Shinji opened his eyes and was greeted by a white ceiling, a white gown on his body and an empty room. He looked at his side and saw that it was already 7:04 pm and noticed that he could not thoroughly move his right arm. The door at the right end of the corner opened, in which a nurse with a white-red LEBEN armband with a food cart entered saying "Ikari-kun, I brought you hot soup and some warm water, eat up while I check on your wound". A Wound. That's right I felt something in my right arm before I passed out…The nurse opened a mini table-top and placed it outside his legs and placed the tray of food on top of him. He was so hungry that he just dug in, never minding the bland taste the soup had or slight sting on his arm. He felt the nurse gently lift up his arm and began to wipe a hot towel on it. When was the last time I felt a touch of a person? Someone who cared for me? I would probably never feel this again so might as well savor it.

After he was finished with the food and the nurse with cleaning his wound from the battle, he decided to sleep maybe a little bit more as he was fully exhausted and he could not think straight because of the fatigue.

An hour later he woke up again from the opening and a hand squeezing his left hand. "Shinji, wake-up I have to tell you something" a whispered voice told him.

He opened his eyes and saw that it was Koyeka who was looking down at him with a saddened expression on her face.

She gave him a small smile and said, "You'll be moving in with Shinji-kun from now on. The agents from the department have already taken measures in our area so you don't need to worry about your security".

"Wha.." he coughed a little from his dry throat and drank some water on the tray, "What about my stuff from my Sensei's place?".

"The agents have taken it and placed it all in my apartment".

"O-oh, when can I leave?"

She paused and looked at her watch and back at him, "Soon".

"Ok, Misato-san"

He looked at her once more and at her hand which was back at her side. He thought of the times he would cherish the similar feeling of that touch with his mother's.

An hour later, a doctor came in and told Misato to leave the room and pick him up at the Ward Waiting Area (WWA) downstairs. She looked at him one last right before she left. The doctor gave him some painkillers and an enhanced booster drug which could help him improve his stamina and strength over the course of his time as a now made-pilot of the mech. He is discharged by the doctor and Misato came to pick him up at the WWA and they went to the parking lot, where her beat up white and grey car was parked. They went back to the highway, where there were 3 to 9 construction workers alongside 2 officials from the UN overseeing the damages done at the roads. Ever since Japan was struck with the devastating Third Impact that nearly removed anyone at the age of 23 to 44 at that time, the UN, remnants of NATO, the Treaty of Italy (all states and nations near Italy as well as its allies*) and the Organization of Asia (excluding China, Malaysia and Thailand due to complicated matters with their governments) they funded all of the LEBEN Organizations around the world as well as developing technology to help cope and rebuild with affected people, the ecosystem as well as infrastructures.

They took a left turn from the highway and drove through the silent streets. Koyeka slowly stopped the car once they arrived at a giant apartment complex building wherein there are around 3 guards with SCARS as well as black clothing and camouflage.

They saluted the purple-haired woman as they passed by and one of the guards at the middle spoke to her, "Captain Katsuguri, I am First-Corporal Hiroshi as well as my team, Private First Class Miko and my Specialist Haruki."

"Well, good evening ladies and corporal" Misato said with a lazy salute headed in their direction.
"We were tasked to protect you mam, as well as the Third Dominator, Hiroshi at your disposal" a black haired woman said in a disinterested tone looking at her phone.

Meanwhile a cheery young white haired woman to her side waved at them and said "Hi Captain and Third Dominator! Specialist Haruki at your service!".

"There are other soldiers and agents patrolling the area but we are specifically placed at this part of the complex, should anything happen Captain Katsuguri, please give us a call"

"Yes we will"

"We will," the young teen said to the soldiers.

"Ok, follow me Shinji-kun the elevator is right around the corner"

They passed the guarding soldiers and went to an empty hallway where the elevator was in the middle between two apartments.

"Miss Misato-san, are there other occupants within the building?"

