Neon Genesis Evangelion and all characters from therein
are the property of Gainax. They are used without permission
and we beg the kind and benevolent creators of the glorious
show not to sue us. ^_^
Chain Lightning Studios Presents
Together We Stand
By T. L. Webb
And that is how I know
When I try to get through
On the telephone to you
There'll be nobody home
Nobody Home
Pink Floyd, The Wall
[]===============[]
Book: 1 Part: 2
[]===============[]
It was raining, again.
It had been raining a lot lately, and this was after almost
two months of drout. The meteorologists had all but given up on
trying to predict what the weather would do next. Ever since
Second Impact the seasons had none nuts and the entire planet's
weather patterns had been sent on a haywire series of changes.
What all this meant was that for the past few years Tokyo Three
and the rest of Japan had been subjected to almost random changes
in weather and climate. Almost all of mankind's meteorological
knowledge was based on decades of studying patterns in the
planet's weather. With the entire ecosystem in havoc, those
patterns had been shattered and the weathermen were starting from
scratch.
As far as Kensuke Aida was concerned it was no big deal. if
the weather got too bad it would simply make his weekend plans
all the more exciting. He was all packed up for his trip and all
that was keeping him was his promise to Hikari.
He and Touji Suzuhara were still in hock with her over a
couple of little incidents earlier that week. Apparently Hikari
had seen their little meeting with their class's newest student
Shinji Ikari and had not approved of Touji's welcoming gift in
the slightest. Having known Touji most of his life Kensuke
couldn't really say he had been surprised at his friends
behavior, but he didn't have to like it.
Personally Kensuke was embarrassed by Touji's response,
which had been to hit Shinji in the face. Touji was a nice guy,
but when it came to things and people he loved his brain simply
stopped functioning and instinct took over. It wasn't the best
way to deal with the situation Kensuke knew, and he also knew
just how cruel it must have seemed to Shinji at the time. His own
response had been rather pathetic and Hikari was still angry with
the both of them for that and the other little incident later
that day.
At the moment it was the former that concerned the two.
As they walked through the downpour, Kensuke found himself
rambling on about his favorite subject. For a self proclaimed
'military nut' living in Tokyo Three, this could only be related
to Nerv.
"So what I think," he told Touji as they walked into the
apartment complex's entrance, "is that it's not just a robot."
"Run this past me again?" Touji asked as he wiped his feet
on the provided mat.
"Well when I got my stuff back, I ran a file recovery
program on the disks and got a little bit of the footage back."
"I still don't know how that thing survived"
"It's a full environmental model. Don't you remember the
underwater film I made at the beach last semester?"
"Oh yeah... I particularly remember you getting in trouble
for the shots of the girls."
"Hey, don't forget you got a third of the money we made off
that tape for coming up with the idea. Anyway I took a closer
look at the frames when the Eva pulled that huge knife, and I
think that the hands had some kind of glove-- because those whip
things burnt some of it away."
"Right, and this is where you're loosing me. Why does a
robot the size of a skyscraper need a glove?"
"Ugh...That sounds like the setup to a bad joke, but to
answer your question-- I'm not so sure it's a robot at all! The
footage isn't clear, but I think there's a _hand_ under that
glove."
"Well duh, of course it's a hand."
"No, no, no, I mean like yours and mine!"
"Wait a second... are you saying that the thing is alive?
Like some kind of monster in armor?"
"I don't know, but that's what I suspect."
"I don't know where you keep coming up with this kind of
stuff, Kensuke. It sounds like something out of... I dunno...
Ultraman or something."
"You may mock all you want, but I have the proof on tape."
"Right, the same one that Nerv will probably lock you away
forever for just owning."
"Well there is that... what apartment number was it again?"
"I think it's on the eleventh floor."
"Well then... let's get this over with. I can't imagine
Shinji's gonna be too happy to see us... well to see _you_
anyway"
"Oh shut up."
"Okay then, but one more point on that subject. Just what
are you planning on saying to him anyway? He's not going to
forgive you that easily for pounding him into the pavement like
that."
"Don't worry, I think I have an idea."
"Touji, its when you get these ideas that I _start_ to
worry."
"Relax, I think this will work."
"You gonna let me in on the big plan?"
"Naw, you'll just think its lame and try and talk me out of
it."
"Well someone's gotta try to keep you out of trouble until
you learn some tact."
"Tact is just not saying true stuff, I'll pass."
"... Remind me again why I put up with you?"
[]====[]
[]====[]
Misato Katsuragi was worried.
She had been afraid Shinji might pull something like this
sooner or later, but she frankly wasn't expecting it this early.
From the beginning she had known that Shinji might not be up to
the stress his position as pilot would bring upon him. He was
shy, meek and polite-- generally a pleasant person once you got
him talking, but that was also the problem. A meek, shy person
didn't make for the best pilot material. She would be glad when
the Second Child and Unit Two arrived; at least then they would
have a pilot who _wanted_ to be there.
It was strange that Shinji had such a remarkable talent for
Eva. If his training was ever completed-- Ritsuko was predicting
that his skills would eventually surpass even the Second Child.
That made his unease with the position all the more tragic. Had
they found him earlier and had the proper time to prepare him...
Shinji might have had an easier time. Unfortunately that had not
been the case.
Shinji had arrived literally at the last moment as the Third
Angel began its attack. The timing could have only been worse if
he hadn't arrived at all. Rei's accident shortly before that had
necessitated their calling him in. She found it all to be a
little too convenient, but Shinji had been able to synch with
Unit One the first time in and despite enormous obstacles he had
won his first fight over Tokyo Three.
The victory had been little consolation to him however. He
didn't want to be there. He didn't want to pilot. He didn't want
to be anywhere near his father.
Gendou Ikari... if it hadn't been for the general
resemblance and a similar lack of social skills, Misato would
hardly have believed the two were related. The Commander was...
cold. That was the best way to describe it. He hardly seemed to
display any emotion save an occasional smug amusement when things
went as he planed... which was often. He hid everything behind
those glasses and his favored sitting position, which placed his
hands steepled before his face. The bridge crew had a bet going
with her that Ikari would never assume his seat in the command
center without sitting like that... so far she was making a few
hundred yen with each battle.
Despite the fact that he was making her drinking money, she
could say with total honesty that she didn't like him.
She could also say that when it came down to it, Nerv needed
his ruthlessness to stay on top of all the bureaucratic nonsense
they had to deal with.
That didn't mean she had to like him, or the way he treated
his son. If anyone were to blame for the current situation she
would have to say it was the Commander. Shinji had come to Tokyo
Three under false pretenses. He had believed that his father was
attempting a second chance for them to live together, that his
father wanted him again. She hadn't pressed Shinji for
information, but apparently they'd had a fight three years before
and Shinji hadn't seen the man since.
She wondered whether Shinji would have come had he known the
truth from the beginning.
He might have, but then again... it was difficult to tell
with Shinji. He had at first refused to climb into Unit One, and
possibly would have left had they not played a trump card on him.
One she was glad she had no part in setting up.
Rei Ayanami's injuries prevented her from being an acceptable
candidate to pilot the Eva for the time being; hence Shinji's
arrival. Bringing her out on that stretcher... rubbing Shinji's
nose in his decision like that was a cold-hearted move that only
Commander Ikari could have come up with. The fact that it worked
didn't make her feel any better.
Shinji had stayed on, but the poor kid had continued to pilot
under a growing cloud of guilt and regret that was painfully
obvious in his manner and attitude. Misato had seen the current
situation approaching like a runaway train, but she just hadn't
been able to think of a way to prevent it. If Shinji honestly
felt the way he said he had after the fourth angel then wouldn't
it be better for him if he was allowed out?
Now he had run away.
Perhaps it was for the best. It was a shame that Section Two
didn't see it that way.
She was thinking of this and polishing off her third beer of
the morning when the doorbell rang.
[]====[]
[]====[]
They had arrived at the apartment that was listed as
Shinji's and had barely rung the doorbell when a gorgeous woman
they had seen once before flung open the door with a wild look in
her eyes.
"Shinji?" she cried in a panic before she realized that it
wasn't the boy in question.
Touji and Kensuke could only stand there in surprise. The
last time they had seen this woman had been after the incident
with the robot. She had been the one who spent an hour yelling at
them and explaining in painfully graphic detail what would happen
if they ever did it again. She had been gorgeous when she was
angry, and was even more so now.
Recovering more quickly than his companion, Kensuke politely
corrected her.
"Please excuse us for the intrusion Ma'am, we're Shinji's
classmates Aida and Suzuhara."
The woman, who Kensuke now remembered to be Captain
Katsuragi, went through several facial expressions in less than a
second-- this ranged form concerned, to confused, to relieved, to
angry, and finally coming to rest with a happy-carefree
expression. The smile that came to rest on her face immediately
reduced the two young men to putty in her hands.
"Oh? Aida and Suzuhara?"
Kensuke began to reply in an affirmative when Touji cut him
off with a stiff response.
"Yes Ma'am, I am Suzuhara!" He said as if he were in boot
camp speaking to a drill sergeant. Not that Kensuke could blame
him, she was quite the babe-- and that smile was more than enough
to send a guy's brains flying out the window. Had he not been so
amused by Touji's response he would probably be mimicking it…
well more so than he was already.
"Hmmm," Miss Katsuragi said thoughtfully, " weren't you the
ones who got into Unit One's entry plug the other day?"
"Yes ma'am, we are very sorry for causing so much trouble
for you mam," Touji replied as rigidly as before, " Ikari hasn't
been to school since then and we came by to see how he was
doing."
Misato chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, Kensuke
thought it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. "I see,"
she told them, "Shinji... he's... well, at the Nerv training
center right now."
Had he not been so completely smitten by Misato Katsuragi
Kensuke would have noticed how unconvincing this sounded.
However, at the moment he was experiencing a common condition
males must endure when the blood flow is diverted from the brain
to other parts of anatomy-- that of impaired coherent thought.
Touji was still standing at complete attention and bowing at
every other word, Kensuke on the other hand was a bit more alert.
While he was slightly disappointed that Shinji's wasn't home, but
somehow he managed to remember another item Hikari had charged
them with.
"I see," he said, "Well ma'am if you could give these to him
when you see him we would be in your debt, they're the printouts
that were building up on his desk."
"Oh, well sorry for all the trouble, thank you." She said as
she took the printouts in question.
"Well we'll be going now, say hi to Shinji for us" Kensuke
said pleasantly as he tried not too ooglle the Captain too
obviously.
Misato flashed the two another brilliant smile as she shut
the door.
"Ok, I will," she told them, "thanks again, buh bye"
[]====[]
[]====[]
As the door shut Kensuke looked at Touji. Touji looked back
at his friend and they both let out a breath they had been
holding in identical attempts to suck in their guts and puff up
their chests.
"Well this is an unexpected turn of events," Kensuke said in
wonder.
"She was a total babe!" Touji agreed in a similarly awed
voice.
"You realize that... Shinji lives with her?"
" I can't believe it," Touji said as they walked back to the
elevators, "how did he end up with such a gorgeous... this is
just... hey did you hear something?"
"Hmm? Probably just someone upstairs dropped something. But
back to the important part, she 's a heavy hitter in Nerv!"
"Wait a sec... you're right for a change! That was _her_
voice in the cockpit!"
"Exactly! And --lets not forget-- the most humiliating hour
I think either of us have ever had to endure."
"I was trying to forget most of that, thanks."
"How do you think Shinji managed that? I mean he gets to
live with… my God she 's beautiful!"
"Down boy! Let's not forget that now we still have to
explain to Hikari that Shinji wasn't there. Think she'll ever buy
the truth?"
"Let me handle that. You concentrate on your apology to
Shinji."
"I leave it in your capable hands Kensuke."
