His body ached all over, he was sure as to how far he had fallen, but it had been enough to make it a not-so-pleasant experience. He began to raise up to check himself and noticed he was lying on top of someone or something. It was a guy a few years older than he. Shinji quickly collected himself and jumped to his feet.

"Errm… I'm really sorry about that sir…" Shinji said red with embarrassment.

"Uh… It's alright?" the stranger said between coughs.

From out of nowhere a girl with blonde hair and a set of odangos on either side of her hair erupted with anger.

"I can't believe you! This is MY boyfriend! How could you attack him like that?! You're worse than Chibi-Usa! Wait… Please tell me you're not related to her…"

"I'm really sorry… I didn't mean to... I'm not even sure where I am right now… And I'm not familiar with that name, no…" Shinji sputtered out.

"Calm down Usako, I'm sure he didn't mean it. It must've been an accident or something." The older guy had now gotten his footing back and started holding the girl back.

"But Mamoru…" the girl he had called Usagi cried out in a whining voice.

"No Usako, what happened did he jump from a building to kill me or something? There is nothing around for him to have done such a thing. Besides, we don't even know his name, and he isn't exactly all that threatening looking. He fell from the sky like Chibi-Usa, maybe there's a link somewhere. Look at what he's wearing; it looks pretty futuristic to me. Perhaps we should take him to Setsuna?"

Shinji looked down and noticed he was wearing his Plug Suit. No wonder he had gotten such a stir from them. He began to wonder what had happened to the Plug itself, but before he could get too deep into thought a loud voice broke through his thoughts once more.

"Oh Mamoru, you're so smart. I didn't think of that. So little future messenger boy person, what's your name?" Usagi said with a now friendly smile on her face. These people were beginning to frighten Shinji.

"Uhmm… My name is Shinji Ikari…" He couldn't help blushing while he spoke. He was still very much embarrassed.

"Oh, well it is very nice to meet you Shinji Ikari!" Usagi cheerfully said.

"Indeed, it's nice to meet you Shinji. My name, as you may have picked up, is Mamoru Chiba. This is my girlfriend Usagi Tsukino."

"It's nice to meet you two as well. I'm very sorry about what happened. Thank you for being so kind."

"Don't mention it, Shinji Ikari."

                                    ***********************************************************************************

"I got here as fast as I could! You said a guy about our age fell from the sky and he needs a place to stay?! Is he cute?! Where is he?!"

"Calm down Makoto! He's over there," Usagi said in a slightly annoyed voice from behind the door. She pointed the brown haired girl into the direction of Shinji.

"Wow, he kinda does look like my old boyfriend…" Makoto said as she drifted towards Shinji's direction.

No sooner had Usagi gotten back to sit down among Mamoru, Shinji, and the newly arrived Makoto a knock at the door was heard again.

"I'll get it…" Usagi sighed.

Before she could get her fingers around the knob of the door it opened with a huge force crushing Usagi behind it.

"I got here as fast as I could! You said a guy about our age fell from the sky and he needs a place to stay?! Is he cute?! Where is he?!"

"Calm down Minako! He's over there," Usagi said in a slightly annoyed voice from behind the door. She pointed the blonde haired girl into the direction of Shinji.

"Wow, he kinda does look like my old volleyball teammate…" Minako said as she drifted towards Shinji's direction.

Once again Usagi walked back to the table and sat down among Mamoru, Shinji, Makoto, and the newly arrived Minako.

This time it wasn't a knock at the door, it just opened.

"Hello everyone, sorry I'm late."

"Don't worry about it Rei, everyone is still on their way."

"Rei?!"  At the mention of the name Shinji leapt to his feet and looked about frantically. Upon seeing that the Rei that Usagi was talking to wasn't Ayanami and noticing that the look on the others' faces were that of fear and worry he sat back down.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I know someone named Rei where I'm from. Sorry." Shinji explained.

"Oh, I get it. Well then it's quite all right. For a second I thought you were wigging out or something." Usagi said trying to hide the look of confusion.

This didn't help Shinji calm back down or hide his embarrassment.

"Sooo… You must be the one I've heard about. It's very nice to meet you Shinji Ikari," Rei said with a kind voice. "I hope Usagi didn't traumatize you or anything since you met up with her first."

"Rei! That isn't funny!"

