't dead yet' Shinji smiled as he though to himself, 'It'd take more then that to kill me, Rei and Asuka'
The class continued talking about the Geneva trials where SEELE was brought down and most of its members basically put to death for conspiracy on the highest level. Shinji was amusingly bored at all of this, as was Toji and Kenesuke. They already knew about all of this, so when it came to questions; the teacher was surprised they were able to answer the questions, despite the fact they weren't obviously listening.
Hikari remained adamant to at least pretend to be surprised; despite the fact that Toji had told her just about everything he'd leant in his time at NERV's Geofront complex in Tokyo-3. Toji was given a full history lesson on NERV's actual history, and thus was exposed to a horrific truth that would've cost his life if he went public with the information. Naturally there were some things that he couldn't tell Hikari, even if he wanted to, his didn't want to scare the poor girl even more when Toji and his Evangelion became an angel. Hikari was frightened and almost broken mentally when she learnt about what had happened to him.
Shinji looked around at the rest of the class; most of the motley group of students was bored or slightly interested in the class. Hikari as per usually was doing a stellar job pretending to be a role model student. Despite how much it actually bore her to tears listening about how history remembered her friend's actions in the Evangelion. But as Shinji had requested, she had to keep it in, no matter what.
"…concluding this, there will a written essay on your knowledge regarding the angel attacks of 2015 due next fortnight"
Shinji grinned, without doing so much remember his own memories; he had already passed the test. But he might have to teach Toji and Hikari about them as well though, even Kenesuke. Given that there were some angel attacks that didn't happen in Tokyo-3, he had to be sure as to tell them about it.
"…Remember that anyone caught copying will be brought before the principle, Dismissed"
"Stand" Hikari ordered
The classroom continued to go through with the demands of Hikari's disciplinary routine. Shinji trying a little hard for Hikari; after all, she did give him the letter from Asuka to read. Shinji hoped that he could repay her by tutoring her about the angel attacks in depth.
"Bow"
"Good Afternoon Sensei!"
"Dismissed"
The classroom freed itself from Hikari's control the moment share said that. The entire classroom resumed their casual appearance and started retrieving their lunches from bags or any form of general chatter that usually occupied high school student conversations. Shinji packed retrieved his bag and walked out the door to his waiting friends.
"Hurry up Shinji" Toji yelled from the hallway "the world isn't waiting for you"
"Alright…" Shinji sighed as he entered the hallway and went downstairs. Secretly he felt like sneaking out to the retreat of the lone tree on the other side of the yard and have another small snooze instead, but he most likely was going to get dragged into the cafeteria with everyone else.
Inside the cafeteria, just about ever student in the high school crowded around the tables, enjoying, as best they could the air conditioners that were inside. It didn't matter how much air conditioning power there was, Shinji still prefer going outside to his favorite tree and sitting down in path of the lakeside breeze. He decided he'll briefly agree to this pending favor that Toji and Kenesuke were going to ask him, before heading outside and have a quiet sleep.
"Shinji-kun!" both Toji and Kenesuke pleaded, just as he predicted "You've got to help us!"
"Alright…" Shinji replied "Kenesuke-kun, I don't know why you're asking; you saw every one that happened in Tokyo-3"
"I know, but there is a few I don't know all the details about"
"You saw those battles?" Naoko surprised in hearing that "What were they like"
Kenesuke abruptly remembered the fondest memory of a battle he saw, he almost died when Shinji's Eva was thrown clear into the air and down landing where he was standing. Shinji narrowly missed both Toji and Kenesuke as they ended up between the fingers of the Eva's massive hand. Then both Toji and Kenesuke ended up in a front row seat, being inside the Eva during a battle with an angel.
Of course, Kenesuke remembered how much he got reprimanded for that, and he heard how much Shinji's superiors were yelling at him for allowing foreign bodies into the Evangelion.
"I saw them alright…sometimes I feel like they were done for, but they were incredible fighters" Kenesuke described them "I didn't see too much of the white one, I saw the red one sometimes, but that purple one practically was at every battle"
Naoko and Kazuma took interest in Kenesuke's 'history lesson'.
"But look how much damage they did to the city" Kazuma replied "I don't know about you, but was it really worth it?"
Hikari, Kenesuke and Toji all looked at Kazuma as they heard that comment, then she looked over at Shinji who was remaining silent. It didn't seem like he was reacting, but he was certainly taking it personally inside.
