Chapter Two: Uncertainty

"So, when's this test actually going to happen, huh?" Kyle asked Misato as he followed her impatiently through the aisles of a Japanese convenience store, the older woman taking her time to search the shelves for her drink of choice – beer.

"Tomorrow," Misato replied absently, "Provided Ritsuko's got everything good to go in the morning."

"Ritsuko?" Kyle said, "Who's that?"

"Oh, that's Dr. Akagi's personal name. We go way back, and outside of work, she isn't very formal."

"Huh," Kyle watched as Misato double-fisted a pair of six-packs off the shelves, "That name sounds familiar, but I couldn't say why."

Misato looked away and didn't say anything. Instead, she turned the cart around the next corner and began pushing packs of instant meals off the shelves and directly into the metal basket.

"So, are you going to get me a hotel or something?"

Misato shook her head, "Nonsense, you'll be staying at my place for the night."

Kyle's eyes widened in surprise, "Uh, what?"

"Oh, don't look at me like that. I just happen to have a three bedroom apartment, and it would do my roommate some good to have another boy his age around, since he's so moody all the time."

Kyle raised an eyebrow as they walked up to the check-out and said, "You have another teenage boy hanging out at your apartment? Are you like one of those creepy high-school teachers that goes after young men?"

Misato's eyes twitched uncontrollably as she began placing things on the conveyor belt. She sighed and said, "Just keep your snide comments to yourself and be grateful we didn't make stay in the holding cells at headquarters."

Kyle shrugged and to Misato's surprise, took up her groceries without being asked. He loaded them up in the backseat of her car, then hopped into the passenger seat. Within fifteen minutes, they had reached her apartment complex at the edge of the city.

"What do you think? You've never lived in a big city before, have you?"

Kyle shook his head, "No, even when my old man was alive we lived out in the woods. And my relatives are always moving around because of their research."

"How do you feel about that?"

"It's alright," Kyle replied as they began to walk up the stairs, "It's quiet, but, there's a lot to explore."

"Don't you get lonely? I can't imagine there's many people out there?"

Kyle shrugged as they approached the door to Misato's apartment, "Well I've always had my cousin, and I spend a lot of time with my friends online, so it doesn't really bother me."

"Hmm…" was all Misato said to that. She unlocked the door and called out, "Shinji! Pen-Pen! I'm home! And I've brought someone with me for the night…at least."

Kyle scanned the room. It didn't look all that different from any apartment he'd been to before, only there seemed to be a lack of chairs in the living room, just a low table. The living room was connected to the dining room, which was very clean, almost spotless.

"I didn't expect you to be a clean freak," Kyle said.

"I'm not, that's all Shinji. Shinji! Where are you?"

Kyle heard the sound of a door opening down the hallway and a lean figure emerged from the shadow, rubbing his eyes. He was of average height, with short dark hair and somewhat soft features.

Shinji yawned and replied, "Sorry, Ms. Misato, but I was taking a nap."

"That's alright, but I want you meet Kyle! He's going to be staying with us for at least tonight, maybe longer. He's from America, but he speaks Japanese pretty well! Go ahead and show him!"

"Uh," Kyle didn't like being put on the spot, "Hello, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," was all Shinji said to Kyle. Kyle could sense he was a little uncomfortable being introduced to a stranger in this manner, and Kyle felt the same. He had never met this boy before now and now he was in his living room.

Misato laughed awkwardly and said, "Alright, let's get this stuff unpacked and then we can get dinner started."

About an hour later, Misato had emerged from her room in more casual attire, a pair of thigh-cut night-shorts and a yellow tank-top. All Kyle could do was stare in admiration as she immediately opened up the fridge and started downing a can of low alcohol content beer as if it were a Friday night and she was out on the town.

"Aaah!" she shouted, "This really hits the spot! You want one, Kyle?"

"Hell yea!" Kyle replied eagerly, never having had the opportunity to drink before.

But before Shinji had the chance to protest, Misato said, "Oh wait, you probably shouldn't have any alcohol tonight. You'll be getting a check-up tomorrow before your test."

"Test?" Shinji asked after slurping up some instant noodles, "What test? Why is Kyle here anyway?"

Misato narrowed her eyes as she took a sip of beer and said, "Well that's no wait to treat a guest. We're testing him tomorrow to see if he's got what it takes to become a pilot!"

Shinji's eyes widened in shock, "What! You're going to be a pilot?"

"I haven't agreed to anything yet," Kyle said, "I just said I would test it out at least. And only because their might be something the Commander can do for me."

"What?" Shinji repeated, "You met my father?"

Kyle swallowed his noodles and coughed sharply, "What? That creep is your father?"

"Oh boy…" Misato said.

"Yeah, the Commander is my father," Shinji said somewhat quietly.