"Yeah there is…but a lot of people left this building once the threat of those Angel monstrosities came knocking at this city" she said as she pressed the button for the 4th floor. She used to have neighbours near her which always helped her in cleaning her house and giving out food. Now, Ikari would be in for a real treat once they get to her home.

They walked at the 4th floor with blinking broken lights above and Misato Katsuguri used her card to a room and opened the door and lights, in which she sheepishly chuckled at her new roommates' reaction to the mess of soda, beer, noodle cups, paper, plastics bags and more her home.

"Oh well, sorry about the mess hehe, but get yourself comfortable as this is gonna be your new home!" She excitedly went to the fridge in the kitchen and opened a can of beer.

"Wh-what is this mess"

"It's your new home dum-dum"

Oh well, guess I have to clean all of this junk up.

Shinji started going on focus mode, in which he looked for plastic bags at the drawers, placed all the trash inside said bags and went outside and threw the trash at a nearby dumpster at the back. After those were done, he cleaned the dirty dishes at the sink, cleaned the floors with the rug and mop, cleaned the table, placed all of the chairs in order and finally checked for the food supply at the fridge. Only eggs, some vegetables, some bacon, butter, green onions, radish, garlic, cheese and even a ripe olive. I can probably make a Bacon cheese salad for now. He went to work, even with the tiredness of the day setting on his shoulders. He opened the portable cooking stove and placed half the butter and bacon on the small pot. He then proceeded to accurately cut the bacon strips into small bits of squares and placed some salt and pepper at the pile of meaty goodness. He then went with the next step of frying the garlic with the leftover fat and oil of the butter and bacon to release more of the flavours to the garlic. Miss Misato-san is going to be very pleased with this. He chopped, cut and sliced the vegetables into bite sized pieces and put everything into a bowl and gave it a few tosses as well as finding an unopened bottle of mayonnaise-garlic sauce for salads. Huh, it's like everything here is already placed for me to use in the future, strange.

Katsuguri was drinking at the table when he came out of the kitchen with the food. Once he placed the food on the table, he heard a sudden 'Wark' at the of his chair and was startled by a penguin with a collar looking up at him and then back at her and proceeded to go inside a mini-room.

"Wh-what was t-that?"

"Just Rin-Rin, our other roommate"

"What…"

A penguin that's a roommate and the look of its eyes, it almost looked like it has some kind of intelligence that's not normal for those types of animals last I checked.

"Oh wow Shinjiiiii this salad loooooks delish, can I have some pweasee?".

"Um…yeah that's why I made it"

"Yes!"

She went over and got a portion for herself then took the first bite.

"Mmmmm Shinji-kun, this is da vest! Where did you learn to make t-this?" she drunkenly said while placing a spoonful of the salad onto her mouth and drinking some more of the beer.

"O-oh I cook for myself and my sensei, glad you liked it"

"L-like it? Are you kidding me? This is the besttttt!"

"Hehe, thanks Misato-san"

After they finished the food and drank water and beer, Shinji-kun went to the small room that Misato-san assigned him to. To be honest, it was a lot bigger than his room at Sensei's house which he really appreciated and moved his stuff from the living room into it. He fixed all of his stuff and placed everything he needed outside of the suitcase and took a black t-shirt and short blue shorts and went to the bathroom outside the room. He brushed his teeth, washed himself and cleaned his wound at his shoulder. He did not really check the wound that much so now he saw that it was a mere scar and some redness around it. Huh, not so bad though, I thought it would be worse.

He went back to his room and got his SDAT and played another J-pop song while he looked at the ceiling and dreaded another nightmare if he were to go back to sleep.

After a minute or two staring at the wide ceiling, a knock came to his door and the Misato's voice was heard from the other side, "Shinji, I'm going inside ok?"

The older woman let herself in and was greeted by a boy looking at the ceiling with earphones plugged in.

He looked at her and removed one of the earphones and quizzically looked at her "Is something wrong Misato-san?"