"Keep that philosophy in mind and you will go far my friend"
"Oh get over yourself." Touji said with a laugh as they
walked back out in to the rain soaked streets.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Later that night, as Misato was about to climb into the tub,
she heard her phone ring. Jumping back out of the bathroom, she
stumbled over a pile of instant food boxes and just barely
managed to grab the phone before the machine picked it up. Hoping
against hope, she greeted the other person on the line, praying
that it was Shinji.
"Katsuragi residence!" Misato said with forced cheerfulness.
It wasn't him; the voice on the other end belonged to a
young girl-- and sounded vaguely familiar.
"Hello, Miss Katsuragi, my name is Hikari Horaki-- I'm one
of Shinji Ikari's classmates. Is he there, please?"
'What the hell is the deal today?' Misato thought as she
answered.
"Sorry, Shinji is at the Nerv training facilities, he won't
be back for awhile."
'At least it doesn't sound fake this time' she thought.
"Oh, I see... well, I needed to speak with you also, Miss
Katsuragi... if you have the time that is." The young girl
politely responded.
Misato was suspicious, but tried not to let it come out in
her voice. "Of course Miss Horaki, what's on your mind?" she said
cheerfully.
"Well, you know that couple of other students and myself
were the ones that got caught up in the fight the other day," she
said with an almost audible blush, "and the thing is that I saw
Shinji after the fight... I feel bad that I didn't try to at
least talk to him after that. I want to let him know I'm sorry
but I don't want to seem like I'm just trying to suck up to him
because he's a Nerv Pilot. He got enough of that when the class
found out."
Misato wanted to believe what she was hearing, but she had
believed for too long that if something sounded too good to be
true-- then it usually was. "Well I don't know when I'll see him
again, would you like me to pass along anything?"
The girl sighed. " I don't know, I want to, but I can't
think of anything that wouldn't sound phony. I've been meaning to
talk with him for a week, but my duties as Class rep have kept me
so tied up that I've hardly had time to even _think_ about
anything outside of school."
"Hmm," Misato said thoughtfully, "well... speaking from
experience, when you have a stressful job its imperative to keep
a time of your day or week open to forget about work and leave
all your worries behind. You know... just a chance to let loose
and relax."
"I wish I had the time, I think I've already overscheduled
myself. But I'll bear that in mind Miss Katsuragi."
"Oh call me Misato, I don't mind."
"If you insist..."
Misato could tell the girl was unused to this-- younger
people were always thrown off balance when she insisted on being
on a fist name basis.
"So tell me," Misato said, now less suspicious of the girl,
" what's Shinji like in class? He hardly ever talks about his
day."
The girl sighed. "In his case that might be because there
isn't much to talk _about_. He keeps to himself and hardly ever
talks to anyone. To be honest that's part of the reason I'm so
worried about him. He hasn't given himself a chance to make any
friends and now with everyone knowing he's a Pilot..."
"It's going to be even harder," Misato finished. She shook
her head sadly, "Hedgehogs dilemma..." she added softly.
"I'm sorry?"
"Oh, nothing, just something someone said the other day.
Listen... when I see Shinji I'll let him know you were worried
about him. In the meantime I want you to keep something in mind.
Shinji hasn't had many friends in his life and he doesn't really
know how to act around people. Just be patient with him ok?"
"Thank you Miss Katsu- I mean Misato. Oh, one more thing,
did a couple of boys stop by your home today? The ones from the
incident I mean."
"Yes, Kensuke Aida and Touji Suzuhara I believe."
"Good, I just wanted to make sure. Thanks again."
"Anytime Hikari, you take care of yourself okay? G'nite!"
As Misato hung up and got into the warm bath, she let out a
sigh. 'Shinji, you have the worst sense of timing I have ever
seen...' she thought as she settled into the steaming water,
'please come back.'
[]====[]
[]====[]
He had been on the move the entire day and he was exhausted.
As Shinji sat in the theater, he tried to let himself relax.
Even when he had been on the train he hadn't been resting. It had
been the only place he had been able hide at the time. He knew
that there were several well-trained security officers assigned
to keep an eye on him, and while he was confident they had lost
track of him hours ago-- he had no illusions of avoiding them
forever.
But for the time being he could at least try. Staying on the
train all day had been the first idea, and it seemed to have
worked. He figured that while one of the first places the spooks
checked would have been the stations, they might not check the
actual cars themselves. He had bet on them merely watching the
crowds boarding and exiting. So he had figured if he stayed on
board, they might not find him.
That had been around seven in the morning and it was well
past midnight now, so he assumed it had worked. Eventually the
train had gone out of service and he had to leave. After that he
had wandered Tokyo Three for a few hours before coming across the
all night theater where he was now sitting.
He just didn't know what he was going to do. He was going to
be in a lot of trouble once they found him, he knew that much. It
was what would happen after that which had him frightened
however.
He didn't want to get into the Eva again. When they took him
back they would make him. It terrified him... every time the Eva
was hurt he could feel it, and several times he had almost been
killed. But that wasn't the worst of it.
The first time out something had happened... something he
didn't remember.
He remembered the angel picking the Eva up, and the impact
as its hand weapon struck the armor of the Eva's head again and
again, but once it had broken through, everything was a blur.
They'd told him much later that the Eva reactivated and had gone
into a berserker rage. It had ripped into the Angel like a thing
possessed and had nearly succeeded in tearing it to pieces before
the enemy had self-destructed. When the dust settled the Eva
stood victorious amongst the wreckage.
Moments later he remembered the lights in the Entryplug
turning back on. He remembered the screens coming back to life
and a dull throbbing ache above his right eye. He had been
looking around, trying to get his bearings when something dark
passed in front of the view. As the dust cleared around him he
had looked out the viewer at a building beside the Eva. The
reflection in the glass showed that the top portion of the Eva's
head armor had fallen away, revealing a face beneath. His memory
of just what it looked like was unclear, but he did finally
remember its eye opening and seemingly staring back at him.
That had been when he passed out.
That he had lost control of such a dangerous weapon
horrified him. Just how much control did he have in the first
place? Even more frightening-- was it the Eva that had really
gone wild? After the fourth Angel he was no longer as certain.
During that battle he had lost control of _himself_ then and it
disturbed him to know that he was capable of that level of rage.
What would happen if it occurred again? Would he have the control
necessary to stop before anyone got hurt? Or worse yet, what if
it happened outside the Eva? What if _he_ hurt someone?
He had never been comfortable with the responsibility and
guilt, and each time he climbed into that thing it made things
worse. How could he keep doing it when he could barely stand it
now?
Suddenly-- a movement within the theater snapped him back to
reality. Someone was moving a few rows down. As his eyes swam
back into focus, Shinji saw that it was a young couple. He hadn't
seen them come in, and other than some guy sleeping up front he
hadn't known anyone else was there.
He heard a giggle drift up and realized that the two were
kissing. Shinji had envied other people for many things in his
life. Some people he envied the relationship with their parents,
sometimes it was the ease with which they dealt with other
people, or the fearlessness they showed in the face of failure.
As he watched the two making out several seats down, he felt a
fresh wave of jealousy sweep over him.
He hadn't had many friends in his life, just a few
acquaintances when he was younger, and he'd never had anything
even resembling a girlfriend. Until a year or two ago he hadn't
even considered it. It struck him suddenly that these two were
obviously closer to one another than he had ever felt to anyone
in his life.
A scowl crossing his face, he gathered his things and
wandered out into the lobby. Looking around, he quickly found a
secluded bench hidden by a snack machine and curled up on it to
get some sleep. As he turned to the wall to block some of the
light, he found himself thinking about the couple inside. What
would it be like to have someone like that? Someone who he could
be open and honest with? Someone he could actually trust?
'Shut up' he told himself, 'why would anyone want a coward
like me anyway?'
After a while he fell into a restless sleep.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Hikari woke up from her nightmare with a start. She was
covered in sweat and her breathing was rapid. While she tried to
calm down, she mentally cussed out Kensuke and Touji for getting
her mixed up in the battle. She hadn't had nightmares for years,
and now she was having them every other night. They all ended the
same too-- a giant purple hand would fall from the sky and this
time it wouldn't miss...
Knowing that it was unlikely that she would be able to get
back to sleep, she showered and decided to take Misato's advice
to spend some time for herself. Dressing and leaving a note for
her sisters she stepped outside and started into town.
She didn't know where she was going, but she didn't mind;
she just wanted to get away for an hour or two and reflect on the
past week. Her conversation with Misato had gone even better than
she had planed and she felt she had a chance with getting her
friends and Shinji to put everything behind them. She hoped
Shinji got back from training soon, she needed to let him know
that Touji and Kensuke weren't like the poor first impression he
had received of them.
As she wandered around town, the sun started to rise in the
distance, and a rosy tint took hold of the sky. Standing at the
outskirts of one of Tokyo Three's parks, she leaned against a
rail and watched the sky grow brighter. She was so caught up in
this that she almost missed the sound of rapid footfalls behind
her.
Turning, she was just in time to see Shinji run around a
corner and in her direction. Had she not turned and taken a step
back too see who it was, they might have missed one another
entirely. As it was he was in such a panic that he did miss her
and had she not shouted his name, he most likely would have run
right past.
Hearing someone call his name, he slowed to a stop and his
frightened expression dissolved into confusion as he saw her
waving from the rail.
He stood there across the street for several moments and she
saw his hand twitch slightly. Finally he seemed to reach a
dissension and walked over to greet her.
"Good morning Miss Horaki."
"Morning Shinji, no need to be so formal." She replied--
smiling as she remembered his guardian saying almost the same
thing to _her_.
"Oh… okay then. Good morning Hikari."
"That's better. So what brings you out here so early
Shinji?"
His face immediately changed from a look of shy hesitation
to a cold mask that she couldn't read at all. He muttered
something that sounded like "nothing" and she decided that this
topic might not be the best to start out with.
Changing tracks she asked how his training at Nerv was
going. This went even worse as he lowered his head and actually
backed away.
'Think Hikari,' she told herself ' _something_ has gotta
get him interested enough to say more than three words' she knew
she had to say something quick-- he looked like he was about to
run away.
"Hey Shinji, I was about to go get some breakfast, want to
join me?" she said, not knowing what else to try.
He considered that for a moment, then finally nodded. "If
it's not too much of an imposition..."
"Not at all, breakfast is no fun if there's no one to share
it with-- at least that's what my mom always used to say."
[]====[]
[]====[]
"Shinji, we've been missing you at school," she said later
as they ate, "how much longer do you think your training session
will last?"
"Training?" he asked with slight confusion.
"Captain Katsuragi told me that you were off at one of the
training facilities."
"Oh," he said with a nod, as if what she had just told him
had filled in a piece of a puzzle, "when did you talk with
Misato?"
"I called her last night to see if Touji and Kensuke had
delivered your paperwork like I asked them."
"Kensuke, I remember from class, but who's Touji?" he asked
as he reached for his water.
"Um..." Hikari started, then decided it would be best to
just tell him the whole thing. "He's the other guy who got into
the Eva with us."
Shinji almost choked on his drink, as it was he barely
managed to keep from spraying it everywhere. She could see in his
eyes how confused he was.
"W-why did he go with Kensuke?" he asked slightly
suspiciously.
"Well for one thing they're friends, and for another he
feels bad for what happened."
Shinji shook his head. "There was no way you could know that
the Eva would fall like that, it wasn't any of your faults."
"No... not that, the other thing."
Shinji's eyes widened and he looked at her closely "what do
you mean?"
"I-I saw what happened between the buildings." Hikari said
nervously, she knew that guys had a weird sense of pride about
such things.
Shinji bowed his head and she couldn't see his eyes. She was
starting to seriously dislike it when he did that-- it was
disturbing.
"He went with Kensuke because he wanted to apologize," She
told him, "he wanted to say that he-" she didn't get to finish as
Shinji cut her off.
"I deserved it," he said simply-- his eyes still hidden.
