Insert standard possession disclaimer here... (I don't own Evangelion yadda, yadda,
yadda...)
I know it took a while, but here's chapter 2. Enjoy!
Confessions in the Rain
Chapter 2
You never know what you have until you lose it.
Part 1
Alexander Pope - "And if I lose thy love, I lose my all."
---August 16, 2018---
The room is quiet save for the sounds of cicadas chirping outside. The sun is shining
brightly through the window illuminating the contents of the room. The room is cluttered
with magazines, clothing, and bits of trash lying on the floor. There are a few movie and
rock band posters on the walls giving the room a lived-in feeling.
Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound can be heard coming from a nearby alarm clock.
Groggily, a hand exits the covers on the futon and whaps the alarm clock's snooze
button effectively shutting it up. Slowly, the mound under the covers begins to stir and a
very disheveled Asuka sits up in her futon and yawns sleepily before realizing that she
had slept in her clothes from the previous day. Paying no attention to what she's wearing,
she begins to change out of her clothes to take a shower.
Outside Asuka's room in the kitchen, Shinji is preparing lunch for the two of them when
Asuka exits her room and goes to take her morning shower.
'Hmm... No greeting this morning. After a night like last, I would have expected her to do
something when she woke up today...' Shinji continues to make thier lunches, but then
realizes how much time he has spent on that instead of their breakfasts. Hurredly, Shinji
begins to prepare a simple breakfast.
A short time later, Asuka finishes her shower and leaves the bathroom already dressed
in her school uniform.
"Where's Misato?"
"She left a message on the machine last night saying that she wasn't going to be back
until later tonight. I think she forgot which day of the week it is again."
"Really, whatever gave you THAT idea?"
"Ummm..."
Sighing, "Nevermind..."
Asuka sits at the table and Shinji places the quick breakfast of toast with jam he's made
in front of her.
"What's this?"
"Breakfast."
"You're joking, right?"
"No..."
"Arrgghh... Do you really expect this to be enough to keep me full until lunch?!?"
"Not really, I think I just spent too much time making our lunches this morning."
"Oh, great, so instead of me having you buy my lunch for me at school, you're going to
have me be hungry all morning!?!"
Noticing that Asuka is becoming more and more irate as the seconds pass Shinji begins
to realize the impending danger: 'Better do something now to calm her down.'
"Look, Asuka, we really don't have time for me to make any more food for breakfast. I
promise that I made a lot of really good food for us today..."
Still angry, Asuka begins her own retort: "Hmm... well, I'd have to agree with you on the
time, but really good food doesn't make up for this." Now standing tall a little more than an
arm's length from Shinji and pointing indignantly at him with her right index finger: "Just
be glad that I started in a good mood today. It's what's keeping me from slapping you silly
right now."
Having said this, Asuka sits back down and quickly finishes her toast. A few minutes later
Asuka and Shinji collect their bags and begin the long walk to school.
Asuka is walking beside Shinji but about half a pace behind as she thinks about this
morning.
'I can't believe that baka didn't make our breakfasts this morning. What was he thinking?
He knows I'm not in a good mood when I'm hungry. Although he did say that he was
spending the time making our lunches. Maybe he was just thinking ahead instead of
thinking about the present. ARRGGHH... I hate trying to get in that little skull of his.'
---Lunchtime---
"Asuka, wake up..."
Shinji is standing by Asuka's desk trying to wake her up. She had fallen asleep during one
of the teacher's speeches about second impact. Her forehead is resting on the keyboard
of her laptop and her hair has fallen around her head obscuring her face from view.
"Asuka..."
"..."
'Hmmm... Let's try something else...'
bending over, Shinji places his mouth near Asuka's ear and...
"ASUKA!!! WAKE UP!!!"
Suddenly, Asuka is wide-awake and sits up incredibly fast. Unfortunately, this causes her
to loose her balance and she falls out of her chair and onto the floor.
"OWWW!!! GOTT VERDAMMT!!!"
Not having expected Asuka to fall on the floor, Shinji just stares at her in surprise until her
German curses snap him out of it and he offers to help her up.
"Ummm... I'm sorry Asuka, I didn't mean to make you fall out of your seat like that, I just
wanted to wake you up to give you your lunch..."
Slapping his hand away, Asuka gets up on her own and stands face to face with him.
"BAKA!!! WHY IN GOTT'S NAME DID YOU TRY TO WAKE ME UP LIKE THAT!?!?"
"I'm S..."
"DON'T! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE SORRY, JUST
GIVE ME MY LUNCH AND GET OUT OF MY FACE!!!"
Hurt, Shinji gives Asuka her lunch and watches her storm off to find Hikari. He's now the
only one left in the classroom.
"Why?"