"Shinji-kun, what's wrong?" Naoko turned to face him "Every time we talk about the angel attacks, your go all quiet"
"Nothing…" Shinji stood up, "I just don't like to think about them"
"Shinji-kun" Hikari interrupted "what about these two's tutorials? Ill might come as well"
"I'll call Misato-san ask if it's okay if you can come over tonight" Shinji said before walking off and out of the room.
"Shinji's going to be like that for the rest of the day you know"
Kazuma and Naoko looked at each other, the had experienced Shinji's mad mood once before and after that; they decided best no to intervene and let his more long term friends handle it. Hikari though about following him before Toji stopped her from getting up,
"I'll go talk to him"
"Thank you Toji-kun"
Toji blushed for a second before turning off in pursuit of Shinji. Toji didn't have to look far before he saw him walking towards the tree where he fell asleep yesterday; from what Toji could make out, Shinji was on the mobile phone already taking to Misato.
"…Yes, I know you want me to practice for this race on Saturday, but I also have to do this as well…" Shinji walked up to the tree, not noticing Toji behind him
'Race?' Toji wondered in his mind
"Don't worry Misato-san…just tell them about the angel attacks and I'll do it" Shinji said angrily "okay…no, I'm fine…Bye"
"Shinji, what the hell?" toji spoke as he approached,
"Wha?" Shinji turned around and saw Toji standing there. Both of them stood there for a minute deciding on their next course of action before Toji started
"I know you annoyed man, but so am I. Don't worry Hikari again, or I'll have something to say about it" Toji said as he turned around and walked off.
Shinji remainded standing there by himself; watching as Toji walked back into the building. He gave up trying to be angry and sat down to think about what had been said, he'd been attacked twice today about the Evangelions, not including this morning's history lesson, as well as the lagging reminder that he had a race to go to this Saturday.
He sat back and wondered if this was really right holding himself back, pretending like he had nothing to do with it. Well, what else would he do, it was pretty clear that Naoko and Kazuma hated the Evangelions. And Shinji saying he was a pilot of one would probably destroy their friendship. He earned for that though, so when it came down to telling the truth and friendship, Shinji was left in a mental bind. He couldn't face it, he didn't eve n like thinking about it.
Shinji dozed off again, this time setting the alarm on his mobile phone to coincide with the school bells.
Location: Katsuragi Tofu shop, Karasuyama-2
Time: 18:06hrs
Date: September 11th, 2017
Shinji walked home again along the side street that led him towards his home above a Tofu shop. This time he had Hikari, Toji and Kenesuke in his trail. It kind of felt out of place to have Hikari invited along to this study session. Maybe it was because he was only known to visit Misato's apartment when Asuka was still living with them. Shinji wondered what Misato meant she'd handle it. In the phone call, Misato said he'd make sure he could go and do the delivery/practice run in peace and still fool his friends into not noticing his absence.
"Shinji-kun?" Hikari asked "Are you sure that Katsuragi-san knows that we're coming?"
"I'm sure, I told her at lunch time that we'd be having a study group and the topic was about the angel attacks"
"Thanks again mate…I never got to battle one, I was one!" Toji joked absent mindedly before realizing the absence of though in what he said and how it affected Shinji. "…not that it was…never mind"
"No…" Shinji said half blankly "…I'm sorry about it; I just wasn't feeling okay about them talking about us like that"
"I'm sure they don't mean it" Hikari added,
"Yea…it's just me" Shinji sounded dejected,
Inside; Misato was still at the counter reading up on some novel or something, obviously board at this time of the day,
"Welcome to the Katsuragi Tofu…welcome back Shinji!" Misato cheerfully smiled, finally someone to talk to. "and hello you three"
While not technically his mother, Misato felt it became her duty, even beyond her service at NERV to be Shinji's guardian, which was a win for her cause she'd have someone to talk AND clean the house for her.
"Good afternoon Ms Katsuragi-san" Toji and Kensuke bowed,
Misato turned to Shinji "why are you late this afternoon?"
