ACT I

Part One: The New Girl That Smiled

The routine stayed the same.

Slam a hand on the alarm clock, shake yourself awake, wash yourself, and prepare breakfast and lunch for not only yourself, but the others that lived with you. Do not cook the same two things back to back, and pack it well.

That was Shinji Ikari's routine, and still are the set of words that his brain repeats to itself. He follows it to the dot, never failing, never seeming to stray off the beaten path. Shinji had become so proficient at his routine, that he could do all of what he needs to do without waking up his roommates. Asuka Langley Soryu, a fellow pilot, and Misato Katsuragi, Major and the Operations Manager of both of the two teenagers. He stands amongst the greatest, but yet he walks around like he barely knows how to look up.

First, a palm to the top of the alarm clock. There was no need for accuracy when he can hit every button that sat on top of the black monolith. Now the brain's next command: stand up, and find the button up school uniform and black pants. If Shinji's lucky, he would remember to also grab a new set of underwear and a fresh pair of socks. Slide the door open, walk to the left and down the hall into the living room. Go past it, go into the kitchen, then turn left. Open another door, close it behind you. And now…

"Hurry up, Shinji," the girl called past the door as Shinji reached the last button, "you're taking way too long! You better have not taken all the hot water!"

"Yeah yeah, Asuka," he groaned while he took a good look at himself before opening the door to see the German redhead staring back at him, "done."

A shove and a loud slam later, his roommate is now hunkered down inside the bathroom. Two seconds passed and water has already started falling from the stainless steel tubes that ran up and down the apartment. Now, time to cook meals. Glide his fingers went, smooth his motions were; the kitchen was where he could be the best, at least until Asuka would inevitably complain about one particular part of the meal. Misato would always give praise, but Shinji knows it is because she does not need to eat instant foods all the time now.

Bacon, eggs, and buttered toast, the classic Western breakfast. Like every other day, Shinji never noticed Misato and Asuka already finding themselves a place in the table before he finishes packing the lunches. He would always find himself with half the time to eat than what they would offer themselves.

Oh yeah, Shinji thought to himself before running water over the hot pan. He returned the pan onto the burner and grabbed a cut of salmon from the fridge. It was not for him, it was not for Asuka, and neither for Misato. A knock at the door of the second fridge later, a warm water penguin began to waddle out of it.

"Sorry PenPen, but you should probably get up too," the boy laughed as he placed the slice of salmon on his plate. The smell of slight garlic woke the penguin up, widening his eyes, a clear sign of excitement.

Now, it is time to eat. Usually when all three of them were able to eat together, there would be three routes a conversation could go. One, Misato takes out a can of beer and nags at either Shinji or Asuka to do one thing or another. Two, Misato teases Shinji or Asuka over a piece of information she happened to have learned the day after an event happened involving the two pilots. Or finally, Asuka and Shinji would argue, sometimes over the boiling point to full shouting. To much of everyone's surprise, there has not been a single noise complaint sent out to the three, let alone a knock on the door by a neighbour.

After finishing the meals and cleaning the dishes, the two pilots head out for school. The walk was any other kind of walk, a bag in hand, wind blowing from the East, and the sun kissing the two students with a warm hug. However, this time Asuka was more silent and less talkative. Shinji had gotten used to Asuka bickering at him for one mistake or wanting a certain dish for dinner, but she did not talk, she kept to herself. Her bento hung and swung back and forth as her footsteps alternated in a soothing beat.

"Asuka," he began, looking at her.

The German, sighed, "just remembering that angel…"

"Oh," Shinji responded, knowing full well what she was talking about, "well I guess the both of us have things to take care of…"

The boy now mirrored Asuka's slightly slumped look. He looked at his hand, palms out and fingers spread. Flashes of a friend appeared, his fingers between the space of his thumb and the rest of his fingers.

He was so nice to me, why did he have to die like that. Why did I have to…

"Shinji," Asuka repeated as she was snapping her fingers in front of him, "of course the idiot would almost get himself run over."

His eyes widened as he realized that he almost took a foot off the sidewalk. The long red hair shook as Asuka swivelled her head in disapproval, "that would've been an embarrassing death."