With his head held low, Shinji lets his shoulders slump, and walks out of the room.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka finds Hikari standing a short distance from the classroom waiting for her. Once
Asuka has walked up next to her, she falls into step with her and they walk to where they
usually eat their lunches.
"Asuka..."
"What?"
"Why did you yell at him like that?"
"The BAKA yelled in my ear to wake me up!"
"But you still didn't need to yell at him like that."
"Yes I did. He caused me to fall out of my chair!"
"That's not a very good reason Asuka..."
"It is to me."
'Why does she always treat him like this? Can't she see how Shinji looks at her?'
"Asuka..."
At this moment, Touji and Kensuke walk up to the girls. They look like they're searching
for something or someone.
"Hey, Hikari-chan, have you seen Shinji anywhere?"
At the mention of Shinji's name, Asuka responds to Touji before Hikari gets the chance:
"Last I knew he was in the classroom, why don't you stooges try looking there."
"ASUKA!!"
"What Hikari?"
"Don't you dare call Touji a stooge."
Asuka reponds to her friends warning with sarcasm dripping from her voice: "Oh, yeah...I
forgot, you to are joined at the hip right?"
Now Asuka's picking on Hikari gets Touji angy as well: "Look, I don't really mind being
called a stooge, but don't talk to my girlfriend and your best friend that way. And we've
already looked there."
"Didn't you have a baka hentai to find?"
With that, Asuka begins to walk away from the three students to find a place to sit down
and eat.
"Do you mind if I eat with you today Touji?"
Blushing slightly: "Um, no, of course not, but why?"
"Well, Asuka seems to be in an exceptionally bad mood today. I just hope she didn't hurt
Shinji too badly when she yelled at him just a while ago..."
Surprised at what they had just heard, Touji and Kensuke both ask the same thing at the
same time: "What about?"
"Well..."
And for the next few minutes, Hikari tells Touji and Kensuke about wht she's been able to
figurre out about what just happened as they walk back towards the clasroom to see if
Shinji had returned.
---After lunch in Classroom 2-A---
Asuka is idly tapping on her keyboard when a message pops up on her screen.
Pilot Sohryu
Somewhat annoyed at the sudden message from the First Child, Asuka begins typing out
a response.
What is it, Wondergirl?
Where is Ikari?
Now surprised that Rei would be interested in Shinji's whereabouts, Asuka gets that
much more annoyed with the blue-haired girl.
How should I know?
You do live with him do you not?
'Damn her logic.'
I would rather not live with that baka hentai, but yeah. Why?
I am...
What?
Concerned
'She's concerned? The DOLL is CONCERENED?' Now very much in a near full rage,
Asuka nearly pounds out the next message she sends to her fellow pilot.
Look, I don't know where he is, and I don't care.
Very well, I will leave you alone.
Good
---Misato's Apartment, about the same time---
Misato is standing just inside her door removing her shoes.
"Ahhh... I thought I'd never get all that paperwork done..."
As she says this, she walks down the narrow hall of her apartment and stops at the
kitchen table. On it is a note with her name on it. By the look of the well-formed kanji, she
figures it must be from Shinji. Opening the note, she begins to read:
Misato,
Life here has become too stressful for my liking. I'm leaving. This time I won't be coming
back.
Shinji.
Upon reading the last line, Misato collapses next to the table and begins to cry
uncontrollably. For her, this is almost as painful as having lost Kaji, but it's more like
having lost her son.
---Katsuragi residence, 4:30 pm---
"Tadaima..."
"Asuka, get in here."
"Huh?"
Hearing Misato's voice just now, Asuka can tell she's not in a very good mood. Slowly,
Asuka walks into the kitchen and sees Misato sitting in one of the chairs surrounding the
table. Misato waits until Asuka is across the table from her before she begins.
"He's gone."
"Who?"
Misato doesn't say anything, she just slides the note across the table to Asuka. She
doesn't even need to open it to know who it's from and what it says.
"OPEN IT!"
Asuka slowly complies, opening the letter and reading it.
After reading the letter, Asuka nearly breaks down herself, but manages to keep enough
control to keep her facade up, but just barely.
"What did you do to him?"
"..."
For once, Asuka is speechless as the ramifications of the letter sink into her
consciousness.
"WHAT DID Y..."
"Where did he go!?!?"
"What?"
Surprised at Asuka's question more than her outburst, Misato pulls back a little bit and
just sits there staring at Asuka.
"WHERE DID HE GO!?!?"
Seeing that Asuka is now close to tears, Misato tells Asuka about some of the places she
might find Shinji if he's not already gone. The moment she's finished, Asuka bolts out the
door and begins her search for Shinji. She begins by going to a few of the places they've
been together and a few places he's told her about. After trying the first few places, she
figures it's time to go look for him at Rei's.