"What?" Hikari said with surprise, "what kid of talk is that
Shinji?"
"I'm the reason his sister got hurt, I deserved it."
"Shinji..." she started to say as he looked up. She didn't
get to finish this either as Shinji stopped looking _at_ her and
focused on something just over her shoulder. His eyes widening,
he picked up his bag and stood up.
"Thank you for breakfast" he said quickly as he handed her
several yen to cover the meal, "I need to leave now." And before
she could respond he was out the door.
Completely befuddled by his behavior, Hikari turned to look
in the direction that Shinji had been staring moments before.
They had been sitting in a corner booth and there was a window on
either side of her. Across the street behind her there was a man
on the sidewalk speaking into a cellular phone. He was wearing
all black and dark sunglasses.
As she turned back to the table, she thought back to
something Kensuke had said weeks ago when Shinji had first
arrived about increased security around the school. The men there
had been dressed exactly the same as the man now across the
street.
She didn't taste much of the rest of her food.
[]====[]
[]====[]
As Shinji stepped off the bus, he decided that this was a
good idea.
He needed to think. He needed to just sit down and actually
try to reason everything out. It wasn't something he could do
while in the city; every building was a constant reminder of the
battles he had fought. Even the theater had offered no haven. The
closest thing he had felt to being relaxed in the past two days
had been earlier at breakfast.
He was still trying to register the fact that had actually
held something resembling a conversation with a girl, and that
until he had seen that section two agent... it had gone rather
well. He was somewhat surprised that he hadn't made too much of a
fool of himself. For a moment he had actually felt like he could
talk to someone else.
He thought about what Hikari had told him about Touji. He
still felt that he deserved what the other boy had done, but to
know that he felt guilty over it…
It was one of several things that he needed to think about.
As he climbed the steps to the overlook he smiled at the sight
revealed before him. He had always heard how beautiful the
terraces were in this part of the country, his Uncle's farm had
been mostly flat land, and while they had similar constructs--
there was nothing to compare to the scale he was seeing before
him now.
How much work had this taken? How many years? How many
people? It was one of the most magnificent things he had ever
seen, even more so than the Eva. More magnificent even that Tokyo
Three itself. The entire mountainside had been reworked into the
shelf-like levels.
He sat there on the edge of the cliff, and as the wind blew
around him felt himself relax for the first time in weeks. He
knew he couldn't run forever-- he would go back to Misato
tomorrow. He had all night to make up his mind what he would do
after that.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"CHARGE!"
Kensuke raced along the path he had cut in the tall grass,
holding his rifle at ready to fire at the first sign of enemy
troops. His commanding officer blazed on ahead of the unit,
fearlessly leading the assault. As they broke into a clearing,
the enemy opened fire and he watched in horror as the finest
officer he had ever served under fell before a shower of molten
lead. As the rest of the troops made short work of the cowards
who had attacked them, Kensuke dropped to one knee beside his
captain.
"Sir!" he shouted as he saw the extent of the damage from
the gunfire.
"Aida," the man whispered weakly, his mouth trickling blood,
"you must keep going, finish the mission!"
"No!" Kensuke shouted in protest, " I won't leave you like
this!"
His commanding officer tried to laugh, but ended up coughing
as blood seeped into his lungs. His fist curling back, he let
loose with a punch that did not feel like a blow given by a dying
man.
"You fool! Only... The ...mission matt-" with those last
words-- the man gave up the ghost.
At that point Kensuke decided to take a break. He had been
out there all day and he was getting tired. Plus it was almost
time for dinner. He wished he could get Touji to join him for
once, doing all this by himself was beginning to get dull, and a
new perspective would be nice for a change.
Taking one last look at the sunset above, he climbed to his
feet and started to head back to his base camp. As he stood,
however, he saw something a short distance away on the hiking
trail. Readjusting his glasses he took a better look and was
shocked to see the new transfer student walking back toward the
road.
'If I don't do _something_ Hikari will kill me...' he
realized as he waved at the other boy.
"HEY Ikari!" he shouted.
[]====[]
[]====[]
It had taken some fast talking but Kensuke had finally
convinced Shinji to join him for dinner. Shinji had no idea why
Kensuke was out there, much less why the boy was dressed in
camouflage, but the largest surprise was that he had a tent set
up a quarter mile back in the field. He didn't ask why-- at the
moment he was still too tired from his own problems to care. Idly
he wondered why everyone was so eager to have him join them for
meals all the sudden. Kensuke on the other hand was talking
nonstop about everything that he had missed following the battle.
For most of the evening Shinji tuned him out as their dinner
cooked over a campfire, but after awhile, Kensuke reached a topic
that Shinji couldn't ignore.
"Touji was real sorry about that," the other boy told him,
"he told me this morning that his sister chewed his ass off for
doing it, she said that it was your robot that actually saved
her, and all our lives. She's in elementary so I imagine he must
have been even more embarrassed by that than when Hikari chewed
us out."
Shinji couldn't help but smile at the idea of Touji getting
yelled at by a younger girl... and as Kensuke continued on he
though about that. If Touji's sister didn't blame him for what
happened... why did he still feel so badly about it?
Meanwhile Kensuke was still rambling on.
"I like it out here at night-- those Cicadas don't make as
much noise. I can't remember it ever being quiet, but lately it
seems like the things are everywhere, just chirping all over the
place."
"Misato... Misato says that its because the ecosystems are
returning to how they were before Second Impact."
"Under normal circumstances I'd have to make you drop that
subject," Kensuke said with a grin "I think we hear enough about
it in class, but since you mentioned the Goddess I'll let it
slide."
Shinji blinked at this, "Goddess?" he asked hesitantly.
"I really envy you Ikari. Not only do you get to live with
Captain Katsuragi, but you get to pilot the Evangelion!" ignoring
the fact that Shinji's expression darkened slightly at he mention
of the robot, he continued, "Just _once_ I want a chance to get
behind the controls of that thing-- I can't imagine what it must
be like!"
'He's obviously not going to believe the truth...' Shinji
thought as he watched Kensuke mimic a fighter pilot flying a
plane. 'And that's just about Misato, if he knew how she
lived...'
"Its not as great as you think," he told Kensuke, referring
to the Eva, "it's very dangerous, and besides, I think your
mother would worry if you did."
"Oh... don't worry, I don't have one." Kensuke said.
"I'm sorry?"
"A mother, I don't have one, I'm the same as you."
"...How did you know that?" Shinji asked with surprise.
"Oh, well when you first got here I realized you might work
for Nerv and took a peek at your transfer papers. By the way,
food's ready"
"Thanks," Shinji said as Kensuke filled their plates with
the rice he'd been steaming over the campfire, "um can I ask you
something?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Do you do this a lot?"
"Yeah, every other month or so."
"Is it training for guerrilla warfare or something?"
"Oh no," Kensuke said with a laugh, "what could I do with
these toys?" he nodded over at the rack of plastic and wooden
guns, "This is just for fun. I love the military... hey, why
don't you like piloting the Eva? Most kids our age would give an
arm and a leg to do it."
"...Well, it's complicated," Shinji replied, wondering what
he could tell the boy that wouldn't get them both in trouble,
"For one thing, you're linked to it, so when it gets hurt you
feel it."
"Hmmm that makes sense-- I mean there didn't seem to be
enough controls in there. So there's a neural link..."
"That's what doctor Akagi calls it I think. But the worst
part is that every time I go out, someone seems to get hurt."
"But Shinji... it's a war, if we don't fight back-- people
wont just get hurt, they'll die."
"That doesn't mean I have to like it." Shinji said bitterly.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"So then what happened?" Touji asked excitedly, "what else
did he say?"
It was Monday morning and Kensuke was still feeling
depressed. As he relayed the events of the weekend to his friend
he couldn't help but feel sorry for Shinji Ikari, the kid was in
a situation far, far beyond his control.
"He didn't say anything else that night," Kensuke said, "
he'd been out all day and was tired so we both turned in."
"Well that sucks," Touji said, "so he wasn't training at
all then?"
"I'm not going to repeat myself Touji-- this is what you get
for blowing off my camping invitations all the time," he paused a
moment then continued his tale, "Anyway as I was _saying_ that's
when we turned in. The next morning I'm just coming around when I
hear someone outside the tent. I opened the flap and there--
right in front of me are three Nerv Security officers in full-on
MiB uniform. I didn't even have time to flinch before Shinji
steps past me and stares the first guy down. I couldn't believe
it, he didn't even seem to be scared at all!"
"So the goon starts talking then, and he says 'you are
Shinji Ikari, correct?' and Shinji just nods like he doesn't even
care. Then the guy starts quoting... let me think, um ' In
accordance with clause eight of the Regulations for Public
Security, we will now take you to Headquarters. Understand?' and
Shinji just say 'yes' and goes with them."
"Didn't you even try to help him?" Touji asked, shocked that
his friend had given up so easily, "you just stood there and let
them take him away?"
"That's easy for you to say, they were Nerv intelligence--
trained professionals! I wouldn't have stood a chance."
"Don't you have any balls at all?" Touji demanded.
As he heard a couple of the girls in back whispering to one
another about that little outburst, Kensuke rolled his eyes.
Touji would never make it in a military situation-- he had no
sense of subtlety whatsoever. If he ever came under fire he would
probably charge in and get himself shot instead of thinking his
way through it. To that end he decided to enlighten his friend to
the better part of valor.
"Only an idiot fights when there is no chance of winning.
Balls have nothing to do with it."
About that time Hikari strolled in from some errand or
another and asked what was new. As Kensuke told her she smiled...
up until he reached the end of his tale.
"So he's been taken back in then?" she asked as she sat down
in one of the chairs nearby.
"It seems so," Kensuke replied, "I hope he's not in too much
trouble."
"From the way he was acting the other day I think he might
be." She told them about her meeting with Shinji earlier the same
morning and how he had run off when he saw the security officer.
As she finished, the three of them grew silent. It wasn't like
there was much they could do for him at the moment. None of them
had any way to get in contact with him outside Captain Katsuragi,
and she was most likely working.
As the teacher entered class and everyone went through the
morning ritual of standing and bowing, Hikari realized that there
might be one way to find out.
[]====[]
[]====[]
For the first time she could remember-- Hikari hurried
through her lunch. Once she was done she started roaming the
school grounds. She didn't know if she was on the right track or
not... Kensuke was _usually_ reliable on these things, but he
also had a nasty habit of letting his imagination get away with
him. Her current idea revolved around a thin hope that he had
told the truth about something that had happened earlier that
year. Particularly a funny little story about Rei Ayanami.
Apparently she had dropped her ID once, and before she
picked it up he had caught a glimpse of the Nerv logo on it. His
theory that Shinji was working for Nerv had been based off his
earlier one that Rei did. It wasn't the most believable story she
had ever heard, but with everything that had happened lately, she
thought it was at least worth a try.
Also, it gave her the excuse she had been looking for to
talk with Rei.
She finally found the albino girl sitting on a bench not too
far from the escalators. She was sitting in the shade and reading
a book. Hikari smiled a bit, if Rei _was_ working for Nerv then
she and Shinji had a great deal more in common than she had
thought. She would have to approach this about the same way she
had with Shinji-- which meant not giving up when they tried to
back out of the conversation.
'Well' she thought, 'I can't just stand here all day.' And
with that she stepped off the escalator platform and began
walking toward Rei Ayanami.
"Good afternoon, Rei." She said pleasantly.
Rei looked up briefly and Hikari smiled. This smile fell,
however, as Rei went right back to her book.
This obviously wasn't going to be easy... Hikari walked
over and asked if the spot beside her was taken. When Rei didn't
respond to that-- she went ahead and sat down beside her.
Without looking up, Rei turned the page in her book.
'Oookay...' Hikari thought, 'maybe she _isn't_ just shy like
Ikari.'