The small boxy pickup truck flew across his peripheral view, his neck not moving. Shinji gulped, but after a breath he began to follow Asuka again.

Kaworu…

As the two entered the courtyard of the school, familiar eyeballs fell onto the pair. Ogling boys taking long and swooning glances at Asuka, while Toji and Kensuke waved at the two when they spotted them.

"Shin-man," the tall boy shouted. Toji stood out from the crowd, wearing a deep purple track jacket with a large white stripe across the lower shoulder and chest. His pants matched his jacket, and is most certainly not the pants that the school would love for him to wear as his uniform. Though, the lack of one of his legs and his need to walk with crutches always made Shinji sorrow at his earlier decisions as a pilot…

The two approached Shinji's friend, which was Asuka's signal to go look for the class rep, "see you stooges later…"

"Jeez what's her problem," Kensuke remarked, adjusting his glasses to a point where the reflection of the sun blocked the view of his yes, "have you noticed how she's more, ah-what do you call that."

"Well she's been less mean, more sad," he continued, crossing his arms as he watched Asuka change her shoes and place her items into her locker, "gotta be honest Shinji, you continuously impress me on how you survive living with that thing."

"Well a hottie can wipe all your worries away, I guess it still works if the hottie herself is giving you the problems," this comment made Shinji sigh, though he supposes that those words are expected coming from the friend who earned a living selling less than appropriate pictures of the girls around the school. To both Toji and Shinji's surprise, the army otaku has not been arrested yet, let alone be reported to the police.

Shinji shook his head, "her last fight in her Eva changed her, though I can't really figure out how or how much."

The three fell silent, realizing the seriousness that the word Eva had brought upon on the conversation. Asuka's change of behaviour was not that of a normal teenager's experience through growth or that of a recent heartbreak, it was that involving a world bigger than their own. A world of giant artificial humans being piloted by Junior High Schoolers.

"Oh Shinji, did you hear," Kensuke started again, "the entire class is being evacuated out of Tokyo-3 in about a month…do you know anything about that?"

"Wait, huh?"

That was enough for Kensuke to keep going, "yeah, while you were away the class was told that we are being moved outside Tokyo-3, though I don't know if it's just our class or all of the classes in the Junior High School."

Toji laughed, "maybe four pilots was a little too much for the school?"

Kensuke and Toji laughed, Shinji did not. He kept staring at the space where Toji's left leg should have been. Whether it be anger for what he was forced to do, or the sadness that he had to do what he did, there was a part of his mind that could never leave what could have been.

"Yo, Shin-man, we talked about this already, man," Toji began, "listen, no need to linger on this, all three of us know that you really tried your best."

Shinji felt him reach out and place a hand on his shoulder. He used to be afraid of Toji's hand, with his first encounter being a fist to the face in revenge for Toji's injured sister. However, what happened the first time they met was the least of Shinji's concern. Kensuke stood up from his squat, camera still in hand but now just hanging from his hand, "Shinji, forgive yourself man…"

The pilot refused to. Being told that his Evangelion's next actions would result in potentially killing one of his few friends berated his conscious. Time and time again Shinji's memories would go back to Eva Unit One refusing to listen to his commands as he watched as the Eva's hands tore through Toji's Eva. After finding out that Toji accepted his role and position just to get his sister to a better hospital ran by NERV themselves was truly a stab to the heart. A stab that never came from Toji.

"School is about to start, so let's head up to the classroom," Kensuke said, turning his head to the entrance that was slowly beginning to become busier and busier, "come on, Hikari is probably waiting for Prince Charming here."

Toji laughed as he tugged on Shinji's wrist as he does so, "come on, Shinji gets to live with two hot babes and works for three, heck, those few employees that I met at NERV really were something."

"Sure," a female voice suddenly called, causing Toji to snap his head back towards the entrance, "jeez, I thought I fell for someone with only two eyes."

"Toji's in trouble with the class rep," Kensuke chuckled, "you two can rumble it out here, Shinji and I are heading up to the room."

