Chapter 7: Surprise
"Misatooo!" Asuka screamed, stomping away from her guardian. "It's my birthday!" pointing at the circled date. (Dec 4.)
"No, Asuka. You ran away for a whole night! Shinji ran out looking for you in the middle of the night!" Misato sternly pointed at her.
Shinji was awoken, Misato had kicked her door, pointing to the window. " Shinji started throwing on his coat, gloves, and scarf. He flew open the window, giving a thumbs up at Misato. He hopped out, hanging on to the fire exit ladder. He was holding his wallet in his mouth, biting down as he climbed down the metal scaffolding. He jumped off, tuck and rolled. He dusted himself off, grabbing his wet wallet. Misato had given him around yen worth around 200 US dollars. He ran as fast as possible, Misato couldn't stall the demon forever.
He moved over to the clothes section of Tokyo-3. He ran inside, warming up. He took his scarf off, itching at his neck.
'God, this fucking irritates my skin.' Shinji thought, moving around the store. He had an idea in mind.
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Asuka: Hey Shinji! This looks cute.
Shinji: It looks pretty nice. Put it on!
Asuka put it on, coming out of the dressing room.
Asuka: I love this, I didn't bring money though.
Shinji: Didn't either.
Asuka: Damn it, worthless.
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Shinji had the dress in his mind, looking around.
"Oof!" Shinji gagged, bumping into somebody. He held his hand up, being more careful.
He grabbed the clothing rack, trying to look for the exact dress. He ran around, trying to find the exact dress. The hiss of the fluorescent lights overhead, he rummaged through the clothing rack. He moved towards the back of the store, finding an older woman, blonde hair, holding a dress. He started squinting, eyes widening. "Hey!" he asked the blonde woman, "Can I see that dress?" pointing towards it. She raised her eyebrow, raising it up.
"Damn, is there anymore of that EXACT size?" Shinji asked the woman, praying that she said yes. She nodded no, looking at a frowning boy.
"Can I have that one?" Shinji asked, head down. The blonde woman looked at the boy, "1000 yen."
Shinji looked up at her, staring. He sighed, pulling his wallet out, counting 1000 yen.
"Here ya go." Shinji handed the money to her, taking the dress. He took the walk of shame towards the counter, handing the dress to the clerk. She was chewing gum and on her cellphone. She scanned it, throwing a bag open, shoving the dress in.
In the most nasally voice possible, "7500 yen please." Shinji handed her the cash. He pushed her finger through it, handing him the bag. He walked out the store, muttering a curse. The metal detectors outside of the store went off. The security took the bag, taking the boy to the counter. The clerk started to laugh, "I'm sorry, forgot to take the tag off." She cut it off, giving it to the boy, and the security officers started to talk to the boy, "Sorry for the misunderstanding." He waved, walking out and pissed off.
"That clerk fucking sucked." muttering under his breath. He began to see his breath in front of his face.
He began to find himself wandering next to the bakery. He followed the delicious smell inside, not even remembering his body moving into the store. A kind man began to speak, "Good morning! Welcome to my bakery, Tokyo-3's best." He looked down at the boy, stunned. "Shi-Shinji Ikari?" He yelped, eyes wide open. "You're one of the Eva Pilots!" He began to say, "What were you looking for today?" Shinji jerked his head around, looking at the cakes. "I'm looking for a cake, it's for my friend. You probably know Asuka, the other pilot." Shinji started, looking until he found one he thought she would like. "Could I have this strawberry shortcake one, with a custom message board, pointing to the sign || CUSTOM MESSAGE BOARDS ON CAKE, 1000 YEN ||
The baker began to take out one of the premade strawberry shortcakes, throwing a lid on it. He had a piping bag with strawberry frosting on it, "What message on the cake?" Shinji had a classic response to the baker, "Just Happy Birthday."
He brought over the cake and gave him a custom message board. Shinji began to pull out his wallet, and the baker stopped him.
"No, don't pay me, you pilot the evas that save us." Shinji pulled out his wallet, taking out 2500 yen. He slid it to the baker, "Tip." Shinji told him. He smiled at him, wishing him luck in the fight against the angels. He waved the baker a nice goodbye. He pulled out his phone, seeing a text from Misato.