She wasn't about to just give up so she tried once more to
open a conversation.
"Rei, I need to ask you about something." This finally
seemed to catch the girl's attention and she finally turned to
look at her. It was still just as disturbing to have those red
eyes fixed upon her, but Hikari stood her ground. Apparently
realizing that Hikari wasn't going to go away, Rei spoke up.
"Yes Representative Horaki?"
"You know Shinji Ikari right?"
"Yes" Rei said simply.
"Um... do you know when he will be coming back to school?"
Hikari asked hopefully.
"I do not have that information," Rei replied.
"Oh..." talking with Rei was obviously going to take some
thinking, the girl seemed to answer with phrases that
deliberately gave as little information as possible. "Well could
I ask a favor?"
"Why?"
'Ok... how in the world do I answer this?' Hikari thought.
After a moment of pondering this she tried again. "Some of
us were worried about him and I was hoping that you would know
when he was coming back, or if he wasn't-- where we could go see
him to say goodbye."
"I see." Rei said, then turned back to her book.
A few moments of uncomfortable silence later, Hikari
realized that Rei was not going to say anymore and it was
unlikely that she would reply to any more of her questions or
comments. With a defeated sigh, Hikari said goodbye and went back
upstairs to the classroom.
'Well it was worth a try.' She thought as she looked back at
Rei.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Later that evening as Rei Ayanami was following Dr Akagi and
Commander Ikari to another testing lab-- she listened to their
conversation.
"So the Third Child is leaving tomorrow..." Dr Akagi said,
she seemed to be disappointed in this event, or perhaps it had
more to do with the fact that Commander Ikari was not only
allowing it but seemed relieved in it.
"We will reconfigure Unit One's core data for Rei," he said,
not bothering to look back at the woman he addressed-- the woman
Rei knew he was having relations with beyond work. " Regardless
of the results of Unit Zero's reactivation, we'll start with that
Unit."
There was a long silence and Rei thought back to her
activation test with Unit Zero. Something had gone wrong and the
Eva had broken free of control. She had been injured, and so they
had called for Pilot Ikari. She vaguely remembered seeing him
during the attack as she fell to the floor. She had been nowhere
close to proper condition for battle, but she would have gone
anyway.
She did not understand the commander's reasons for calling
her out that day, but it had been an order. She had even less
understanding if Pilot Ikari's change of mind in the matter of
piloting. Perhaps he did not know it had been an order?
As she thought of this she heard the commander speak again
"According to the Marduk Organization's report, the Fourth
Child has yet to be found."
Dr Akagi seemed to ponder this for awhile before
responding. "So we can't get anymore pilots as of yet."
As the escalator reached the top, she thought back to
Representative Horaki's visit at school earlier that day.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Hikari had just finished brushing her teeth and was about
to turn in when the phone rang. Jumping slightly as she was
directly beside it, and panicking a bit at the late hour of the
call, she grabbed the phone and answered in a soft voice.
"Horaki residence"
The other end was silent.
"Hello?" she asked, wondering if it was a prank call.
"Representative Horaki." A familiar voice said from the
other end.
"Rei?" she asked with no small measure of surprise
"Pilot Ikari will be leaving Tokyo Three at fourteen-hundred
hours tomorrow afternoon." With that, the line went dead and
Hikari was left there looking at the phone, trying to convince
herself that Rei Ayanami had really been on the other end.
[]====[]
[]====[]
They hadn't even let him say goodbye to Misato.
He didn't know if she even wanted to see him right now, but
he would have at least liked to say goodbye to her. She had been
kind to him during his stay. That might have been part of why he
was so nervous around her, he was... unused to kindness. His
Uncle had mostly just tolerated his presence and ignored him when
he was around. Other than the music lessons the man had paid for-
- Shinji couldn't remember ever having much to do with him if the
older man had been able to avoid it.
Misato on the other hand had not only seemed to enjoy
having him around, but had gone out of her way to try and make
him feel at home.
Not that _he_ had tried very hard. It had just been that
Shinji couldn't really believe that she was actually happy he was
there. At first he tried to convince himself that she just wanted
someone to do the chores, but even if he _did_ do most of them,
it was just too farfetched.
She had been so disappointed with him. He didn't know how
he could have explained it all to her when he still didn't have
it figured out.
"If you hate all this so much; just leave!" she had said
"Just forget about Eva and us and go back to where you came
from!"
He had been selfish. He was only worried about himself, he
knew that on one level, but he still couldn't stay. He didn't
have anything to stay for. Everyone at school would be disgusted
with him for running, but he really didn't know anyone there so
it didn't matter. No one at Nerv would mind. Ayanami was almost
healed, and she could pilot the Eva. They really didn't need him
anymore.
'Just who are you trying to convince?' he asked himself as
he climbed out of the car and into the light. As his eyes
adjusted, he saw something off to his right and turned just in
time to catch the bag he had left in Kensuke's tent as it was
tossed to him.
It took three blinks of his eyes to convince himself that he
wasn't seeing things, and even then he didn't believe it until
Touji spoke up.
"Hey Ikari! Ya left these behind."
He, Kensuke and Hikari were standing there on the steps.
What were they doing there? He turned back to the guard, who
nodded and took a couple steps back
Before he could even slow his thoughts down enough to ask
anything, Kensuke tuned to Touji and pushed him forward.
"Well, do it!" Hikari said sternly from behind the taller
boy.
Touji looked back at the two with much annoyance before
tuning to Shinji. He had a grim look of determination in his
eyes. Shinji couldn't even begin to think of what he wanted to
say. Finally his unspoken questions were answered.
"Look Ikari... I'm sorry I hit you. You have to hit me
back."
Shinji's eyes widened, and he looked to the other two, who
seemed just as surprised as he was at Touji's words.
"B-but I can't do that!" he said in a panic, as he
unconsciously took a step back.
Touji's eyes never wavered. He stood tall and spoke up again
"you have to, otherwise I wont be able to let this go."
"But..." Shinji said, completely befuddled at the taller
boys request.
Meanwhile Kensuke had decided the entire situation was
highly amusing. Stepping forward and leaning around Touji
slightly, he spoke up with a grin on his face.
"He can be really embarrassing huh? But if it puts an end to
this whole thing, you ought to go ahead and do it."
Behind him the Nerv Security officers were checking their
watches. As the seconds ticked by Touji frowned. Hikari was
muttering to herself that she didn't know either of the boys with
her.
"Hurry up, you don't have much more time!"
"...Okay, but only once," Shinji said, resigning himself to
getting it over with.
"Good, lets do this." Touji said as he planted his feet and
braced himself.
Shinji set his bag down and drew back. As his hand started
arcing forward however Touji shouted for him to stop. Confused,
Shinji froze in mid swing and looked to the taller boy for an
explanation.
"Don't hold back," Touji said with a determined growl.
Shinji nodded, and for the first time in his life, pulled
back and threw a real punch. He felt the impact all the way up in
his shoulder as Touji stumbled back. His hand stung a little, but
he couldn't honestly say the experience had been a bad one. In
fact, as Touji regained his balance and touched his cheek-- there
was a slight grin on his face.
Behind him, Hikari and Kensuke were shaking their heads in
wonder that Touji had actually done that.
"How did you know I'd be here?" Shinji asked suddenly.
"Once I found out you were leaving," Hikari said, "it wasn't
too hard to figure out where."
"Yeah, " Kensuke added, " we've seen a lot of classmates
leave lately."
"Since you're leaving..." Touji said, still rubbing his
cheek," We'll probably be going too before long. I can't really
blame you, we all saw how you suffered in the Eva," his
expression sobered suddenly, but it was mostly mock seriousness,
"but if anyone _does_ try and blame you, I'll give 'em a boot to
the head"
Shinji didn't know what to say. They were really sorry that
he was leaving. He stood there for a moment slightly shaking his
head and trying to come to terms with that fact. As he stood
there, Hikari stepped up to him. To the three boys' surprise--
and possibly the MiBs, although it was impossible to tell-- she
gave Shinji a hug.
"Thank you for saving our lives" she whispered in his
ear. Shinji found that at that moment couldn't move, or even
speak. Coherent thought was also an activity that he found
difficult, but he did manage a nod as she stepped away.
Before he could try and say anything, the Security officer
placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's time to go." He said as he led Shinji away from the
three.
As he and the two guards made their way into the train
station, Shinji saw the three following them to the base of the
stairs. Panic swept over him. Had he failed them? Was he doing
the right thing? Was he really absolved from the guilt? No, he
had to take responsibility!
As he rounded the corner at the top he pulled back from the
two guards and managed to lean around the corner as they pulled
back.
"I'm the one who deserved to be hit, not you!" He shouted as
the two guards tried to restrain him, "I'm mean, cowardly,
dishonest... and a wimp!"
Before he could say any more, his guards managed to get a
decent hold on him and haul him back up the stairs. Down below,
Hikari, Touji and Kensuke watched this, completely stunned. They
didn't know what to say to that.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Not very long afterwards as the three sat and waited for
Shinji's train to arrive Kensuke spoke up.
"That was your big plan?"
"Huh?" Touji muttered, having been startled from some deep
thought or another.
" 'You gotta hit me back'... this was your brilliant plan to
apologize?"
Touji frowned and looked indignant. "Well yeah, what was
wrong with it?"
"If I have to tell you, then you will have learned nothing--
you'll have simply been told" Kensuke said sagely.
"Well at least I didn't 'glomp' the kid like the class rep
here did!" Touji said under his breath. Unfortunately he did not
say this low enough and he was immediately hit on the head by a
thrown shoe courtesy of Hikari Horaki.
Kensuke chuckled at that and shook his head, "If you had-- I
would have been mad that I didn't bring my camera. That footage
would have made me a mint."
"Stop it you two." Hikari said softly, without much
conviction. She was looking up at the station sadly. The train
had just arrived.
"Hey Hikari, you look more gloomy than Shinji did. What's
wrong?"
Just when he though Hikari wasn't going to answer she spoke
up. "We never really had a chance to be his friends, I wonder if
he had anyone back where he 's going that could be one."
"I don't know," Kensuke said regretfully. Before he could
say anymore however, a blue car rocketed around a corner just as
the train pulled out of the station. As they looked on, it
screeched to a halt and Captain Katsuragi climbed out, looking at
the departing train with sadness.
"Hey! It's the babe!" Touji said excitedly, and would have
received another shoe to the head had Hikari not seen something
inside the station as she stood up.
Touji and Kensuke's eyes were riveted on the Captain, and
until she looked up at the station itself and her jaw dropped
open, they didn't even see what Hikari had been looking at. As
their eyes followed the path of the two girls amazed stares--
they saw Shinji standing at the terminal looking back at the
Captain.
After a long silence, as Shinji began to make his way back
to the front of the building. Touji and Kensuke heard her whisper
something--seemingly in response to his decision to remain.
"He didn't run."
[]==================[]
To be continued...
[]==================[]
Authors incoherent babbling
Whew! Well there's part two, and thankfully from here out we
wont be running so much off the scripts and episodes. Oh as I
said before some events such as the Angel attacks wont be changed
much, but the stuff that happens in Shinji, Hikari, and Misato's
lives will be altered by this. Expect a lot of Hikari's family, a
lot more of Touji and Kensuke, more classroom chatroom antics
(I'm too much of a chat addict to pass this up) and in general
just more of life in Tokyo Three.
As far as Touji and Hikari, well I want to get something
straight. While I do believe Hikari was fond of Touji, I don't
believe her interest was romantic until sometime after the
halfway point of the series. This is mostly just guesswork mind
you and my way of working it into the story. Apparently the class
has known Rei since at least 1st grade (according to the literal
translation series scripts) it is not too much of a stretch to
say that Kensuke and Touji have know Hikari that long.