-----Rei's apartment 6:00 PM----
Asuka is standing in front of the appartment labeled 402 in the more run-down section of
Tokyo-3. She steps forward and knocks on the door. A few moments later, Rei opens the
door and looks at Asuka.
"Has Shinji been here at all?"
"No. Why?"
"Rei, there's something you should know."
"..."
Asuka hands Rei the note that Shinji had left for misato. Rei takes it and begins to read.
"I see."
"What?"
"That Ikari-kun has left."
"Well don't you want to do something about it?!?"
"What could I do if he has already left?"
"We don't know if he's gone yet! We have to at least look for him to make sure!"
"Why do you wish to find him?"
"What?"
"Why do you wish to find him? Earlier you said you did not care where he was."
'Why do I want to find him?'
Because he is your friend.
'No, that's not it.'
Because you wish to beat the living daylights out of him.
'NO!'
Because you want him to stay.
'Yes, that's it.'
Because you want him to stay with you.
'Yes.'
Because you love him.
'Love him?'
Yes, because when you read that letter, you realized just how much he meant to you.
'No! I just don't want to loose another person in my life.'
Because you love him and everyone who you have loved has left you.
Images of her mother, father and Unit 02 flash through her mind until it settles on a
continuous stream of images of Shinji ranging from him piloting, to him smiling, him
walking next to her, him blushing from her teasing, then they freeze on him kissing her
last night.
'Yes. I do love him. And he's left me just like everyone else.'
Because you drove him away.
'Yes.'
There is still a chance he hasn't left.
'Yeah, but not much of one.'
But it is still a chance. USE IT.
Seeing Rei staring back at her awaiting an answer to her question, Asuka snaps out of
her introspection and speaks:
"Because I don't wnat him to leave before I have a chance to say goodbye."
"Very well."
"Would you like to help?"
"What can I do?"
Asuka asks Rei to check for Shinji in certain places realted to her by Misato. After that,
Asuka takes the letter back from Rei and they split up to look for Shinji.
-------------------------------------------------
Asuka arrives at the scenic overlook of Tokyo-3 and looks around briefly. It's getting late
and the sun is hanging low in the sky over the mountains casting an orange light over
everything.
"He's not here either. Maybe I should go to the station and see if he's there."
She begins to walk in the direction of the train station when she remembers something
from the previous day:
"Whenever I've felt that my world was being ripped apart, I would come here and I would
feel better."
"AH. Of course!"
Now with new hope, Asuka runs off in the direction of the lake that Shinji had taken her to
yesterday.
---The lake near Tokyo-3 just before sunset.---
Shinji is sitting on the grassy hill overlooking the lake remembering the fight with Asuka
from earlier that day. Next to him is a small backpack containing all the possessions he
cared enough about to bring with him.
Shinji is so engulfed in memory, he hasn't registered the passage of time nor does he
hear Asuka walk up behind him.
Panting, 'Thank Gott... I thought I'd lost him...'
"Shinji..."
On hearing his name, Shinji is snapped out of his reverie and turns to face the person
who had addressed him.
yadda...)
I know it took a while, but here's chapter 2. Enjoy!
Confessions in the Rain
Chapter 2
You never know what you have until you lose it.
Part 1
Alexander Pope - "And if I lose thy love, I lose my all."
---August 16, 2018---
The room is quiet save for the sounds of cicadas chirping outside. The sun is shining
brightly through the window illuminating the contents of the room. The room is cluttered
with magazines, clothing, and bits of trash lying on the floor. There are a few movie and
rock band posters on the walls giving the room a lived-in feeling.
Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound can be heard coming from a nearby alarm clock.
Groggily, a hand exits the covers on the futon and whaps the alarm clock's snooze
button effectively shutting it up. Slowly, the mound under the covers begins to stir and a
very disheveled Asuka sits up in her futon and yawns sleepily before realizing that she
had slept in her clothes from the previous day. Paying no attention to what she's wearing,
she begins to change out of her clothes to take a shower.
Outside Asuka's room in the kitchen, Shinji is preparing lunch for the two of them when
Asuka exits her room and goes to take her morning shower.
'Hmm... No greeting this morning. After a night like last, I would have expected her to do
something when she woke up today...' Shinji continues to make thier lunches, but then
realizes how much time he has spent on that instead of their breakfasts. Hurredly, Shinji
begins to prepare a simple breakfast.
A short time later, Asuka finishes her shower and leaves the bathroom already dressed
in her school uniform.
"Where's Misato?"
"She left a message on the machine last night saying that she wasn't going to be back
until later tonight. I think she forgot which day of the week it is again."
"Really, whatever gave you THAT idea?"
"Ummm..."
Sighing, "Nevermind..."
Asuka sits at the table and Shinji places the quick breakfast of toast with jam he's made
in front of her.