"You have 30 minutes, hurry!" Misato's message read, Shinji the grocery store. He started running through, grabbing party favors and banners. He grabbed 6 confetti cannons, running towards the counter. He saw the cashier he liked, "Oh, hi!" He started, the cashier startled at the shy boy's sudden talkative phase. The man smiled at him, scanning his items. "I'm Kinji." the man said, laughing when Shinji told him that their names rhymed. "Birthday?" the man asked, "Yea, my gir-, my friend's birthday." He stuttered. The man teased him a bit, giving him a bag of his items. Leaving the store, he finally got the guy's name. 'What a nice guy.' His timer that he had set to remind him when Asuka left started to beep, "Shit!" he started to book it, towards the apartment, bumping into somebody.
"A-Asuka! Hi!" Shinji started to blubber, trying not to be suspicious. Asuka tilted her head, squinting at his bag of birthday items. He hid it, running away from her. He turned around, watching the redhead chase him. He pulled out his phone, dialing a number.
"Shinji! What happened?" Misato asked, twirling the telephone around her finger.
"Asuka's chasing me! Help!" Shinji whispered into the phone, panting while Asuka gave chase still. Misato hung up, ringing Asuka. Asuka felt the ring of her phone. The noise startled her, "Shit!" she screamed, falling to the ground. Shinji started to run faster, telling the group chat he had made a week ago.
"Go to the apartment please, Asuka just left." Shinji wrote, hitting the send button. He slid over to the same fire exit he left at, leaving the bags and calling Misato.
"The eagle is in the nest." Shinji told Misato playfully. Misato rolled her eyes and climbed down the fire exit. She jumped off, grabbed all of the items. She moved to the front, putting the items inside. Shinji started running back to Asuka, trying to distract her.
He found Asuka on the floor, knees scraped. "Hey!" Shinji ran over, trying to help her.
Asuka slapped him, "I'm not five!" she cried, putting a bandage on her knees. She got up, walking away from him, bumping into his shoulder.
"Where are you going?" Shinji asked her, grabbing her shoulder. "Nowhere! Who cares!" Asuka started to walk off, Shinji sweeping her off of her feet. "Happy birthday." He told her, much to his surprise, Asuka slapped him, continuing to walk off. Shinji walked off in the opposite direction as Asuka, going into the apartment. Misato was there, drinking a beer. She looked at his face, it was a little swollen, but she shrugged it off as a little argument. Shinji began setting up the decorations. A couple of banners were put on display, and an airhorn was placed under Asuka's bed. He spread some confetti on the counter, trying to be as perfect as possible. He put the confetti cannons on top, and he slumped on the couch next to Misato.
"What happened to your face?" Misato couldn't resist the urge of knowing what had happened. Shinji explained it was a small fight. The doorbell sprung to life, announcing the arrival of the party guests. Shinji opened the door, finding Hikari and his friends there as well.
"Hey! What's up bro!" Toji started, "I came here to make you don't die." he whispered, Shinji starting to laugh.
"Where's Asuka?" Hikari asked, Shinji explained that she had walked off. Shinji asked Hikari to get her back home. The class rep began to ring her, noticing that the call was denied almost instantly. She nodded at Shinji, "Get your wife back." she sighed, looking at the dumb faces Toji and Kensuke were making.
Shinji blushed, holding his phone to his ear after ringing her.
"Goddamn, your fucking annoying!" Asuka yelled through the phone.
"Can you come home? I'll make some dinner for you." Shinji told her, trying to sound convincing.
Asuka hung up, Shinji went outside, sitting out at the front of the complex. Asuka appeared in front of him in a couple minutes, "Aren't you cooking? Asshole." She told him, staring at him. He started ushering her near the apartment, she followed him, still tempered and angry. Inside of the elevator, Shinji started to scratch his head.
"Asuka, I'm sorry for forgetting your birthday." He started, Asuka looked away from him.
"I don't know why the hell I'm with you." Asuka snapped, hurting Shinji even if he had something planned. Shinji grabbed her, despite her protests. He ran over to the apartment door, Shinji twisted the knob, taking his shoes. Asuka pissed off, she threw it at the wall, making a loud noise as it banged against the wall. He opened the door. Asuka's eyes began to glitter looking at all of the decorations.