Hotwire
Chain Lightning Studios
http://hotwire182.freeyellow.com/chainlightning.html
[]====[]
[]====[]
are the property of Gainax. They are used without permission
and we beg the kind and benevolent creators of the glorious
show not to sue us. ^_^
Chain Lightning Studios Presents
Together We Stand
By T. L. Webb
And that is how I know
When I try to get through
On the telephone to you
There'll be nobody home
Nobody Home
Pink Floyd, The Wall
[]===============[]
Book: 1 Part: 2
[]===============[]
It was raining, again.
It had been raining a lot lately, and this was after almost
two months of drout. The meteorologists had all but given up on
trying to predict what the weather would do next. Ever since
Second Impact the seasons had none nuts and the entire planet's
weather patterns had been sent on a haywire series of changes.
What all this meant was that for the past few years Tokyo Three
and the rest of Japan had been subjected to almost random changes
in weather and climate. Almost all of mankind's meteorological
knowledge was based on decades of studying patterns in the
planet's weather. With the entire ecosystem in havoc, those
patterns had been shattered and the weathermen were starting from
scratch.
As far as Kensuke Aida was concerned it was no big deal. if
the weather got too bad it would simply make his weekend plans
all the more exciting. He was all packed up for his trip and all
that was keeping him was his promise to Hikari.
He and Touji Suzuhara were still in hock with her over a
couple of little incidents earlier that week. Apparently Hikari
had seen their little meeting with their class's newest student
Shinji Ikari and had not approved of Touji's welcoming gift in
the slightest. Having known Touji most of his life Kensuke
couldn't really say he had been surprised at his friends
behavior, but he didn't have to like it.
Personally Kensuke was embarrassed by Touji's response,
which had been to hit Shinji in the face. Touji was a nice guy,
but when it came to things and people he loved his brain simply
stopped functioning and instinct took over. It wasn't the best
way to deal with the situation Kensuke knew, and he also knew
just how cruel it must have seemed to Shinji at the time. His own
response had been rather pathetic and Hikari was still angry with
the both of them for that and the other little incident later
that day.
At the moment it was the former that concerned the two.
As they walked through the downpour, Kensuke found himself
rambling on about his favorite subject. For a self proclaimed
'military nut' living in Tokyo Three, this could only be related
to Nerv.
"So what I think," he told Touji as they walked into the
apartment complex's entrance, "is that it's not just a robot."
"Run this past me again?" Touji asked as he wiped his feet
on the provided mat.
"Well when I got my stuff back, I ran a file recovery
program on the disks and got a little bit of the footage back."
"I still don't know how that thing survived"
"It's a full environmental model. Don't you remember the
underwater film I made at the beach last semester?"
"Oh yeah... I particularly remember you getting in trouble
for the shots of the girls."
"Hey, don't forget you got a third of the money we made off
that tape for coming up with the idea. Anyway I took a closer
look at the frames when the Eva pulled that huge knife, and I
think that the hands had some kind of glove-- because those whip
things burnt some of it away."
"Right, and this is where you're loosing me. Why does a
robot the size of a skyscraper need a glove?"
"Ugh...That sounds like the setup to a bad joke, but to
answer your question-- I'm not so sure it's a robot at all! The
footage isn't clear, but I think there's a _hand_ under that
glove."
"Well duh, of course it's a hand."
"No, no, no, I mean like yours and mine!"
"Wait a second... are you saying that the thing is alive?
Like some kind of monster in armor?"
"I don't know, but that's what I suspect."
"I don't know where you keep coming up with this kind of
stuff, Kensuke. It sounds like something out of... I dunno...
Ultraman or something."
"You may mock all you want, but I have the proof on tape."
"Right, the same one that Nerv will probably lock you away
forever for just owning."
"Well there is that... what apartment number was it again?"
"I think it's on the eleventh floor."
"Well then... let's get this over with. I can't imagine
Shinji's gonna be too happy to see us... well to see _you_
anyway"
"Oh shut up."
"Okay then, but one more point on that subject. Just what
are you planning on saying to him anyway? He's not going to
forgive you that easily for pounding him into the pavement like
that."
"Don't worry, I think I have an idea."
"Touji, its when you get these ideas that I _start_ to
worry."
"Relax, I think this will work."
"You gonna let me in on the big plan?"
"Naw, you'll just think its lame and try and talk me out of
it."
"Well someone's gotta try to keep you out of trouble until
you learn some tact."
"Tact is just not saying true stuff, I'll pass."
"... Remind me again why I put up with you?"
[]====[]
[]====[]
Misato Katsuragi was worried.
She had been afraid Shinji might pull something like this
sooner or later, but she frankly wasn't expecting it this early.
From the beginning she had known that Shinji might not be up to
the stress his position as pilot would bring upon him. He was
shy, meek and polite-- generally a pleasant person once you got
him talking, but that was also the problem. A meek, shy person
didn't make for the best pilot material. She would be glad when
the Second Child and Unit Two arrived; at least then they would
have a pilot who _wanted_ to be there.
It was strange that Shinji had such a remarkable talent for
Eva. If his training was ever completed-- Ritsuko was predicting
that his skills would eventually surpass even the Second Child.
That made his unease with the position all the more tragic. Had
they found him earlier and had the proper time to prepare him...
Shinji might have had an easier time. Unfortunately that had not
been the case.
Shinji had arrived literally at the last moment as the Third
Angel began its attack. The timing could have only been worse if
he hadn't arrived at all. Rei's accident shortly before that had
necessitated their calling him in. She found it all to be a
little too convenient, but Shinji had been able to synch with
Unit One the first time in and despite enormous obstacles he had
won his first fight over Tokyo Three.
The victory had been little consolation to him however. He
didn't want to be there. He didn't want to pilot. He didn't want
to be anywhere near his father.
Gendou Ikari... if it hadn't been for the general
resemblance and a similar lack of social skills, Misato would
hardly have believed the two were related. The Commander was...
cold. That was the best way to describe it. He hardly seemed to
display any emotion save an occasional smug amusement when things
went as he planed... which was often. He hid everything behind
those glasses and his favored sitting position, which placed his
hands steepled before his face. The bridge crew had a bet going
with her that Ikari would never assume his seat in the command
center without sitting like that... so far she was making a few
hundred yen with each battle.
Despite the fact that he was making her drinking money, she
could say with total honesty that she didn't like him.
She could also say that when it came down to it, Nerv needed
his ruthlessness to stay on top of all the bureaucratic nonsense
they had to deal with.
That didn't mean she had to like him, or the way he treated
his son. If anyone were to blame for the current situation she
would have to say it was the Commander. Shinji had come to Tokyo
Three under false pretenses. He had believed that his father was
attempting a second chance for them to live together, that his
father wanted him again. She hadn't pressed Shinji for
information, but apparently they'd had a fight three years before
and Shinji hadn't seen the man since.
She wondered whether Shinji would have come had he known the
truth from the beginning.
He might have, but then again... it was difficult to tell
with Shinji. He had at first refused to climb into Unit One, and
possibly would have left had they not played a trump card on him.
One she was glad she had no part in setting up.
Rei Ayanami's injuries prevented her from being an acceptable
candidate to pilot the Eva for the time being; hence Shinji's
arrival. Bringing her out on that stretcher... rubbing Shinji's
nose in his decision like that was a cold-hearted move that only
Commander Ikari could have come up with. The fact that it worked
didn't make her feel any better.
Shinji had stayed on, but the poor kid had continued to pilot
under a growing cloud of guilt and regret that was painfully
obvious in his manner and attitude. Misato had seen the current
situation approaching like a runaway train, but she just hadn't
been able to think of a way to prevent it. If Shinji honestly
felt the way he said he had after the fourth angel then wouldn't
it be better for him if he was allowed out?
Now he had run away.
Perhaps it was for the best. It was a shame that Section Two
didn't see it that way.
She was thinking of this and polishing off her third beer of
the morning when the doorbell rang.
[]====[]
[]====[]
They had arrived at the apartment that was listed as
Shinji's and had barely rung the doorbell when a gorgeous woman
they had seen once before flung open the door with a wild look in
her eyes.
"Shinji?" she cried in a panic before she realized that it
wasn't the boy in question.
Touji and Kensuke could only stand there in surprise. The
last time they had seen this woman had been after the incident
with the robot. She had been the one who spent an hour yelling at
them and explaining in painfully graphic detail what would happen
if they ever did it again. She had been gorgeous when she was
angry, and was even more so now.
Recovering more quickly than his companion, Kensuke politely
corrected her.
"Please excuse us for the intrusion Ma'am, we're Shinji's
classmates Aida and Suzuhara."
The woman, who Kensuke now remembered to be Captain
Katsuragi, went through several facial expressions in less than a
second-- this ranged form concerned, to confused, to relieved, to
angry, and finally coming to rest with a happy-carefree
expression. The smile that came to rest on her face immediately
reduced the two young men to putty in her hands.
"Oh? Aida and Suzuhara?"
Kensuke began to reply in an affirmative when Touji cut him
off with a stiff response.
"Yes Ma'am, I am Suzuhara!" He said as if he were in boot
camp speaking to a drill sergeant. Not that Kensuke could blame
him, she was quite the babe-- and that smile was more than enough
to send a guy's brains flying out the window. Had he not been so
amused by Touji's response he would probably be mimicking it…
well more so than he was already.
"Hmmm," Miss Katsuragi said thoughtfully, " weren't you the
ones who got into Unit One's entry plug the other day?"
"Yes ma'am, we are very sorry for causing so much trouble
for you mam," Touji replied as rigidly as before, " Ikari hasn't
been to school since then and we came by to see how he was
doing."
Misato chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, Kensuke
thought it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. "I see,"
she told them, "Shinji... he's... well, at the Nerv training
center right now."
Had he not been so completely smitten by Misato Katsuragi
Kensuke would have noticed how unconvincing this sounded.
However, at the moment he was experiencing a common condition
males must endure when the blood flow is diverted from the brain
to other parts of anatomy-- that of impaired coherent thought.
Touji was still standing at complete attention and bowing at
every other word, Kensuke on the other hand was a bit more alert.
While he was slightly disappointed that Shinji's wasn't home, but
somehow he managed to remember another item Hikari had charged
them with.
"I see," he said, "Well ma'am if you could give these to him
when you see him we would be in your debt, they're the printouts
that were building up on his desk."
"Oh, well sorry for all the trouble, thank you." She said as
she took the printouts in question.
"Well we'll be going now, say hi to Shinji for us" Kensuke
said pleasantly as he tried not too ooglle the Captain too
obviously.
Misato flashed the two another brilliant smile as she shut
the door.
"Ok, I will," she told them, "thanks again, buh bye"
[]====[]
[]====[]
As the door shut Kensuke looked at Touji. Touji looked back
at his friend and they both let out a breath they had been
holding in identical attempts to suck in their guts and puff up
their chests.
"Well this is an unexpected turn of events," Kensuke said in
wonder.
"She was a total babe!" Touji agreed in a similarly awed
voice.
"You realize that... Shinji lives with her?"
" I can't believe it," Touji said as they walked back to the
elevators, "how did he end up with such a gorgeous... this is
just... hey did you hear something?"
"Hmm? Probably just someone upstairs dropped something. But
back to the important part, she 's a heavy hitter in Nerv!"
"Wait a sec... you're right for a change! That was _her_
voice in the cockpit!"
"Exactly! And --lets not forget-- the most humiliating hour
I think either of us have ever had to endure."
"I was trying to forget most of that, thanks."
"How do you think Shinji managed that? I mean he gets to
live with… my God she 's beautiful!"
"Down boy! Let's not forget that now we still have to
explain to Hikari that Shinji wasn't there. Think she'll ever buy
the truth?"
"Let me handle that. You concentrate on your apology to
Shinji."
"I leave it in your capable hands Kensuke."