"N-no, I just wanted to say…good work a while ago. You made me proud hehe".

Oh. That was…nice. I haven't heard someone tell me they were proud of me.

"Goodnight Shinji"

"Goodnight Misato-san"

The older woman closed the door and the lights outside and walked back to her room. Shinji looked at his SDAT and at the now closed door. I'll have to do this again someday. He sighed as to not wanting to pilot but having the need to do so as felt as if the world would crash without him supporting it. He thought of sometime in the future wherein he could maybe have a better and more peaceful point of view in life.

And with that, the very first Angel was defeated, marking the kill to Shinji, while more were still lurking in space, threatening the existence of the human race as a whole.

...

He woke up at around 6:34 am that morning looking up and realizing that he did not have a nightmare the previous night. He looked at the single bed and the fallen pillow on the floor before slowly rising up to stretch his limbs and checked on his wound once more before going to the kitchen to prepare himself, Misato and the penguin named Rin-Rin. He also remembered that today was a Monday and that probably he could meet that pilot girl from LEBEN later at school.

The idea of making new friends and talking to everyone might be a hit or miss situation for him since most of his life he was pretty much home-schooled and was not allowed to go outside to play or even make friends by his teacher/sensei. This made him really shy, to such an extent that he would only start conversations when he needed to do so at times when all of the attention would be on him.

Around 20 or 30 minutes later, the drowsy Captain came out of her bedroom with the smell of pancakes and eggs in the air. I should probably buy food supplies later, she thought as she went to the dining area.

"Good morning Shinji, that looks really good!"

"Thanks, Misato-san"

She started taking spoonfuls of the treat from her plate while continuing, "You ready to go to your school, I heard it's really, really near our area…".

"Yeah, I guess so"

"G-great! Lemme just change so I can bring you there in my car as I need to sign your documents to be my ward" she said as she almost finished her food and went up to get beer from the fridge.

"U-under your care? Also, isn't it too early to be drinking that?" he said, raising his eyebrows in bemusement.

"Yes and I always drink first thing in the morning of course"

"Oh, ok I guess"

She suddenly flashed him with a mischievous smirk and asked him, "Say Shinko-kun, would you want to see the files of a certain blue-haired girl that you saw yesterday…?"

"H-huh!? Wh-where did that come from!?"

"Hehe don't worry you'll be joining her soon enough"

So he went into Koyeka-san's car and they drove off to their next destination.

Shinji made a quick recap of what happened to him in the span of just two days. First, he was in his room at sensei's place minding his own business with the notes and studies that the strict teacher gave to him. The next day afterwards was the most eventful thing that happened so far in his existence in this world. Today, he was now going to school for the first time as he was always being home-schooled.

Suddenly, he felt a foreboding sense of anxiety on how he would interact with those around him. He calmed himself down just a tad bit when he saw the school entrance coming up into his view from the car. She looked at him from the rear view of the mirror as she stopped the car near a parking stall.

"You ready kiddo? Isn't this your first time going to school, cuz y'know…"

"Yes, I'm sorta ready now"

"Good! I'll try my best to pick you up later at 3:00 pm? If not I'll just ask HQ to pick you up as you have some tests that you'll have to do, okay?"

"Ok"

And with that he left the car and went straight to the entrance of the main building. There was a large crowd of students everywhere, moving around with what he assumed to be friends, some just sitting at the cobble-stoned seat ledges eating food, while others looking at the board from what he could hear from the students near him determined which class you would be placed in. He squeezed his way through the crowd and looked for his name in the sea of words and numbers. He found it at the near end of a class list of 9-B.

He spotted a familiar figure at a ledge reading a novel, not a care in the world around her. Huh it's that girl again. I don't even know her name yet, but I feel her presence is quite reassuring to me.