"You did rem-" She tried to say, being cut off. "NOW!" Shinji screamed, putting Asuka down and ducking. Confetti flew everywhere, Hikari, Misato, Toji, and Kensuke had taken a confetti cannon and shot it at Asuka. Shinji picked one up, Asuka laughed as she started to open her mouth. "You guys did-" Shinji shot his confetti cannon, igniting the laughter of everybody, even Asuka. "Who planned this?" She asked, her mood swinging to happiness.
"It was all Mi-" Shinji started, Misato pushed him out of the way.
"Jeez, give yourself some self-praise." Misato told the truth. "You jumped out of your window to the fire exit to get out secretly. This was your idea." Misato sighed, sipping her beer, covered in confetti. She pulled Shinji in, kissing him.
"Ewwwwwwww." Kensuke started to tease, Shinji flipped him off and continued. Hikari tapped her back, giving her a present wrapped. Asuka took it, starting to unwrap the present. She saw the brand new street fighter game, hugging her friend.
"I'm so gonna whoop your ass in that game!" Shinji laughed, teasing Asuka. Toji and Kensuke gave her 5000 yen each, "Here's our lunch money!" they told her in unison. Asuka smiled at them for the first time in forever.
Shinji tapped Asuka on the shoulder, pointing her towards her room. She turned around, giving a thumbs up to her friends. She opened her room. "You remembered!" she told him, hugging him. She saw the pearly white dress, it was glittering in the sunlight, pearls sticking out. She jumped on her bed to the sound of an airhorn.
"Ah! Shit!" Asuka screamed, extremely startled. She saw the head of Shinji peer through the door, starting to laugh. He fell to the floor, holding his stomach. He got up, shedding a tear from his eye. Asuka didn't find it funny, she walked up, leaning in for a kiss, then kneeing Shinji in a bad spot.
"SHIT!" Shinji screamed, falling to the floor. He started to groan, holding his hurt area. Toji ran over to Shinji, dragging him over to Kensuke. "Man down!" He screamed hysterically, Shinji not being able to laugh. Shinji heard the door ring, using Toji to get up. He limped over to the door, opening it with the constant knocking. He gave Shinji a bag, tipping his hat. He brought it over towards the table, setting it down. "I got you your favorite ramen." Shinji told Asuka, pulling out a big container for her. She smiled and ate it, chatting with everybody. He pulled out a strawberry shortcake, placing it in front of the birthday girl. She smiled, he lit a candle with a match next to the stove. They sang happy birthday, Asuka blowing it out. "So how should we celebrate?" Asuka asked, looking around the room. Misato teased her, "I don't know~, kiss Shinji." She sliced herself some cake. Shinji ignored her, cutting a slice for Asuka. Asuka was a little annoyed at Misato's comments, but she let it go. With the party ending, all of the party guests left. Misato told the kids to clean it up.
"No!" Both teens yelled in unison, running into Shinji's room.
Misato started to whine, picking up a broom and dustbin, starting her 5-hour cleanup.
Asuka looked exhausted, ready to sleep off the rest of her birthday. "Thanks for the birthday surprise, Shinji."
Shinji was already asleep when she said this. Asuka started to laugh, going to bed shortly after the boy next to him.
Omake:
Asuka had grabbed a piece of fruit, throwing the yellow peel onto the floor.
"Shinji~" Asuka screamed, "I'm hungry!"
Shinji ran over to the kitchen, slipping on the banana peel. Asuka picked it up, laughing.
"Sorry, I left it there!"
Shinji rubbed his head, "Oh, come on!" glaring at Asuka. He got up and began making breakfast, throwing butter into the pan, cooking a bunch of eggs for breakfast. Asuka gobbled it, finishing her breakfast extremely quick. She walked over to the couch, blaring the TV. Her stomach began to twist.
"Fuck!" Asuka screamed running into the bathroom, she was lactose intolerant.
Shinji started to laugh, placing a glass of milk on the table with a small sticky note.
Asuka got out of the bathroom, looking at the dining table.
"Love you! Wash down the butter with some milk." Shinji's note was quickly ripped up and thrown in the garbage. Shinji moved into his room, regretting that he didn't have a lock.
"Shinji! You fucker, you're getting it!" Asuka ran into the room, screaming at a terrified Shinji.