"I'm sorry Misato-san, I was sidetracked a bit today" Shinji spoke quietly "I'll start closing up"
"Alright Shinji-kun" Misato said, winking suspiciously "I'm guessing I don't have to tell you about the angel attacks, can you watch the store and close up on time"
"Okay Misato-san" Shinji quickly understanding what she meant by that winking. Normally the tofu shut at 6pm at night thus giving Shinji an excuse to quietly shut the store and quietly drive the Trueno out onto the street quickly drive up the Sohma house estate, then quickly practice his run on the drive down again, park the Trueno and pretend that nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, everyone upstairs walked up the staircase to talk in a sight that, for Shinji at least felt typical. The kitchen was a mess and the dinning table looked like Misato just pushed its former contents to the side, evident where a tablecloth and beer cans were on the far side of the table. Hikari feared to tread on the floor as it was covered in garbage expect where it was a pathway. Other where the couches were the LCD Television was on the woman's volleyball volume up full blast.
Just before it could get any better, a certain household pet in the house was 'Wak'ing his approval on what was on the television screen. When the commercial break came, the Pengiun catapulted the now empty beer can over the couch and on the growing pile of junk behind it which was also the main walkway of the apartment. The Penguin catapulted to its tiny feet and race to the kitchen to retrieve another beer and return before the television returned to the volleyball.
Hikari, Kenesuke and Toji stood there in total disbelief that this was Shinji's home, which as the moment resembled a bachelor pad of some slob. Hikari was in shock while Kenesuke and Toji became distracted by the Television, or partially the volleyball.
"Misato-san…" Hikari started as she elbowed the two guys to gain attention,
"Yes?"
"Shinji-kun lives here right?" Toji asked "he doesn't live next door or something?"
"Yep, his bedroom is behind you"
Kensuke walked over some garbage and into his room, as expected it was as clean as you'd expect from Shinji, neatly folded bed, shirts hanging off hooks, everything blank with the exception of his desk which was the only thing colourful. Kenesuke noticed the photographs and decided against looking at them. Compared to his room, you may as well have been comparing the Ritz with a dump.
"Doesn't Shinji usually clean this place?" Kenesuke asked "…I mean as well as his room"
"Yep!" Misato embarrassingly replied, "Shinji had it clean this morning"
"You mean to tell me that you managed, with your pet…" Kenesuke replied
"…to single handedly wreak this apartment, on a daily basis?" Toji finished for him,
"He's use to it'
Hikari looked around again and sighed 'poor Shinji, I wont blame him for not getting enough sleep again!'
Meanwhile downstairs; Shinji went outside and closed the shutters as quietly as possible. Misato had already loaded the tofu in the car, helping him waste no time escaping from his friends. Shinji turned the key in the ignition slowly, trying to start the car with the least amount of noise, but to no success. Shinji ignored the fact and drove of slowly until he was a safe distance from the Tofu shop, then he started to drive normally towards the mountain.
"Misato-san?" Kenesuke said as he sat down at the table "Wasn't that your car that just left?"
"No, why?" Misato replied quickly,
"That sounded like your car though" Toji added,
"Enough of that" Misato put her beer down at the table "weren't you hear to study?"
"Yes…" they both said
"Aright then" Misato felt like she won that debate, "now you know about the first two angels that attacked…lets start on the third one that attacked"
"Excuse me" Hikari replied "I don't know about the first two"
"Oh that's right" Misato continued "I forgot you're not like these two here, Well the first angel attack was…"
Back on the road, Shinji was driving up the mountainside in the black Trueno, careful not to spill or destroy the container in the backseat of his car. Shinji knew that Misato was mentally timing him as he went up the mountain and down again, of course there were factors like the Sohma hot springs hotel that Shinji couldn't possibly comprehend
'Okay Shinji, it's just like the time trial last night...' he said to himself as he shifted the Trueno up into fourth gear. Shinji felt the burst of acceleration as entered the straightway and up the hill towards the next corner. Shinji knew that he couldn't master the style of uphill drift while he was carrying tofu; his skills weren't nearly developed enough for it.
It was when he wasn't carrying anything that Shinji was confident that his driving skills were in sync with those required to attack this mountain.
Shinji continued his hill climb in the black Trueno unaware of the attention he was grabbing. At the intersection halfway up the mountain, a bright Blue Nissan S13 Silvia was parked on the corner where two guys were standing outside eating takeout dinner.