At around 7:10 am the bell rang, signifying that the start of the school day had officially started. Students from all different levels started moving about and walking to their respective classes. The shy teen also made his way to the stairs alongside other students going up and some going down. He went to his level and classroom and opened the door to see a girl on a platform at the front telling the other students to settle down. He settled down on a seat two rows close to the window, where once again he saw the blue-haired girl staring at the outside, having a distanced look written on her face. She does not really care for the world around her…th-that's almost the same as my situation. What can she be thinking about? Maybe about being…a pilot perhaps….?

He was still looking at her when the girl at front said "Rise up and greet, Sensei is here!". They all rose up and greeted the teacher, whilst the latter gave his greeting and told them to sit down. He started explaining that since the first attack of the angel a day ago, classes might have a change in schedule to adjust with the current problems they are facing. The sensei then started checking the attendance of the whole class and checked those who were in and crossed off those who were not.

He then said the name Rei Ayanami, and a certain blue-haired girl said in a monotone voice "Present" before the sensei went on to the next name. So that's her name, huh? Took me long enough to hear it and know it, lord.

The day went by fast and by the last subject, he mustered up the courage to ask if he could walk with her when they were going to the LEBEN HQ. There was no sign of Misato-san's car anywhere as far as he could see. He then approached the mysterious pilot as he was leaving the school.

"Uh…Hello"

"..."

Rei looked at him curiously, before walking a little bit closer to him.

"You are the Third Dominator are you not?"

"Y-yes, what of it?" he replied, scared of what that might imply. Isn't she also called a Dominator by the LEBEN or is she something else entirely different from this weird organization?

"We need to go to the LEBEN HQ for tests in regards to our capabilities in piloting the Eva"

"Oh, as in right now?"

"Affirmative, Third Dominator"

"Um, y'know you could just call me by my n-name"

"Then what do you want to be referred to as?" she looked back at him, her crimson eyes focusing on him while people around them continued to walk past them.

"Just call me Shinji"

"Ok then…Shinji-kun, come then let us not waste anymore time"

She went on ahead and he followed her close by going through the subway, which was exclusive for government officials, members of officially known organizations and most importantly the LEBEN workers and officials.

Rei produced a card from her bag and used it to swipe on the turnstile and she looked back at him and gave him the card she just used.

"Use it and swipe it at the automated machine, they haven't gave you yours for the time being"

"O-oh! Ok, thank you"

"These tests usually take around 2 to 4 hours for me, I do not remember what it felt like the first time I did it although I…." she paused a while in which the young teen noticed her sudden abruption.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked with genuine concern radiating off his voice.

"N-no please forget it" she muttered as she looked at the upcoming subway train.

That was something, I never really talked to someone near my age much less a girl normally.

They went in the subway with other officials around them coming in as well. Shinji looked outside the windows to see the scenery of the forests and some roads around. Ever since the Third Impact, there were tons of forest fires in the first two years after the catastrophic event. There were also a great number of lootings not just in the island of the Rising Sun, but also in other parts of the world especially in developed countries. It really messed up the living conditions for the new generation of people, for the most part the kids and teens.

Something then rang by as the train stopped near another station. Mei opened her bag and took her phone out to answer the call. Shinji looked around the corner of his and listen carefully to the conversation, even though he was thought by his teacher not to do so as it is disrespectful and breaks the code of privacy.

"Yes, hello Mei Ayanami speaking" the blue-haired girl remained a neutral look onto her face as she listened to the other person in the line.

"Yes, I have the Third Dominator with me and we are on our way"

"Understood, I will tell him about this later"

"Yes, I will"

"Roger"

The caller ended the call as Mei closed her phone and placed it in the bag.

"Who was that?" the curious boy questioned her.

"It was… the head commander"

"Oh, what did they ask?"

"I will explain the details later, Third Dominator"

"Umm, I told you that you can use my name"

"A-apologies, Shinji-kun"

"That's better" he gave her a small smile before looking at the window as they neared their destination. Unbeknownst to him, she was looking at him with some interest when he flashed her that smile.