Shinji stared out the car window at the passing countryside landscapes of Japan. The only sounds he heard coming from his cassette tape player. "Almost there." Shinji looked to his left to meet eyes with the woman in the driver's seat that had just spoken to him. "I don't see why I have to come along to Misato." He said, referring to the summer vacation he was being forced to take. He would have preferred to be at home, spending his summer vacation In his room. "Oh come on." Misato said. "A little fresh air and lack of Wi-fi will be good for you." Shinji huffed and rolled his eyes, choosing not to argue any further, not saying another word. Noticing the lack of noise in the air, Misato tried to break the silence.
"You know, the place we'll be staying is really nice, and so are the people. Maybe you could make a few friends." She said. Shinji didn't say a word, only staring out the window with his headphones in. Misato sighed and turned her focus back to the road. How were you supposed to deal with a shy anti social teenager? This question troubled her to no end. Soon they came across some buildings, showing that they were close. After a few minutes of driving through town, they arrived at a comfortable looking log villa built a little ways outside of the town, but close enough for either one of them to walk into town whenever they wished. "
"Here we are!" Misato said, getting out of the car. "What do you think?" Shinji opened his car door and looked up at the house. He hated to admit it, but it was a nice looking place. Just like Misato said. "I guess it's ok..." He mumbled. Misato grinned, then took out her keys and went to unlock the front door. Even the inside looked nice and comfortable. Shinji walked down the hall and into the living room, to look around. The living room had a fireplace surround by rustic furniture. The walls were made almost completely of glass, with a nice view of the woods behind the home.
Misato carried in some luggage and set it down on the floor, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she straightened up. "The bedrooms are on the second floor. Go ahead and pick one." She gestured toward the stairs. The stairs creaked as he walked up, then he moved down the hall, opening the first door he could find. Inside was a bedroom with a desk and a sliding glass door that led to a balcony. Shinji opened the glass door and walked out onto the balcony. He took a deep breath. The air smelled like ocean water. He looked out and saw the beach a little ways down the road. Misato had said this was an ocean side town.
Speak of the devil, Misato was leaning against the side of the bedroom door frame with her arms crossed. "You like this room?" She asked. "It's ok." He said. "Good. Then help me move the luggage up here." He nodded obediently. The luggage was heavy, and there was a lot of it. Why did girls always have to pack so many things? The mysteries of the opposite sex would forever elude his grasp. After finishing the unpacking, Shinji was ready to lock himself in his room. But Misato wasn't going to allow any of that. "Why don't you go into town and explore a little?" She said. Shinji groaned. "Can't I just stay here?" He asked. Misato gave him a glare that he swore could kill him in an instant. That meant that there would be no point in arguing today.
And so he reluctantly went into town to explore. The first place he went was the town square, which was full of various stores. But stores isn't what he was looking for. All he wanted was to find a place where he could relax and listen to his music. The square also had to many people around for his liking. He tried turning around, only to bump into someone. "Ouch! Watch where you're going!" Shinji didn't even need to look up for him to know that whoever this is was loud. But he looked up anyway, and was met with the sight of an obnoxious looked redheaded girl. "Who are you?" The girl asked with a disgusted look on her face. "Shinji Ikari." He said quietly. "I'm Asuka." Asuka pointed to herself confidently. "I'm guessing that you're new around here." She said. "How could you tell?" He said. "Because you're looking around with that airheaded look on your face." Shinji was tempted to roll his eyes. Was he going to have to deal with this girl all summer? "I can show you around if you want." She said. "I know this town like the palm of my hand." Shinji held up his hand and shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I can find my way on my own." He said turning to leave. "Thanks anyway though." Shinji walked away as fast as he could. "Hey!" Asuka shouted from behind him. "Geez. How rude can you get?"
The next place he wandered into was the docks. The only sign of life there was a small fisherman's shack where a girl with brown hair and red glasses was working. Shinji tried to walk past her without being noticed, but to no avail. "Hey!" She said. Shinji inwardly cursed to himself. "I've never seen you around here before. My name's Mari." She held out her hand for him to shake, a friendly look on her face. Shinji hesitated a bit before finally taking her hand. At least this girl seemed nice. "So what's your name?" She asked. "My name's Shinji. I'm new around here." Mari smiled at him. "No wonder I didn't recognize you." She said. "We don't usually get a lot of visitors here." Considering how small the town was, he could see why. "So what are you doing here anyway?" She asked. "I was just looking for a quiet place to listen to my music." He answered. "Why don't you try the edge of the docking platform over there?" Mari pointed to a wooden platform attached to the beach that led out into the water. It was perfect. "Alright. That looks perfect." He said. "Thanks for the help." Mari nodded then turned and went inside the shack, leaving Shinji to his alone time. Finally, a quiet place to relax.