"Keep that philosophy in mind and you will go far my friend"
"Oh get over yourself." Touji said with a laugh as they
walked back out in to the rain soaked streets.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Later that night, as Misato was about to climb into the tub,
she heard her phone ring. Jumping back out of the bathroom, she
stumbled over a pile of instant food boxes and just barely
managed to grab the phone before the machine picked it up. Hoping
against hope, she greeted the other person on the line, praying
that it was Shinji.
"Katsuragi residence!" Misato said with forced cheerfulness.
It wasn't him; the voice on the other end belonged to a
young girl-- and sounded vaguely familiar.
"Hello, Miss Katsuragi, my name is Hikari Horaki-- I'm one
of Shinji Ikari's classmates. Is he there, please?"
'What the hell is the deal today?' Misato thought as she
answered.
"Sorry, Shinji is at the Nerv training facilities, he won't
be back for awhile."
'At least it doesn't sound fake this time' she thought.
"Oh, I see... well, I needed to speak with you also, Miss
Katsuragi... if you have the time that is." The young girl
politely responded.
Misato was suspicious, but tried not to let it come out in
her voice. "Of course Miss Horaki, what's on your mind?" she said
cheerfully.
"Well, you know that couple of other students and myself
were the ones that got caught up in the fight the other day," she
said with an almost audible blush, "and the thing is that I saw
Shinji after the fight... I feel bad that I didn't try to at
least talk to him after that. I want to let him know I'm sorry
but I don't want to seem like I'm just trying to suck up to him
because he's a Nerv Pilot. He got enough of that when the class
found out."
Misato wanted to believe what she was hearing, but she had
believed for too long that if something sounded too good to be
true-- then it usually was. "Well I don't know when I'll see him
again, would you like me to pass along anything?"
The girl sighed. " I don't know, I want to, but I can't
think of anything that wouldn't sound phony. I've been meaning to
talk with him for a week, but my duties as Class rep have kept me
so tied up that I've hardly had time to even _think_ about
anything outside of school."
"Hmm," Misato said thoughtfully, "well... speaking from
experience, when you have a stressful job its imperative to keep
a time of your day or week open to forget about work and leave
all your worries behind. You know... just a chance to let loose
and relax."
"I wish I had the time, I think I've already overscheduled
myself. But I'll bear that in mind Miss Katsuragi."
"Oh call me Misato, I don't mind."
"If you insist..."
Misato could tell the girl was unused to this-- younger
people were always thrown off balance when she insisted on being
on a fist name basis.
"So tell me," Misato said, now less suspicious of the girl,
" what's Shinji like in class? He hardly ever talks about his
day."
The girl sighed. "In his case that might be because there
isn't much to talk _about_. He keeps to himself and hardly ever
talks to anyone. To be honest that's part of the reason I'm so
worried about him. He hasn't given himself a chance to make any
friends and now with everyone knowing he's a Pilot..."
"It's going to be even harder," Misato finished. She shook
her head sadly, "Hedgehogs dilemma..." she added softly.
"I'm sorry?"
"Oh, nothing, just something someone said the other day.
Listen... when I see Shinji I'll let him know you were worried
about him. In the meantime I want you to keep something in mind.
Shinji hasn't had many friends in his life and he doesn't really
know how to act around people. Just be patient with him ok?"
"Thank you Miss Katsu- I mean Misato. Oh, one more thing,
did a couple of boys stop by your home today? The ones from the
incident I mean."
"Yes, Kensuke Aida and Touji Suzuhara I believe."
"Good, I just wanted to make sure. Thanks again."
"Anytime Hikari, you take care of yourself okay? G'nite!"
As Misato hung up and got into the warm bath, she let out a
sigh. 'Shinji, you have the worst sense of timing I have ever
seen...' she thought as she settled into the steaming water,
'please come back.'
[]====[]
[]====[]
He had been on the move the entire day and he was exhausted.
As Shinji sat in the theater, he tried to let himself relax.
Even when he had been on the train he hadn't been resting. It had
been the only place he had been able hide at the time. He knew
that there were several well-trained security officers assigned
to keep an eye on him, and while he was confident they had lost
track of him hours ago-- he had no illusions of avoiding them
forever.
But for the time being he could at least try. Staying on the
train all day had been the first idea, and it seemed to have
worked. He figured that while one of the first places the spooks
checked would have been the stations, they might not check the
actual cars themselves. He had bet on them merely watching the
crowds boarding and exiting. So he had figured if he stayed on
board, they might not find him.
That had been around seven in the morning and it was well
past midnight now, so he assumed it had worked. Eventually the
train had gone out of service and he had to leave. After that he
had wandered Tokyo Three for a few hours before coming across the
all night theater where he was now sitting.
He just didn't know what he was going to do. He was going to
be in a lot of trouble once they found him, he knew that much. It
was what would happen after that which had him frightened
however.
He didn't want to get into the Eva again. When they took him
back they would make him. It terrified him... every time the Eva
was hurt he could feel it, and several times he had almost been
killed. But that wasn't the worst of it.
The first time out something had happened... something he
didn't remember.
He remembered the angel picking the Eva up, and the impact
as its hand weapon struck the armor of the Eva's head again and
again, but once it had broken through, everything was a blur.
They'd told him much later that the Eva reactivated and had gone
into a berserker rage. It had ripped into the Angel like a thing
possessed and had nearly succeeded in tearing it to pieces before
the enemy had self-destructed. When the dust settled the Eva
stood victorious amongst the wreckage.
Moments later he remembered the lights in the Entryplug
turning back on. He remembered the screens coming back to life
and a dull throbbing ache above his right eye. He had been
looking around, trying to get his bearings when something dark
passed in front of the view. As the dust cleared around him he
had looked out the viewer at a building beside the Eva. The
reflection in the glass showed that the top portion of the Eva's
head armor had fallen away, revealing a face beneath. His memory
of just what it looked like was unclear, but he did finally
remember its eye opening and seemingly staring back at him.
That had been when he passed out.
That he had lost control of such a dangerous weapon
horrified him. Just how much control did he have in the first
place? Even more frightening-- was it the Eva that had really
gone wild? After the fourth Angel he was no longer as certain.
During that battle he had lost control of _himself_ then and it
disturbed him to know that he was capable of that level of rage.
What would happen if it occurred again? Would he have the control
necessary to stop before anyone got hurt? Or worse yet, what if
it happened outside the Eva? What if _he_ hurt someone?
He had never been comfortable with the responsibility and
guilt, and each time he climbed into that thing it made things
worse. How could he keep doing it when he could barely stand it
now?
Suddenly-- a movement within the theater snapped him back to
reality. Someone was moving a few rows down. As his eyes swam
back into focus, Shinji saw that it was a young couple. He hadn't
seen them come in, and other than some guy sleeping up front he
hadn't known anyone else was there.
He heard a giggle drift up and realized that the two were
kissing. Shinji had envied other people for many things in his
life. Some people he envied the relationship with their parents,
sometimes it was the ease with which they dealt with other
people, or the fearlessness they showed in the face of failure.
As he watched the two making out several seats down, he felt a
fresh wave of jealousy sweep over him.
He hadn't had many friends in his life, just a few
acquaintances when he was younger, and he'd never had anything
even resembling a girlfriend. Until a year or two ago he hadn't
even considered it. It struck him suddenly that these two were
obviously closer to one another than he had ever felt to anyone
in his life.
A scowl crossing his face, he gathered his things and
wandered out into the lobby. Looking around, he quickly found a
secluded bench hidden by a snack machine and curled up on it to
get some sleep. As he turned to the wall to block some of the
light, he found himself thinking about the couple inside. What
would it be like to have someone like that? Someone who he could
be open and honest with? Someone he could actually trust?
'Shut up' he told himself, 'why would anyone want a coward
like me anyway?'
After a while he fell into a restless sleep.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Hikari woke up from her nightmare with a start. She was
covered in sweat and her breathing was rapid. While she tried to
calm down, she mentally cussed out Kensuke and Touji for getting
her mixed up in the battle. She hadn't had nightmares for years,
and now she was having them every other night. They all ended the
same too-- a giant purple hand would fall from the sky and this
time it wouldn't miss...
Knowing that it was unlikely that she would be able to get
back to sleep, she showered and decided to take Misato's advice
to spend some time for herself. Dressing and leaving a note for
her sisters she stepped outside and started into town.
She didn't know where she was going, but she didn't mind;
she just wanted to get away for an hour or two and reflect on the
past week. Her conversation with Misato had gone even better than
she had planed and she felt she had a chance with getting her
friends and Shinji to put everything behind them. She hoped
Shinji got back from training soon, she needed to let him know
that Touji and Kensuke weren't like the poor first impression he
had received of them.
As she wandered around town, the sun started to rise in the
distance, and a rosy tint took hold of the sky. Standing at the
outskirts of one of Tokyo Three's parks, she leaned against a
rail and watched the sky grow brighter. She was so caught up in
this that she almost missed the sound of rapid footfalls behind
her.
Turning, she was just in time to see Shinji run around a
corner and in her direction. Had she not turned and taken a step
back too see who it was, they might have missed one another
entirely. As it was he was in such a panic that he did miss her
and had she not shouted his name, he most likely would have run
right past.
Hearing someone call his name, he slowed to a stop and his
frightened expression dissolved into confusion as he saw her
waving from the rail.
He stood there across the street for several moments and she
saw his hand twitch slightly. Finally he seemed to reach a
dissension and walked over to greet her.
"Good morning Miss Horaki."
"Morning Shinji, no need to be so formal." She replied--
smiling as she remembered his guardian saying almost the same
thing to _her_.
"Oh… okay then. Good morning Hikari."
"That's better. So what brings you out here so early
Shinji?"
His face immediately changed from a look of shy hesitation
to a cold mask that she couldn't read at all. He muttered
something that sounded like "nothing" and she decided that this
topic might not be the best to start out with.
Changing tracks she asked how his training at Nerv was
going. This went even worse as he lowered his head and actually
backed away.
'Think Hikari,' she told herself ' _something_ has gotta
get him interested enough to say more than three words' she knew
she had to say something quick-- he looked like he was about to
run away.
"Hey Shinji, I was about to go get some breakfast, want to
join me?" she said, not knowing what else to try.
He considered that for a moment, then finally nodded. "If
it's not too much of an imposition..."
"Not at all, breakfast is no fun if there's no one to share
it with-- at least that's what my mom always used to say."
[]====[]
[]====[]
"Shinji, we've been missing you at school," she said later
as they ate, "how much longer do you think your training session
will last?"
"Training?" he asked with slight confusion.
"Captain Katsuragi told me that you were off at one of the
training facilities."
"Oh," he said with a nod, as if what she had just told him
had filled in a piece of a puzzle, "when did you talk with
Misato?"
"I called her last night to see if Touji and Kensuke had
delivered your paperwork like I asked them."
"Kensuke, I remember from class, but who's Touji?" he asked
as he reached for his water.
"Um..." Hikari started, then decided it would be best to
just tell him the whole thing. "He's the other guy who got into
the Eva with us."
Shinji almost choked on his drink, as it was he barely
managed to keep from spraying it everywhere. She could see in his
eyes how confused he was.
"W-why did he go with Kensuke?" he asked slightly
suspiciously.
"Well for one thing they're friends, and for another he
feels bad for what happened."
Shinji shook his head. "There was no way you could know that
the Eva would fall like that, it wasn't any of your faults."
"No... not that, the other thing."
Shinji's eyes widened and he looked at her closely "what do
you mean?"
"I-I saw what happened between the buildings." Hikari said
nervously, she knew that guys had a weird sense of pride about
such things.
Shinji bowed his head and she couldn't see his eyes. She was
starting to seriously dislike it when he did that-- it was
disturbing.
"He went with Kensuke because he wanted to apologize," She
told him, "he wanted to say that he-" she didn't get to finish as
Shinji cut her off.
"I deserved it," he said simply-- his eyes still hidden.