"Hey…do you hear that?" one of them spoke,
"No…wait" the other one spoke "whatever it is, its coming up"
"Do you want to chase, it"
"Nah, it's probably the locals coming up to start practicing"
"Didn't you hear Takashi last night; he said they had someone they didn't know about coming up"
Before could argue further they ran up to the corner as they heard the engine more clearly coming around the corner. Both of the spotted the vehicle as it cleared the corner,
"Retractable lights?" the Driver noticed before the car rushed past their faces, both of the them were in shock at what they saw as the traced their eyes on the car as it ascended the mountain
"AE86!" they both shouted
"Touya!" on of them yelled
"Come on, I'm going to follow him" Touya said as he dropped his beer can and ran back to the drivers side of his Siliva. The passenger picked up their ramen cups from the car roof and took them inside, with him. After a few more seconds, they rocket started out of the side street and started to accelerate up the mountain.
Meanwhile back at the Tufo shop, Misato was in a deep and detailed explanation over the Angel known as Ramiel, a Flying fortress style Angel that shot any hostile target coming in range. It was the third angel to attack Tokyo-3, and the first time Rei and Shinji worked together on a mission.
"..Shinji then lined up a second shot and fired a single round into the side of the angel, destroying it" Misato lectured as she slipped her beer.
"What happened to unit one" Hikari asked as she furiously wrote done a few pages full of notes that were already A+ quality.
"Unit one was badly damaged, but Shinji helped extract the Plug from the unit and rescued Rei"
Kenesuke and Toji also gave up relying on their memory when Misato stayed quizzing them on things about the battles, the fact they got them wrong was proof they really didn't know more then the tip of the iceberg.
"…Shinji is sure taking his time closing up" Toji noted,
"I told him to watch the store till 7pm when we normally close up"
"Anyway…" Kenuske spoke with a slur "I've been hearing a rumor lately"
"Really?" Misato pretended to be surprised, despite being slightly drunk, she already knew what he was implying,
"Yes, you see there is a really drift battle meet coming up this weekend…and we haven't got any decent locals to represent Karasuyama-2"
"So what are they going to do about a driver for this district?"
Hikari already had noticed something strange about Misato's tone. Asuka had once told her that if she wasn't given the job she had; Misato may have made an excellent police interrogator. It was worrying that Misato knew about this, all Hikari could do is sit back and watch Kenesuke walk into a trap"
"We'll they have got a three contenders" Kenesuke continued, unaware that Misato already knew, but they are especially interested in this Black AE86 Trueno that was spotted driving by someone from Utsunomyia-1"
"What did this guy say about the driver?" Misato asked,
"At the moment, he is assuming that the driver is female because the side of the side of the Trueno had the name of a tofu shop written on in pink"
Kenesuke then realized then and there that Misato already knew about that and was just making a fool of him. Hikari sighed and Toji cursed under his breath.
"Well, thanks for re-informing me" Misato laughed
"Well I won't beat mince words here, what happened, did he confront you?" Keneske continued,
"Yes, he also challenged me to a race this Saturday"
"Don't tell me you're going to accept it Misato-san?"
"I'm not going to, he is looking at the person anyway" Misato "someone else I hired drives the Trueno in the morning, I've asked that person if they wanted to race"
Misato reminded herself back on Saturday afternoon when she went for a drive with Shinji then confronted about the drift battle. After they had a little talk, he made Shinji show her an example of his driving skills, which despite Misato'd own believe she was looking at false hope, she was proven if front of her eyes how skillful Shinji was as an actual road racer and driver.
"Now it finally makes sense" Toji added "they said that the person had some incredible skill driving the downhill on Mt Kira road, no offence Misato-san, I found it hard to believe they were taking about you"
"I'm not that bad!" Misato chuckled,
They all laughed on that comment, Misato especially was laughing as she tried to cover her thoughts on Shinji's whereabouts. Misato looked up at the clock on the wall; it was 6:28, meaning Shinji should've just arrived to the Sohma family hot springs estate. Misato knew that Shinji couldn't go any faster, but she was growing worried that he wasn't on time.
"Ok, now let's talk about the introduction to Asuka and unit 02…"
Meanwhile, as Misato predicted Shinji had just stopped outside the front foyer of the said hotel. Shinji popped the hood and started to get the Tofu out. Shinji looked up at the clock in the car dashboard, 6:25pm; he was on time. Shinji walked into the foyer of the Tofu shop casually and set down his delivery as her waited for her to sign the package. At the moment a family was at the counter talking to the hostess about checking in. Shinji automatically knew what the outcome would be; the family had children, a five year old girl and a eight year old boy.