Shinji walked onto the wooden platform. The wood it was made from was old and creaky. But he didn't mind. Shinji walked to the end of the platform and sat down, his legs dangling off the edge of the dock and his feet halfway under the water. He looked out over the water, then put his headphones on and leaned back on the wood to stare out at the sky and watch the clouds. Little did he know that someone, or something had taken a liking to him and was watching him with great interest. He closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep. As he drifted off to sleep, he could have sworn that he heard something moving around in the water. Shinji awoke from his sleep a few hours later to find that it had started to get dark out. He sighed, realizing that he should probably head home before Misato got worried. Carelessly, He sat up, letting his cassette player fall off his chest and into the water. "Oh no!" He shouted, ready to dive in after it. Caring little about getting his clothes wet, He took in a deep breath and jumped in.
The water was cold and uncomfortable with his clothes on. Ignoring that, he looked around for his cassette player. But there was no sign of it. Shinji was about to give up when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Was it just his imagination? Losing interest in the cassette player, he became more concerned with what was in the water with him. He turned to look in the direction of what he saw, but saw nothing. Maybe he was seeing things. He was going to ignore it and turn around to swim back up, but as soon as he did turn around, he came face to face with red eyes that caught him by surprise. Shinji swam back as fast as he could. The red eyes belonged to a boy with pale skin and white hair. Shinji caught a glimpse of something shining and looked down. In place of where his legs should be, he saw a tail instead. Was this boy a Mermaid? Or more accurately, a Merman?
The boy had a curious look on his face and swam closer to him. A little closer then Shinji was comfortable. The boy lifted his hand up to Shinji's face, and placed it up against his cheek. The amount of physical contact they were showing him was a lot more then he could handle. He was ready to push him away when he realized he was running out of breath and had to resurface. Shinji burst through the surface of the water, Inhaling heavily, then grabbed onto the dock and pulled himself up. Did he really see what he thought he saw? As if to answer his question, the boy swam up to the surface and stared at him, a curious smile on his face. Shinji didn't know what to say. The only thing that came out of his mouth was one question. "Who are you...?"
The boy didn't answer. Instead, he cocked his head to the side in confusion and swam closer. He grabbed onto the dock and pulled himself up closer to Shinji. Shinji wondered why he was so quiet. "Do you even talk?" The boy still didn't answer. "Do you have a name?" He still just looked at him with confusion. So he decided to try something else. Shinji pointed to himself and said his name. "Shinji." The boy looked to the side, as if thinking of what Shinji was trying to say, then pointed to himself as well. "Kaworu." He said. So the boy really could talk. "Your name is Kaworu?" Kaworu nodded and began staring at him again. This boy was looking at him as if he were something amazing. Shinji would have talked more, except his phone began to ring. It was Misato. He had already been out to long.
Shinji answered his phone. "Hello?" Misato's voice was so loud that it hurt his ears. Even Kaworu could hear it, which made him look at the hand held device with wonder. He was probably wondering how it worked. "Where have you been!?" She shouted. "It's nearly nine!" Shinji sighed. "Relax. I Just fell asleep at the beach" He said. "Come home now!" Misato said. "Ok, ok. I'll be there soon." Shinji hung up the phone and looked back over at Kaworu. "I've gotta go now." Kaworu didn't seem to understand what he meant until he stood up to leave. Kaworu responded by grabbing onto Shinji's ankle, bringing him to a stop. Shinji noticed this, and tried to get the boy to let go. "I'll be back tomorrow ok?" Kaworu only stared at him. He forgot that Kaworu didn't understand him. So he tried using hand gestures to tell him.
It took him a minute or two before he finally managed to communicate and reassure him that he would be back. Then he began walking home, leaving Kaworu all alone. Kaworu watched Shinji walk away until he was out of sight. Then he looked down in disappointment and dove back into the water, ready to hide again.