"You know I'm just teasing you, don't freak out on me. I'm just trying to make him at ease." Rei said as she sat down with the rest who had gathered.

"You know what this conversation needs? Two cute talking cats!" exclaimed a white cat as it jumped to the table from a windowsill where another black cat sat with a look of dismay upon her face.

Shinji was greatly disturbed at this. He looked down at the white cat's smiling face. Upon seeing that the look on Shinji's face wasn't quite excitement as much as it was fear and insanity Minako spoke up.

"Err… Shinji Ikari, meet Artemis, my cat. He's really cool and he can talk!"

"Uhuh…" Shinji said, looking down at the cat, still not quite sure if he should believe his eyes. At this time the other cat, the black one, spoke up after a long sigh.

"Indeed, you did hear him talk. We are able to talk. We're part of the group trying to find out where you came from. My name is Luna, if you have any questions just ask."

"Well…"

"And don't ask why we can talk…"

"I don't have any questions then…"

After a long silence another girl came in through the door that Rei neglected to close.

"Oh, hello everyone. Am I that late?" the blue haired girl said. "I'm sorry, I was studying and I must've lost track of the time." She looked to the boy sitting at the table. "You must be Shinji Ikari, right?"

"Yes, that's me."

"It's very nice to meet you. My name is Ami Mizuno."

"Hello Ami Mizuno, it's nice to meet you too."

Shinji looked around the room at all of the characters he'd met already and wondered how they could associate with a girl so sophisticated. A colorful group indeed. So far Ami seemed to be the most normal. She sat down with her books, opened them up, and began working on some complex looking problems.

To pass the time the motley crew amused Shinji with some of their stories. Even though at first they seem a bit odd, they were some of the nicest people Shinji had ever met. Shinji began to fit in after a while. The normal clothes that Mamoru let Shinji borrow helped him feel much more comfortable.

Just when Shinji was beginning to ease up and relax a bit a huge crash came from the closet.

"Asuk—err… I mean, what was that?" he exclaimed.

"Grr… I think I know…" Usagi said as she angrily rose from her seat. She opened the closet door and a little pink haired girl fell out of there with a dull thud. "Chibi-Usa!"

"Oh? You're the Chibi-Usa I've heard so much about?" Shinji said over the clamor.

"Ouch… Yes, my name is Chibi-Usa. I heard everything, I had to spy on you, Usagi never tells me anything," the little girl said.

"That's a lie and you know it!" Usagi erupted.

"Oh yeah? Then why did I have to spy! You didn't even tell me what happened!"

"Grr… Chibi-Usa…"

"Uh, hey, why don't you join us Chibi-Usa?" Mamoru spoke out, seeing as how things were getting out of hand.

"Sure thing!" she answered cheerfully before Usagi could reject. Chibi-Usa sat herself down in what used to be Usagi's seat, right beside Mamoru. An agitated Usagi planted herself on the other side of Mamoru.

"Heh… even Chibi-Usa is more mature than you are Usagi," Rei blurted.

Before the argument could ensure the telephone rang and Rei left to answer it. She came back a bit later and started collecting her stuff.

"That was Michiru, she said that they couldn't make it tonight. We'll try again tomorrow," she answered to the confused faces.

"Oh, well tomorrow sounds just fine," Ami said as she collected her things.

Shinji watched all of them getting their things together, and for the first time that day had a reasonable question that actually had an answer.

"Uhmm… I don't mean to be an inconvenience… but where am I going to be staying?"

Everyone stopped their actions immediately, partly because Shinji had finally said more that two words and partly because they hadn't thought of that.

"Well, you could stay here if you'd like, Shinji," Mamoru offered.

"I don't know… I've already taken up enough space in your apartment…"

"Then you could stay with me, I already have, ahem, Chibi-Usa, to deal with, I'm sure you could stay," Usagi added.

"Well, there's enough room at the temple if you'd like to stay there," Rei chimed in.

Shinji looked around the room at the accepting faces and wondered where he should stay.

"I can't make a decision like this, I don't want to be an inconvenience to anyone."

The group exchanged looks.

"Well, I suppose it isn't fair to ask him to choose, one of us will have to decide to let him stay," Ami said rationally.

The group all agreed to do so, they all posed good reasons to let Shinji stay with them. That is, all of them except Makoto, which seemed uncharacteristic of her not to chime in a reason for her to get a guy. The rest of her friends noticed this too. She appeared in deep thought.