"I'm sorry, but this hot springs hotel policy does not allow admission for children to stay on the premises. This is so the other clients aren't disturbed by noisy and nosy children" the hostess noted her option sharply and loudly on those two words and especially looking at the children.
"How dare you say that, about our children" the mother spoke "then we're leaving"
The mother walked back to the couch where the children were waiting for their mother to tell them which room to go to. They had been looking forward to their stay in this area for ages and had a week off to do so. The father grunted his disapproval at the hostess as he went off to tell the kids the bad news.
"Ah, Mr. Ikari, how nice to see you late as per usual"
"Sorry madam" Shinji lifted the crate and followed the hostess inside to the kitchen. Shinji often wondered what the hostess did with the tofu if she kept throwing out customers. It wasn't his concern though; she was took the tofu and complained about things he didn't do.
Shinji dropped off the crate in the usual place, picked up the empty one from the morning delivery and walked out, the hostess lady now made her attack here when Shinji purely wanted to get a move on.
"I've been hearing those car noises again, and I know your responsible for them, I heard this car made those noises when it left yesterday"
"I'm sorry but I'm not the one making the noises" Shinji replied, "I found out that there is a sort of racing meet taking place sometime soon"
"you expect me to believe that!" the hostess lady "one of these days, I'm going to have the police watch you come out of here and they'll arrest you…"
As the hostess lady was speaking, the sound of a car engine revving up, with the high pitched squeaks that came relevant with a turbo fan stretched past down the road before it slowed down a few hundred Meters.
"…you were saying?" Shinji said, he took the time the hostess lady was annoyed and shocked to look over at the sedan that was driving starting up and leaving the building. Shinji felt sorry for every family that tried to lodge here, but it didn't mean he couldn't help
"Well, I must be off" Shinji got into the car and drove off, he followed the sedan down the driveway, predictable the family was going right and out of town. Shinji decided to take action then, and followed them as they turned right.
Shinji then started to flash his lights until the father driving inside and noticed the Black Trueno's and drove until he arrived to the rest bay. At the same time, the same bright blue Trueno were watching the two cars approaching,
"There is it's, the Black Trueno, just like Takashi said" the passenger spoke,
"What is he doing? Giving directions?" Touya spoke,
"He just came out of that hot springs hotel…didn't he?"
"Idiot, weren't you listening?" Touya replied "see what it says on the side? The pink letters"
"Katsuragi Tofu shop?" the passenger gazed at the letting on the driver side door "is this some kind of joke?"
Meanwhile, Shinji stop his car. The Sedan did the same; Shinji got out and started walking down towards the driver side window. The driver of the car rolled down the windows, hearing straight away the complaints of the two kids in the backseat.
"Are you still looking for a hotel to stay at?"
"No, according to her" the driver thumbed back towards the hotel, "she's the only hotel around these parts"
"That's not entirely true" Shinji replied "if you go down the road towards Karasuyama-2, there are a few of them, keep driving down the road until you find a intersection, take a left there and head down until the end of the road"
"How do you know this?" the woman in the passenger seated asked
"I Deliver Tofu to all the hotels along Mt Kira road in the morning, I also know that there is a Drift battle race taking place here this Saturday"
"Illegal Street car races?"
"Something like that" Shinji hated the sound of that "your best bet is the hotel I mentioned, it's far out of the way from all the race course and it'll be quiet enough. The is a hot springs hotel there run by someone called Chisame, she'd love to have you stay, she doesn't mind children at all"
"Thank you, for the information" the father replied "even if we'd stayed 'there' we'd go nuts by the sound"
"Just helping out" Shinji stepped up and walked back to his car. He didn't wait long before Shinji put his car into gear and drove down the other end of the bar. Shinji then took a sharp turn and started to speed up as he started his down hill run
"He must've been giving directions" the passenger spoke, "Touya!"
Touya respond and rocket started his car from the parked position the right side of the rest bay, the family looked off as Shinji's black Trueno drove pass then at high speed.
"Who was that?" the woman spoke
"The Tofu Delivery man" he started driving and followed the two cars direction, "I'll ask this Chisame-san to thank him when he does the morning delivery tomorrow"
"Do you think he was one of those road racers?"
"He is how else would he know about the meet?"