"What?" Hikari said with surprise, "what kid of talk is that
Shinji?"
"I'm the reason his sister got hurt, I deserved it."
"Shinji..." she started to say as he looked up. She didn't
get to finish this either as Shinji stopped looking _at_ her and
focused on something just over her shoulder. His eyes widening,
he picked up his bag and stood up.
"Thank you for breakfast" he said quickly as he handed her
several yen to cover the meal, "I need to leave now." And before
she could respond he was out the door.
Completely befuddled by his behavior, Hikari turned to look
in the direction that Shinji had been staring moments before.
They had been sitting in a corner booth and there was a window on
either side of her. Across the street behind her there was a man
on the sidewalk speaking into a cellular phone. He was wearing
all black and dark sunglasses.
As she turned back to the table, she thought back to
something Kensuke had said weeks ago when Shinji had first
arrived about increased security around the school. The men there
had been dressed exactly the same as the man now across the
street.
She didn't taste much of the rest of her food.
[]====[]
[]====[]
As Shinji stepped off the bus, he decided that this was a
good idea.
He needed to think. He needed to just sit down and actually
try to reason everything out. It wasn't something he could do
while in the city; every building was a constant reminder of the
battles he had fought. Even the theater had offered no haven. The
closest thing he had felt to being relaxed in the past two days
had been earlier at breakfast.
He was still trying to register the fact that had actually
held something resembling a conversation with a girl, and that
until he had seen that section two agent... it had gone rather
well. He was somewhat surprised that he hadn't made too much of a
fool of himself. For a moment he had actually felt like he could
talk to someone else.
He thought about what Hikari had told him about Touji. He
still felt that he deserved what the other boy had done, but to
know that he felt guilty over it…
It was one of several things that he needed to think about.
As he climbed the steps to the overlook he smiled at the sight
revealed before him. He had always heard how beautiful the
terraces were in this part of the country, his Uncle's farm had
been mostly flat land, and while they had similar constructs--
there was nothing to compare to the scale he was seeing before
him now.
How much work had this taken? How many years? How many
people? It was one of the most magnificent things he had ever
seen, even more so than the Eva. More magnificent even that Tokyo
Three itself. The entire mountainside had been reworked into the
shelf-like levels.
He sat there on the edge of the cliff, and as the wind blew
around him felt himself relax for the first time in weeks. He
knew he couldn't run forever-- he would go back to Misato
tomorrow. He had all night to make up his mind what he would do
after that.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"CHARGE!"
Kensuke raced along the path he had cut in the tall grass,
holding his rifle at ready to fire at the first sign of enemy
troops. His commanding officer blazed on ahead of the unit,
fearlessly leading the assault. As they broke into a clearing,
the enemy opened fire and he watched in horror as the finest
officer he had ever served under fell before a shower of molten
lead. As the rest of the troops made short work of the cowards
who had attacked them, Kensuke dropped to one knee beside his
captain.
"Sir!" he shouted as he saw the extent of the damage from
the gunfire.
"Aida," the man whispered weakly, his mouth trickling blood,
"you must keep going, finish the mission!"
"No!" Kensuke shouted in protest, " I won't leave you like
this!"
His commanding officer tried to laugh, but ended up coughing
as blood seeped into his lungs. His fist curling back, he let
loose with a punch that did not feel like a blow given by a dying
man.
"You fool! Only... The ...mission matt-" with those last
words-- the man gave up the ghost.
At that point Kensuke decided to take a break. He had been
out there all day and he was getting tired. Plus it was almost
time for dinner. He wished he could get Touji to join him for
once, doing all this by himself was beginning to get dull, and a
new perspective would be nice for a change.
Taking one last look at the sunset above, he climbed to his
feet and started to head back to his base camp. As he stood,
however, he saw something a short distance away on the hiking
trail. Readjusting his glasses he took a better look and was
shocked to see the new transfer student walking back toward the
road.
'If I don't do _something_ Hikari will kill me...' he
realized as he waved at the other boy.
"HEY Ikari!" he shouted.
[]====[]
[]====[]
It had taken some fast talking but Kensuke had finally
convinced Shinji to join him for dinner. Shinji had no idea why
Kensuke was out there, much less why the boy was dressed in
camouflage, but the largest surprise was that he had a tent set
up a quarter mile back in the field. He didn't ask why-- at the
moment he was still too tired from his own problems to care. Idly
he wondered why everyone was so eager to have him join them for
meals all the sudden. Kensuke on the other hand was talking
nonstop about everything that he had missed following the battle.
For most of the evening Shinji tuned him out as their dinner
cooked over a campfire, but after awhile, Kensuke reached a topic
that Shinji couldn't ignore.
"Touji was real sorry about that," the other boy told him,
"he told me this morning that his sister chewed his ass off for
doing it, she said that it was your robot that actually saved
her, and all our lives. She's in elementary so I imagine he must
have been even more embarrassed by that than when Hikari chewed
us out."
Shinji couldn't help but smile at the idea of Touji getting
yelled at by a younger girl... and as Kensuke continued on he
though about that. If Touji's sister didn't blame him for what
happened... why did he still feel so badly about it?
Meanwhile Kensuke was still rambling on.
"I like it out here at night-- those Cicadas don't make as
much noise. I can't remember it ever being quiet, but lately it
seems like the things are everywhere, just chirping all over the
place."
"Misato... Misato says that its because the ecosystems are
returning to how they were before Second Impact."
"Under normal circumstances I'd have to make you drop that
subject," Kensuke said with a grin "I think we hear enough about
it in class, but since you mentioned the Goddess I'll let it
slide."
Shinji blinked at this, "Goddess?" he asked hesitantly.
"I really envy you Ikari. Not only do you get to live with
Captain Katsuragi, but you get to pilot the Evangelion!" ignoring
the fact that Shinji's expression darkened slightly at he mention
of the robot, he continued, "Just _once_ I want a chance to get
behind the controls of that thing-- I can't imagine what it must
be like!"
'He's obviously not going to believe the truth...' Shinji
thought as he watched Kensuke mimic a fighter pilot flying a
plane. 'And that's just about Misato, if he knew how she
lived...'
"Its not as great as you think," he told Kensuke, referring
to the Eva, "it's very dangerous, and besides, I think your
mother would worry if you did."
"Oh... don't worry, I don't have one." Kensuke said.
"I'm sorry?"
"A mother, I don't have one, I'm the same as you."
"...How did you know that?" Shinji asked with surprise.
"Oh, well when you first got here I realized you might work
for Nerv and took a peek at your transfer papers. By the way,
food's ready"
"Thanks," Shinji said as Kensuke filled their plates with
the rice he'd been steaming over the campfire, "um can I ask you
something?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Do you do this a lot?"
"Yeah, every other month or so."
"Is it training for guerrilla warfare or something?"
"Oh no," Kensuke said with a laugh, "what could I do with
these toys?" he nodded over at the rack of plastic and wooden
guns, "This is just for fun. I love the military... hey, why
don't you like piloting the Eva? Most kids our age would give an
arm and a leg to do it."
"...Well, it's complicated," Shinji replied, wondering what
he could tell the boy that wouldn't get them both in trouble,
"For one thing, you're linked to it, so when it gets hurt you
feel it."
"Hmmm that makes sense-- I mean there didn't seem to be
enough controls in there. So there's a neural link..."
"That's what doctor Akagi calls it I think. But the worst
part is that every time I go out, someone seems to get hurt."
"But Shinji... it's a war, if we don't fight back-- people
wont just get hurt, they'll die."
"That doesn't mean I have to like it." Shinji said bitterly.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"So then what happened?" Touji asked excitedly, "what else
did he say?"
It was Monday morning and Kensuke was still feeling
depressed. As he relayed the events of the weekend to his friend
he couldn't help but feel sorry for Shinji Ikari, the kid was in
a situation far, far beyond his control.
"He didn't say anything else that night," Kensuke said, "
he'd been out all day and was tired so we both turned in."
"Well that sucks," Touji said, "so he wasn't training at
all then?"
"I'm not going to repeat myself Touji-- this is what you get
for blowing off my camping invitations all the time," he paused a
moment then continued his tale, "Anyway as I was _saying_ that's
when we turned in. The next morning I'm just coming around when I
hear someone outside the tent. I opened the flap and there--
right in front of me are three Nerv Security officers in full-on
MiB uniform. I didn't even have time to flinch before Shinji
steps past me and stares the first guy down. I couldn't believe
it, he didn't even seem to be scared at all!"
"So the goon starts talking then, and he says 'you are
Shinji Ikari, correct?' and Shinji just nods like he doesn't even
care. Then the guy starts quoting... let me think, um ' In
accordance with clause eight of the Regulations for Public
Security, we will now take you to Headquarters. Understand?' and
Shinji just say 'yes' and goes with them."
"Didn't you even try to help him?" Touji asked, shocked that
his friend had given up so easily, "you just stood there and let
them take him away?"
"That's easy for you to say, they were Nerv intelligence--
trained professionals! I wouldn't have stood a chance."
"Don't you have any balls at all?" Touji demanded.
As he heard a couple of the girls in back whispering to one
another about that little outburst, Kensuke rolled his eyes.
Touji would never make it in a military situation-- he had no
sense of subtlety whatsoever. If he ever came under fire he would
probably charge in and get himself shot instead of thinking his
way through it. To that end he decided to enlighten his friend to
the better part of valor.
"Only an idiot fights when there is no chance of winning.
Balls have nothing to do with it."
About that time Hikari strolled in from some errand or
another and asked what was new. As Kensuke told her she smiled...
up until he reached the end of his tale.
"So he's been taken back in then?" she asked as she sat down
in one of the chairs nearby.
"It seems so," Kensuke replied, "I hope he's not in too much
trouble."
"From the way he was acting the other day I think he might
be." She told them about her meeting with Shinji earlier the same
morning and how he had run off when he saw the security officer.
As she finished, the three of them grew silent. It wasn't like
there was much they could do for him at the moment. None of them
had any way to get in contact with him outside Captain Katsuragi,
and she was most likely working.
As the teacher entered class and everyone went through the
morning ritual of standing and bowing, Hikari realized that there
might be one way to find out.
[]====[]
[]====[]
For the first time she could remember-- Hikari hurried
through her lunch. Once she was done she started roaming the
school grounds. She didn't know if she was on the right track or
not... Kensuke was _usually_ reliable on these things, but he
also had a nasty habit of letting his imagination get away with
him. Her current idea revolved around a thin hope that he had
told the truth about something that had happened earlier that
year. Particularly a funny little story about Rei Ayanami.
Apparently she had dropped her ID once, and before she
picked it up he had caught a glimpse of the Nerv logo on it. His
theory that Shinji was working for Nerv had been based off his
earlier one that Rei did. It wasn't the most believable story she
had ever heard, but with everything that had happened lately, she
thought it was at least worth a try.
Also, it gave her the excuse she had been looking for to
talk with Rei.
She finally found the albino girl sitting on a bench not too
far from the escalators. She was sitting in the shade and reading
a book. Hikari smiled a bit, if Rei _was_ working for Nerv then
she and Shinji had a great deal more in common than she had
thought. She would have to approach this about the same way she
had with Shinji-- which meant not giving up when they tried to
back out of the conversation.
'Well' she thought, 'I can't just stand here all day.' And
with that she stepped off the escalator platform and began
walking toward Rei Ayanami.
"Good afternoon, Rei." She said pleasantly.
Rei looked up briefly and Hikari smiled. This smile fell,
however, as Rei went right back to her book.
This obviously wasn't going to be easy... Hikari walked
over and asked if the spot beside her was taken. When Rei didn't
respond to that-- she went ahead and sat down beside her.
Without looking up, Rei turned the page in her book.
'Oookay...' Hikari thought, 'maybe she _isn't_ just shy like
Ikari.'
She wasn't about to just give up so she tried once more to
open a conversation.