"Yeah, I met with him. And that wasn't even the first time. We met before at my old man's funeral like five years ago. Turns out he's been keeping an eye on me and he was the one who said I might be capable of piloting that…thing they were keeping underground. Wait, should I even be telling this kid any of that?"

"Shinji is also a pilot," Misato explained, "It was him that killed the first Angel that attacked the city."

"Woah…" Kyle said, looking at the other boy with awe, "How was it?"

"Uh…" Shinji didn't know what to say, "I…"

"Come on, give me the details, what was the fight like?"

"Kyle!" Misato interrupted sharply, "Cut it out."

"What! If you want me to put my ass on the line for you people I think I should be allowed to know the truth of what's really going on."

Misato was silenced, unwilling to disagree with the commonsense Kyle was speaking. If what Ritsuko told me is true, she thought to herself then he's going to be pretty smart…and suspicious of everything.

"It was horrible," was all Shinji said, "I thought I was going to die."

"But you didn't!" Misato said with forced cheer, "And now…"

"I don't want to talk about it," Shinji said, "I'm going to go get ready for bed."

Shinji walked away with his supper in hand and down the hallway. They heard the door slam shut soon after. Misato glared at Kyle and grumbled, "Great, look what you did, you put him in one of his moods!"

Kyle raised both his eyebrows and stammered, "What did I do? All I did was ask questions! If I survived some horrific ordeal I bet I would be in a mood too, unless of course, there's something else you're not telling me."

"I've told you everything I can. Nobody said this was easy. This isn't something that will just affect Japan either, the whole world is at risk from these Angels. Don't you care about that?"

"Uh, no."

"What? Why not."

Kyle shrugged again, "What has the world ever done for me? The only people I can rely on are my family, and that's the only reason I'm considering staying here at all, period."

"Hmph, what a hero," was all Misato said to that.

"There's no such thing as heroes."

"Oh my God, how can somebody as young as you be so cynical!"

Kyle scoffed, "Probably because unlike most people my age, I'm not a complete moron. Now, will you be showing me where I will be sleeping?"

Misato got up from her seat and walked down to the middle of the hall. She rapped on the sliding door and said, "Right here. And I'd suggest you go to bed soon, you're going to have a long day tomorrow."

After brushing his teeth, the first thing Kyle found to his dismay was the fact that the Japanese sleep on the floor. Grumbling, he unfolded a blanket from one of his many duffel bags, laid it over the bare mattress, along with a single pillow he managed to steal from the living room.

He laid down for a few minutes and listened to the chirp of cicadas from the street outside. Without the white noise of a fan, he doubted he would ever fall asleep. He sighed, looking up at the empty ceiling and said, "This sucks."

Kyle plugged his phone into the wall and began flipping through the backlog of messages he had received on Discord from people he played games with and friends of his from when he still went to normal school. After his initial meeting with the Commander, Kyle had been instructed to keep all talk of NERV and their activity confidential, and he had no doubt in his mind that they were keeping track of everything he did, in person and online.

Suddenly, after about a half an hour of sleeplessness, Kyle heard a faint tapping on his door. Surprised, he got up from his uncomfortable mattress and walked up to slide it open. To his even greater surprise, he found Shinji Ikari standing there.

"Oh, hey," Kyle said in Japanese, "What's going on?"

"You can speak in English if you want," Shinji said in Kyle's tongue, "I don't mind."

"Oh," Kyle switched languages, "What's up bro?"

"Uh, nothing. I just wanted to…apologize about earlier. You're right, you should know what you're getting into. I don't think Misato wants you to know."

"Oh," Kyle said, "That's fine…I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, its not going to hurt me…"

"When I got in the Eva," Shinji began, "It was weird at first. But it wasn't uncomfortable, not really. In fact, it seemed almost peaceful. But when I took on the Angel…it was horrible, like I said before. I thought I was going to die. I had no idea what I was doing. And then, I blacked out."

"You…fainted?"

"Not exactly, I just don't remember what happened. They say I defeated the Angel…but it didn't feel like that. It's hard to explain. That's all I can give you, I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't sweat it…I mean, its just a test tomorrow. I'm not even supposed to be fighting anything."

"But if you make it, will you?"

"Will I what?"

"Will you fight?"

Kyle chewed thoughtfully and shrugged, "I don't know. I'd like to say I'm not a coward but…"

"Yeah…"

"Why did you agree to do it?"

"Me?"

"Yeah."

Shinji thought about for it a moment then shrugged and said, "Guess I felt like I had to. I'm going back to sleep, I just thought you should know."

"Oh, alright. Well, thanks, man. I appreciate it."

"Yeah," Shinji said, starting to walk away, "You're welcome."

Kyle stood by the doorway a bit longer then shook his head. This better be worth all this uncertainty.