They drove by the Sohma family hot springs estate and towards the said hotel that Shinji mentioned,
"That boy looked familiar though" the woman spoke
Meanwhile, Shinji started his run; he'd already cleared the first three corners, being careful to make sure that nobody saw him. Not that was easy to do; already two racers saw him already, the first one being at the intersection and the second one at the Rest bay. What he didn't notice was that it was the same person, and that he was coming up to chase him.
"There he is!" the passenger pointed as he cleared a corner, seeing the Trueno about to enter a corner"
"Alright" Touya shifted into 4th gear for a short amount of time before he braked and shifted won into 2nd gear, he turned the corner and saw the Trueno more clearly this time. Inside the Trueno, Shinji saw as the Bright blue S13 picked up speed and tried to chase the Trueno
"He spotted me?" Shinji saw the twin set of headlights; they weren't getting close very fast, but Shinji knew that he was catching up, Shinji looked over at the clock, 6:40, he had twenty minutes to appear back at the Tofu shop or his cover was blown.
"I've got to pickup the pace" Shinji put the Trueno into fifth gear "I can't let him catch up and see me"
Behind him, the Bright blue S13 saw the Trueno pull away at even more speed. Touya assumed then what the driver knew he was being followed. Shinji felt like a rabbit being chased by a hunter, and the hunter had him in his gun sights. The next corner came up quickly, Shinji hit the brakes and shifted down to second gear, he was already going faster then he knew how to control, Shinji however didn't want to be caught by someone else, it meant that they would want to challenge him as well.
"He's getting away"
"Don't worry, I've got him" Touya replied as he started to slow down for the corner. The S13 suddenly found it self a lot closer to the Trueno as it was exiting the corner. Shinji managed to clear it, just. He couldn't believe himself that he managed to clear the corner at that speed. Whatever it was, he still had the car on his tail and he had to get rid of him.
Shinji looked up at the clock again, 6:50; he managed to get down just over halfway down the course and was still behind time. Maybe he shouldn't have stopped to tell that family. No, he was going faster then ever before, all because he has these people on his tail. He approached another corner, he hit the brake petal hard as he came close to the corner; it was a wide hairpin, so Shinji had plenty of speed allowance. He turned the wheel properly, first left a bit and then all the way right.
The back of the Trueno spun it its back out into a full four wheel drift, Shinji then hit the accelerator slightly and then he tapped down on it slowly; the technique was raw, but highly effective. Behind him; the S13 was lagging behind, on equal speed with the Trueno, but no longer approaching.
"Takashi was right, this guy is fast" Touya commented as he turned into the corner "he might have a badly tuned engine, but he doesn't know how good his driving his"
Shinji saw the headlights of the S13 again in his rearview mirror, they weren't getting closer to him anymore, but they still could see him. Shinji had to think of something to lose them. Then it came to him, the trick he pulled off the other day when Misato was in the car and they avoid hitting the truck,
Shinji lowered his speed from fourth gear and maintained his alignment with the next corner. It was another wide hairpin, so he had room for error, slightly; he could only catch his tires on the edge once before the centrifugal force would force him away and towards the guardrail.
"What's he doing!" Touya saw the Trueno pull off towards the corner in third gear.
"He's crazy; he's going to put himself at the bottom of the valley"
Then Shinji did it, he drove his two wheels on the driver side into the gutter and became locked into a makeshift rail that prevented him from drifting off from the inner corner. From the S13's point of view, he suddenly disappeared around the corner in incredible speed.
"Where did he go!" Touya kicked his brake to slow down,
Touya drove his car around the corner only to see the Black Trueno further ahead then he was expecting. It wasn't a long glimpse as the same car performed an identical disappearing act. Before he could think about catching up, he eased his foot off the accelerator.
"What are you doing?" the passenger asked,
"Forget it…he's too fast, and the tires on this car aren't good enough for racing him now. But I want to see him, whoever it is; I want to see who drives that AE86"
Shinji turned the final corner in the mountain pass and finally saw the bridge; he would be home in five minutes no problem, which was exactly all the time he had left. Quietly Shinji drove the Trueno down the narrow side street and back into the spot beside the Tofu shop. Upstairs Misato heard the noise of the car coming back, this time a lot more quietly then before, she looked up at the clock with a sigh of relief, as it just clicked over to 7pm.