"Rei, I need to ask you about something." This finally
seemed to catch the girl's attention and she finally turned to
look at her. It was still just as disturbing to have those red
eyes fixed upon her, but Hikari stood her ground. Apparently
realizing that Hikari wasn't going to go away, Rei spoke up.
"Yes Representative Horaki?"
"You know Shinji Ikari right?"
"Yes" Rei said simply.
"Um... do you know when he will be coming back to school?"
Hikari asked hopefully.
"I do not have that information," Rei replied.
"Oh..." talking with Rei was obviously going to take some
thinking, the girl seemed to answer with phrases that
deliberately gave as little information as possible. "Well could
I ask a favor?"
"Why?"
'Ok... how in the world do I answer this?' Hikari thought.
After a moment of pondering this she tried again. "Some of
us were worried about him and I was hoping that you would know
when he was coming back, or if he wasn't-- where we could go see
him to say goodbye."
"I see." Rei said, then turned back to her book.
A few moments of uncomfortable silence later, Hikari
realized that Rei was not going to say anymore and it was
unlikely that she would reply to any more of her questions or
comments. With a defeated sigh, Hikari said goodbye and went back
upstairs to the classroom.
'Well it was worth a try.' She thought as she looked back at
Rei.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Later that evening as Rei Ayanami was following Dr Akagi and
Commander Ikari to another testing lab-- she listened to their
conversation.
"So the Third Child is leaving tomorrow..." Dr Akagi said,
she seemed to be disappointed in this event, or perhaps it had
more to do with the fact that Commander Ikari was not only
allowing it but seemed relieved in it.
"We will reconfigure Unit One's core data for Rei," he said,
not bothering to look back at the woman he addressed-- the woman
Rei knew he was having relations with beyond work. " Regardless
of the results of Unit Zero's reactivation, we'll start with that
Unit."
There was a long silence and Rei thought back to her
activation test with Unit Zero. Something had gone wrong and the
Eva had broken free of control. She had been injured, and so they
had called for Pilot Ikari. She vaguely remembered seeing him
during the attack as she fell to the floor. She had been nowhere
close to proper condition for battle, but she would have gone
anyway.
She did not understand the commander's reasons for calling
her out that day, but it had been an order. She had even less
understanding if Pilot Ikari's change of mind in the matter of
piloting. Perhaps he did not know it had been an order?
As she thought of this she heard the commander speak again
"According to the Marduk Organization's report, the Fourth
Child has yet to be found."
Dr Akagi seemed to ponder this for awhile before
responding. "So we can't get anymore pilots as of yet."
As the escalator reached the top, she thought back to
Representative Horaki's visit at school earlier that day.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Hikari had just finished brushing her teeth and was about
to turn in when the phone rang. Jumping slightly as she was
directly beside it, and panicking a bit at the late hour of the
call, she grabbed the phone and answered in a soft voice.
"Horaki residence"
The other end was silent.
"Hello?" she asked, wondering if it was a prank call.
"Representative Horaki." A familiar voice said from the
other end.
"Rei?" she asked with no small measure of surprise
"Pilot Ikari will be leaving Tokyo Three at fourteen-hundred
hours tomorrow afternoon." With that, the line went dead and
Hikari was left there looking at the phone, trying to convince
herself that Rei Ayanami had really been on the other end.
[]====[]
[]====[]
They hadn't even let him say goodbye to Misato.
He didn't know if she even wanted to see him right now, but
he would have at least liked to say goodbye to her. She had been
kind to him during his stay. That might have been part of why he
was so nervous around her, he was... unused to kindness. His
Uncle had mostly just tolerated his presence and ignored him when
he was around. Other than the music lessons the man had paid for-
- Shinji couldn't remember ever having much to do with him if the
older man had been able to avoid it.
Misato on the other hand had not only seemed to enjoy
having him around, but had gone out of her way to try and make
him feel at home.
Not that _he_ had tried very hard. It had just been that
Shinji couldn't really believe that she was actually happy he was
there. At first he tried to convince himself that she just wanted
someone to do the chores, but even if he _did_ do most of them,
it was just too farfetched.
She had been so disappointed with him. He didn't know how
he could have explained it all to her when he still didn't have
it figured out.
"If you hate all this so much; just leave!" she had said
"Just forget about Eva and us and go back to where you came
from!"
He had been selfish. He was only worried about himself, he
knew that on one level, but he still couldn't stay. He didn't
have anything to stay for. Everyone at school would be disgusted
with him for running, but he really didn't know anyone there so
it didn't matter. No one at Nerv would mind. Ayanami was almost
healed, and she could pilot the Eva. They really didn't need him
anymore.
'Just who are you trying to convince?' he asked himself as
he climbed out of the car and into the light. As his eyes
adjusted, he saw something off to his right and turned just in
time to catch the bag he had left in Kensuke's tent as it was
tossed to him.
It took three blinks of his eyes to convince himself that he
wasn't seeing things, and even then he didn't believe it until
Touji spoke up.
"Hey Ikari! Ya left these behind."
He, Kensuke and Hikari were standing there on the steps.
What were they doing there? He turned back to the guard, who
nodded and took a couple steps back
Before he could even slow his thoughts down enough to ask
anything, Kensuke tuned to Touji and pushed him forward.
"Well, do it!" Hikari said sternly from behind the taller
boy.
Touji looked back at the two with much annoyance before
tuning to Shinji. He had a grim look of determination in his
eyes. Shinji couldn't even begin to think of what he wanted to
say. Finally his unspoken questions were answered.
"Look Ikari... I'm sorry I hit you. You have to hit me
back."
Shinji's eyes widened, and he looked to the other two, who
seemed just as surprised as he was at Touji's words.
"B-but I can't do that!" he said in a panic, as he
unconsciously took a step back.
Touji's eyes never wavered. He stood tall and spoke up again
"you have to, otherwise I wont be able to let this go."
"But..." Shinji said, completely befuddled at the taller
boys request.
Meanwhile Kensuke had decided the entire situation was
highly amusing. Stepping forward and leaning around Touji
slightly, he spoke up with a grin on his face.
"He can be really embarrassing huh? But if it puts an end to
this whole thing, you ought to go ahead and do it."
Behind him the Nerv Security officers were checking their
watches. As the seconds ticked by Touji frowned. Hikari was
muttering to herself that she didn't know either of the boys with
her.
"Hurry up, you don't have much more time!"
"...Okay, but only once," Shinji said, resigning himself to
getting it over with.
"Good, lets do this." Touji said as he planted his feet and
braced himself.
Shinji set his bag down and drew back. As his hand started
arcing forward however Touji shouted for him to stop. Confused,
Shinji froze in mid swing and looked to the taller boy for an
explanation.
"Don't hold back," Touji said with a determined growl.
Shinji nodded, and for the first time in his life, pulled
back and threw a real punch. He felt the impact all the way up in
his shoulder as Touji stumbled back. His hand stung a little, but
he couldn't honestly say the experience had been a bad one. In
fact, as Touji regained his balance and touched his cheek-- there
was a slight grin on his face.
Behind him, Hikari and Kensuke were shaking their heads in
wonder that Touji had actually done that.
"How did you know I'd be here?" Shinji asked suddenly.
"Once I found out you were leaving," Hikari said, "it wasn't
too hard to figure out where."
"Yeah, " Kensuke added, " we've seen a lot of classmates
leave lately."
"Since you're leaving..." Touji said, still rubbing his
cheek," We'll probably be going too before long. I can't really
blame you, we all saw how you suffered in the Eva," his
expression sobered suddenly, but it was mostly mock seriousness,
"but if anyone _does_ try and blame you, I'll give 'em a boot to
the head"
Shinji didn't know what to say. They were really sorry that
he was leaving. He stood there for a moment slightly shaking his
head and trying to come to terms with that fact. As he stood
there, Hikari stepped up to him. To the three boys' surprise--
and possibly the MiBs, although it was impossible to tell-- she
gave Shinji a hug.
"Thank you for saving our lives" she whispered in his
ear. Shinji found that at that moment couldn't move, or even
speak. Coherent thought was also an activity that he found
difficult, but he did manage a nod as she stepped away.
Before he could try and say anything, the Security officer
placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's time to go." He said as he led Shinji away from the
three.
As he and the two guards made their way into the train
station, Shinji saw the three following them to the base of the
stairs. Panic swept over him. Had he failed them? Was he doing
the right thing? Was he really absolved from the guilt? No, he
had to take responsibility!
As he rounded the corner at the top he pulled back from the
two guards and managed to lean around the corner as they pulled
back.
"I'm the one who deserved to be hit, not you!" He shouted as
the two guards tried to restrain him, "I'm mean, cowardly,
dishonest... and a wimp!"
Before he could say any more, his guards managed to get a
decent hold on him and haul him back up the stairs. Down below,
Hikari, Touji and Kensuke watched this, completely stunned. They
didn't know what to say to that.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Not very long afterwards as the three sat and waited for
Shinji's train to arrive Kensuke spoke up.
"That was your big plan?"
"Huh?" Touji muttered, having been startled from some deep
thought or another.
" 'You gotta hit me back'... this was your brilliant plan to
apologize?"
Touji frowned and looked indignant. "Well yeah, what was
wrong with it?"
"If I have to tell you, then you will have learned nothing--
you'll have simply been told" Kensuke said sagely.
"Well at least I didn't 'glomp' the kid like the class rep
here did!" Touji said under his breath. Unfortunately he did not
say this low enough and he was immediately hit on the head by a
thrown shoe courtesy of Hikari Horaki.
Kensuke chuckled at that and shook his head, "If you had-- I
would have been mad that I didn't bring my camera. That footage
would have made me a mint."
"Stop it you two." Hikari said softly, without much
conviction. She was looking up at the station sadly. The train
had just arrived.
"Hey Hikari, you look more gloomy than Shinji did. What's
wrong?"
Just when he though Hikari wasn't going to answer she spoke
up. "We never really had a chance to be his friends, I wonder if
he had anyone back where he 's going that could be one."
"I don't know," Kensuke said regretfully. Before he could
say anymore however, a blue car rocketed around a corner just as
the train pulled out of the station. As they looked on, it
screeched to a halt and Captain Katsuragi climbed out, looking at
the departing train with sadness.
"Hey! It's the babe!" Touji said excitedly, and would have
received another shoe to the head had Hikari not seen something
inside the station as she stood up.
Touji and Kensuke's eyes were riveted on the Captain, and
until she looked up at the station itself and her jaw dropped
open, they didn't even see what Hikari had been looking at. As
their eyes followed the path of the two girls amazed stares--
they saw Shinji standing at the terminal looking back at the
Captain.
After a long silence, as Shinji began to make his way back
to the front of the building. Touji and Kensuke heard her whisper
something--seemingly in response to his decision to remain.
"He didn't run."
[]==================[]
To be continued...
[]==================[]
Authors incoherent babbling
Whew! Well there's part two, and thankfully from here out we
wont be running so much off the scripts and episodes. Oh as I
said before some events such as the Angel attacks wont be changed
much, but the stuff that happens in Shinji, Hikari, and Misato's
lives will be altered by this. Expect a lot of Hikari's family, a
lot more of Touji and Kensuke, more classroom chatroom antics
(I'm too much of a chat addict to pass this up) and in general
just more of life in Tokyo Three.
As far as Touji and Hikari, well I want to get something
straight. While I do believe Hikari was fond of Touji, I don't
believe her interest was romantic until sometime after the
halfway point of the series. This is mostly just guesswork mind
you and my way of working it into the story. Apparently the class
has known Rei since at least 1st grade (according to the literal
translation series scripts) it is not too much of a stretch to
say that Kensuke and Touji have know Hikari that long.
Hotwire
Chain Lightning Studios
http://hotwire182.freeyellow.com/chainlightning.html
[]====[]
[]====[]