"Makoto, what are you scheming?" Usagi asked.

"Hmmm… well, I think Shinji should stay with me. Let's look at the facts. Ami will have her studies, so Shinji couldn't stay with her…"

"Well… yes… I suppose you're right about that," Ami confirmed.

"… and Rei will have her chores at the temple and the tourists to take care of and all the fire reading; she won't be able to find the time either…"

"I didn't think of that… yes, I guess it would be difficult to juggle all of that," Rei said.

"… Minako will have all her extracurricular activities like Volleyball and everything else, she wouldn't be around most of the time…"

"Hey! I could make time!… well… no, I couldn't, I forgot, the championships are coming up… drat…" Minako said with dropped tone.

"… Usagi really needs her studies, and Mamoru could help her with that, so that gets them out of the way-… err… I mean, that occupies them…"

"Hey, I don't…!"

"She's right Usako, you know this," Mamoru said, cutting off Usagi's rant.

"… and that leaves me, I don't really have anything planned, so he can stay with me! Plus I can cook and hold a household!" Makoto finished.

"Those are all very good points, but are you sure? This is a large responsibility," Ami chimed.

"Of course I'm sure, I mean-…"

"I don't mean to sound rude or anything… but you're making me sound like I'm some sort of temporary pet or something… I don't want to cause anyone any trouble, and I certainly don't want you to think of me as a 'responsibility', I can take care of myself," Shinji interrupted.

The entire room went silent as they all gave him a very surprised look.

"I'm sorry, that was rude… carry on…"

"No, no! It's not like that at all, Shinji! I'm sorry for making it sound so harsh," Makoto apologized profoundly.

The conversation carried on until nightfall, but by the end, all of Makoto's good points had wavered their decisions.

"I suppose the best way to do this is to take a vote," Ami said. "All in favor of Shinji staying with Makoto, raise your hand."

Everyone except Minako raised their hands.

"Err… all in favor of Shinji staying with  Minako?"

Minako raised both hands excitedly. She looked around at all their worried expressions. With a look of embarrassment she put her hands down.

"Yes, I suppose Makoto is the best candidate…" Minako said, grasping her defeat.

"Woo hoo!" Makoto exclaimed as she leapt nearly 5 feet from the ground. She looked around at everyone's dismay. "Ahem, I mean, very well then." But she still had trouble hiding her excitement.

                                    ***********************************************************************************

"So this is your house?" Shinji said while standing outside of a large residence.

"Yup, all mine," Makoto said as she unlocked and entered the home. "Come on in, make yourself at home."

"Well… I don't want to be a pain or anything… and shouldn't you ask your parents first?"

"Oh, heh, don't worry about that, my parents passed away while I was pretty young, so I have the entire house to myself."

"Oh… I'm sorry to have brought it up…" Shinji said, looking down with guilt.

"Hey, chin up, you didn't know, besides, I'm over it now," she said as she grabbed his hand and dragged him inside.

"Err… heh heh, thank you…" Shinji said in a courteous, yet, surprised voice.

"Don't mention it, Shinji. It's been so long since I've had any company, I'm glad I to keep, whoops, heh, I mean, let you stay here."

Shinji looked around at all the nice decoration, to be home alone, she had done quite well. He tried to cover up his embarrassment with conversation of the surroundings.

"You have a very nice house, a lot nicer than the one I'm used to staying in, yours is much, MUCH cleaner."

"Really? Thank you. Well, I should probably get to making us some dinner, you're probably starving from such an ordeal. What would you like to eat?"

Shinji opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it. He wasn't the least bit hungry, but he couldn't very well tell her that he didn't want any of her food, that would be rude. Also, even though the people act and talk the same, with minor exceptions, how could he be sure that the people here ate the same food?

"Uhmm… heh… you decide."

"Hmm, let's see. How about some miso soup, brown rice, and some chopped chicken and vegetables? Just for starters I mean."

Just for starters? How much could these people eat? It had been so long since Shinji had such a meal that wasn't "instant" he couldn't refuse the offer.

"Wow, that all sounds very good," he said standing up.

Makoto looked up at him with slight surprise, "Yes, it does, why did you get up? Are you not happy with your seat?"

"No, it isn't that, the seat is very comfortable."

"Err… alright then…" Makoto said with a sweat drop, "well then, make yourself comfy and it will done it just a minute."