Shinji slowly crept out of the car and walked inside the store, pretending nothing had happened, he looked inside, the door to the upstairs was still locked from his side; it was like nothing had happened. Shinji walked over to the door upstairs,
"Misato, I'm closing up now"
"Alright Shinji-kun, thank you"
"Geez, he must've been bored out of his mind for an hour"
"Shinji-kun knows he has to do his part in the store to live here" Misato said as she walked downstairs,
About another five minutes Shinji-kun walked upstairs for the first time to witness 'today's' cleaning challenge. Hikari saw his face go pale when Shinji first gazed his eyes over his home and even noticed his room door was open. Immediately Shinji went to work, garbage bagging all the beer cans that had piled up around the couch and the kitcken.
Shinji then proceeded to sweep the tiled area and woolen floor; then clean out the mess or messes rather in the kitchen. Hikari, Kenesuke and Toji looked on in absent surprise as the mess that Misato made was quickly turned into a much cleaner apartment that even put an old maid to shame. Shinji sighed as he continued to clean around his friends who were continually listening to Misato telling them about the last few angels that took place.
"So that pretty much concludes it, after that, we all got fired and then NERV was shut down a year later" Misato concluded as she started on her tenth beer,
"Remember that's your last one Misato" Shinji spoke as he continued to pick up the garbage that Misato swept off the table,
"What are you? My father?"
"No, just a concerned roommate that takes care of you more then I should" Shinji laughed
'Poor Shinji' Hikari, Toji and Kenesuke sighed,
It was only seven thirty, but the trio decided they had best get home before their parents wondered.
"Well, thank-you Misato-san for telling us" Hikari first spoke.
"Anytime…" Misato waved them off.
The trio walked down the street until they were out of earshot of Misato, which for that meant a few blocks down the street. They all stopped by a venting machine to collect their on-foot dinners and drinks.
"Poor Shinji-kun" Hikari first said aloud, "I didn't know Misato-san was that much of a slob"
"You're telling me" Toji replied "her diet is always gone south, her drinking is half her income, and I don't know how Shinji lives"
"I got to admit, he is tougher then we'd all think" Hikari continued "Even Asuka couldn't stand Misato for long periods of time, she had too take breaks over at my place"
"To Shinji; the brave, the absolute and the roommate to Misato!" Kenesuke toast his can of warm tea.
"Cheers!" Toji and Hikari added,
Back at the Tofu shop, Shinji and Misato were laughing themselves, seeing they managed to successfully pull off a stunt that only a skilled former Evangelion pilot like Shinji could pull off. Shinji started to explain about his trip up the mountain and how he re-directed a lost family to their friend's hotel after they were rejected by the ever so much annoying Sohma family hot springs estate.
Shinji then decided; that if she was going to be approached by them tomorrow, which sounded like an off chance maybe. Be might as well tell Misato about his unofficial battle with the bright blue car.
"Misato-san" Shinji started "I have something I have to tell you about while I was out"
"Don't tell me…another car spotted you, and tried to outrun you" Misato didn't sound impressed,
"Yea…" Shinji looked dejected again for a moment
"Well" Misato said "Did you beat him?"
Shinji started explaining to her, at first Misato had a slightly surprised about the car he described, the later she was seriously listening to as Shinji told her about the unofficial battle that he was in and how he managed to get away from the car with his special trick. Misato looked at Shinji for a moment
"…I'm sorry, Misato-san. I didn't intend for you to deal with anyone else anyway"
Misato sat their staring at Shinji.
"'You know…Asuka is right, you say that word too much" Misato knocked Shinji's head lightly "Don't worry about it Shinji, personally I don't mind, I just don't want you to get injured"
"But…Misato-san"
"Shinji-kun," Misato held both of his hands "ever since we moved here I've been trying to make you have a hobby, if taking the company car and driving recklessly down a dangerous mountain at high speed is something you like doing, I'm not stopping you"
"Oh well, I think I've had enough fun for one day anyway" Misato-san spoke looking at the clock, "come on Shinji, time for some sleep"
"Hai" Shinji replied. Shinji returned to his room and lay down on the bed. Another long day; Shinji got up and properly got changed for bed. When he did, he looked over at the picture on his desk again; still looking at the fresh faced German girl standing next to him, smiling. Shinji went back bed and started smiling looking at Asuka, hoping to see her again one day.