As they began to leave, a certain particular girl blending in wearing the same uniform as the other girls came out from behind the tree. She sighed as she tied her red ribbon tighter, as the first few steps of her objective are beginning to unfold. Her ears were only focused on the shy one, though she supposes he did not say much. His friends are not important, as he was the only one who she needed.

"Alright, let's do this," she whispered to herself as she began to take herself into the entrance of the school.

Hikari noticed the unfamiliar girl, she did not know of anyone that looked like the girl in any of the classes, "hey!"

The girl stopped, "oh, me?"

"Yeah, you're the new transfer that I was told about right," Hikari asked as she opened the door for her boyfriend, "Konoshida was it?"

"Close," she giggled, "Kirishima."

"Not close at all," the class rep laughed, "well if you don't mind just waiting outside the classroom that would be great. I'm gonna have to be the one to pull you in for the introduction, because I don't think our teacher is gonna be interested in stuff like that."

Mana's faced puffed, bouncing her short brown her up with it, "wait, seriously?"

"All we get are lectures on how our role as children are to make a better tomorrow or something like that," she sighed, "well either way you'll quickly learn what I am talking about. Just meet me outside Room 2-A if you forgot where you're going!"

"Don't worry, I didn't," Mana smiled, "well anyways, thank you…er."

"Horaki, Hikari Horaki, class rep," Hikari answered.

"Oh, I am so sorry to be so informal and all that Miss Horaki," Mana giggled.

Hikari laughed, "don't worry about it Kirishima, just meet me up there, alright? I gotta help Toji here…"

"Alrighty, see yah," she waved as she opened her locker and wore her indoor shoes. As Mana was walking way, she swore she heard the class rep teasing Toji about how he looked like he was ogling the new girl. Either way, Mana was glad that she can make quick friends around here, and for Shinji, he would be easy.

After arriving outside the class room and awkwardly waving her hands towards people who took glances at her, her eyes locked onto him. Her eyes also took note of the blue haired and red haired girls that sat a spot from each other. She sighed once more, before retreating back to the outside of the classroom. Hikari and Toji were seen entering the classroom last, and the three exchanged waves. However, the bell rang almost right after they had entered the classroom.

"Stand up, bow, sit."

The voice was a little muffled around the corner, but Mana could hear Hikari's class rep volume.

"Today we will be having a new transfer student, please be in your upmost behaviour, please come in!"

That was Mana's signal. She walked to just the left of the pedestal, and already eyes were glued on her, she recognized the amount of hormones that were just released. As expected, Shinji kept to himself, only being told of her existence by his friends elbowing him to look up. Their eyes met momentarily. Mana took a deep breath before writing her name onto the chalkboard. Eyes were mesmerized by the smooth strokes that her hands and arms made, as if the name itself would be a piece of art deserving to be in a museum.

"Hello, my name is Mana Kirishima," she began before bowing, causing her short brown hair to bounce, "I'll be in your care."

Hikari smiled, "well Kirishima, you can take that empty desk in front of Ikari there, it's yours now!"

"Thank you, Miss Horaki."

"Polite too," she heard from the one that wore glasses.

As she approached, she could not help but stuck her eyes at the deepness of Shinji's eyes. He seems fascinated in her, almost as if he recognized her, but she knows that is not a possibility. Before sitting down on her desk, while the rest of the class kept staring at her, she began, "Ikari, right?"

"Y-yes," Shinji stuttered, "Ikari, Shinji Ikari!"

"Well I guess you know who I am," she smiled warmly, "nice to meet you, I hope I don't bother you with sitting here!"

"Please do," he says, that sudden burst of confidence almost giving Toji and Kensuke the reason to remove all restraints and hype up their friend. Asuka simply snarked, and the blue haired girl continued to look out the window.

Mana sat down, turned around and gave Shinji another smile, her brown orbs shining and glowing towards him, "you seem like a wonderful person, I hope I get to know you better…"

Shinji smiled, swimming in the great foreign feeling of being wanted for reasons other than being told to do something, "me too. Kirishima sounds like a friendly name enough."

Shinji's hissed through his teeth after realizing what he had just said, but Mana giggled, raising her fingers to quiet herself, "don't get me in trouble on my first day, Ikari."

And so, it begins.