She walked into the kitchen, dragged out the materials, and began humming a song. Her thoughts began to wonder. Wow, he sure is polite, he's cute too, that insecure disposition just makes him more charming. He can sure act weird sometimes though, like he's never talked to a human face-to-face or something…

She got out the chicken to lie on the counter top, turned, and nearly ran Shinji over.

"AH!" she exclaimed, dropping the chicken to the floor, "Shinji you nearly gave me a heart attack… do you need something?"

Shinji looked down horribly embarrassed. "I just came in to help with cooking I'm really sorry… I didn't mean to scare you…" he said while picking up the bag of chicken.

"Oh, heh, that's quite alright Shinji, it's sweet that you wanted to help," she said, still trying to get over the shock. She took the chicken from Shinji's hands. "Good thing this bag was unopened, right?"

Shinji nodded, still looking down.

"Hey, don't feel bad Shinji, it was an accident, here, I'll let you help me, start chopping the vegetables and I'll start the rice."

Shinji nodded again. He went to the sink to wash his hands, then started chopping. "Wow, he even knew to wash his hands first…" Makoto thought. Just as she'd started the rice Shinji chimed, "The vegetables are chopped, should I put them in a bowl?"

Makoto popped up with surprise. "They're… done? You've chopped them already??" She ran to the counter to make sure he didn't do any simple slices or mutilated them. To her surprise, they were chopped just fine.

"Did I do something wrong?" Shinji asked nervously.

"No… you didn't do anything wrong actually, you did a very good job," she said, scooping the vegetables into a bowl.

"Well, I've had lots of experience… my old roommate was very demanding. She was German so she would only take her food if it was perfect."

"Oh… this old roommate of yours, the German girl, was she your girlfriend…?"

"Huh? Wow, I've never heard anyone ask me that before… No, she isn't my girlfriend, more like I'm her slave. She can be nice sometimes, but most of the time she likes to kick me around. I'm sure that deep down she's alright though."

"So she's not your girlfriend?"

"No, not at all."

"Well that's great then!" Makoto erupting, slapping Shinji's back. She saw Shinji's look of surprise and realized what she had just done. She quickly tried to cover it up. "I mean, heh heh, who would want a girlfriend that kicks you around and treats you like a slave, right? Heh heh…"

Shinji accepted Makoto's explanation, "Oh, heh, of course. Well, is there anything else I can do?"

"Sure, you can help me with the miso soup." Makoto said with a smile.

"Alright then," Shinji said, nervously smiling back.

The two helped each other with the cooking. Neither of them were strangers to cooking meals so it turned out much better than the other had expected. They were pleasantly surprised with the masterful gourmet meal that they had prepared in such a short time. Of course, it had been a long, so the food didn't last long. Shinji's cooking skills impressed Makoto very much. "Wow! He's cute AND he cooks… I wonder what else I don't know about him?" she thought to herself as she looked him over. Shinji began to yawn.

"Tired?" Makoto asked.

"A bit, yes. I'm sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused you today…"

"Don't be silly, you haven't caused any inconvenience at all, I've enjoyed your stay. I hope you have too."

"Yes, you've been a great hostess."

Makoto slightly blushed at this. "Heh… Thank you Shinji. Well, since you're tired I'd better show you where you're sleeping…"

She led Shinji to a quaint little guest room.

"This will be your sleeping quarters, is it sufficient? If it isn't then I can prepare another place for you."

"No, thank you Makoto, this is great," Shinji replied as he bowed.

Makoto blushed and pulled him back up. "Stop that, you're embarrassing me. Anyway, I should get to bed too, goodnight Shinji, sweet dreams. I've enjoyed having you."

"Goodnight to you as well, thank you very much for the hospitality."

Makoto nodded. "It's no problem, if you need anything, just come get me. My room is right down the hall."

"Alright then, thank you for everything."

"And thank you Shinji, you helped me with dinner. Goodnight now, rest up, you've had an exhausting day."

"Yes, well, goodnight."

Makoto left, closing the door behind her. She had trouble containing her content. "He's so polite and proper… What a dream!" She floated off to bed thinking about how well the day had gone.

Meanwhile, Shinji lie in the guest bed trying to collect his thoughts. The day had been nerve racking for him. He decided to let it go for tonight and to just try to relax and settle in to his new environment.

~End Day 1~