"What's this?"
"Breakfast."
"You're joking, right?"
"No..."
"Arrgghh... Do you really expect this to be enough to keep me full until lunch?!?"
"Not really, I think I just spent too much time making our lunches this morning."
"Oh, great, so instead of me having you buy my lunch for me at school, you're going to
have me be hungry all morning!?!"
Noticing that Asuka is becoming more and more irate as the seconds pass Shinji begins
to realize the impending danger: 'Better do something now to calm her down.'
"Look, Asuka, we really don't have time for me to make any more food for breakfast. I
promise that I made a lot of really good food for us today..."
Still angry, Asuka begins her own retort: "Hmm... well, I'd have to agree with you on the
time, but really good food doesn't make up for this." Now standing tall a little more than an
arm's length from Shinji and pointing indignantly at him with her right index finger: "Just
be glad that I started in a good mood today. It's what's keeping me from slapping you silly
right now."
Having said this, Asuka sits back down and quickly finishes her toast. A few minutes later
Asuka and Shinji collect their bags and begin the long walk to school.
Asuka is walking beside Shinji but about half a pace behind as she thinks about this
morning.
'I can't believe that baka didn't make our breakfasts this morning. What was he thinking?
He knows I'm not in a good mood when I'm hungry. Although he did say that he was
spending the time making our lunches. Maybe he was just thinking ahead instead of
thinking about the present. ARRGGHH... I hate trying to get in that little skull of his.'
---Lunchtime---
"Asuka, wake up..."
Shinji is standing by Asuka's desk trying to wake her up. She had fallen asleep during one
of the teacher's speeches about second impact. Her forehead is resting on the keyboard
of her laptop and her hair has fallen around her head obscuring her face from view.
"Asuka..."
"..."
'Hmmm... Let's try something else...'
bending over, Shinji places his mouth near Asuka's ear and...
"ASUKA!!! WAKE UP!!!"
Suddenly, Asuka is wide-awake and sits up incredibly fast. Unfortunately, this causes her
to loose her balance and she falls out of her chair and onto the floor.
"OWWW!!! GOTT VERDAMMT!!!"
Not having expected Asuka to fall on the floor, Shinji just stares at her in surprise until her
German curses snap him out of it and he offers to help her up.
"Ummm... I'm sorry Asuka, I didn't mean to make you fall out of your seat like that, I just
wanted to wake you up to give you your lunch..."
Slapping his hand away, Asuka gets up on her own and stands face to face with him.
"BAKA!!! WHY IN GOTT'S NAME DID YOU TRY TO WAKE ME UP LIKE THAT!?!?"
"I'm S..."
"DON'T! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE SORRY, JUST
GIVE ME MY LUNCH AND GET OUT OF MY FACE!!!"
Hurt, Shinji gives Asuka her lunch and watches her storm off to find Hikari. He's now the
only one left in the classroom.
"Why?"
With his head held low, Shinji lets his shoulders slump, and walks out of the room.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka finds Hikari standing a short distance from the classroom waiting for her. Once
Asuka has walked up next to her, she falls into step with her and they walk to where they
usually eat their lunches.
"Asuka..."
"What?"
"Why did you yell at him like that?"
"The BAKA yelled in my ear to wake me up!"
"But you still didn't need to yell at him like that."
"Yes I did. He caused me to fall out of my chair!"
"That's not a very good reason Asuka..."
"It is to me."
'Why does she always treat him like this? Can't she see how Shinji looks at her?'
"Asuka..."
At this moment, Touji and Kensuke walk up to the girls. They look like they're searching
for something or someone.
"Hey, Hikari-chan, have you seen Shinji anywhere?"
At the mention of Shinji's name, Asuka responds to Touji before Hikari gets the chance:
"Last I knew he was in the classroom, why don't you stooges try looking there."
"ASUKA!!"
"What Hikari?"
"Don't you dare call Touji a stooge."
Asuka reponds to her friends warning with sarcasm dripping from her voice: "Oh, yeah...I
forgot, you to are joined at the hip right?"
Now Asuka's picking on Hikari gets Touji angy as well: "Look, I don't really mind being
called a stooge, but don't talk to my girlfriend and your best friend that way. And we've
already looked there."
"Didn't you have a baka hentai to find?"
With that, Asuka begins to walk away from the three students to find a place to sit down
and eat.
"Do you mind if I eat with you today Touji?"
Blushing slightly: "Um, no, of course not, but why?"
"Well, Asuka seems to be in an exceptionally bad mood today. I just hope she didn't hurt
Shinji too badly when she yelled at him just a while ago..."
Surprised at what they had just heard, Touji and Kensuke both ask the same thing at the
same time: "What about?"
"Well..."
And for the next few minutes, Hikari tells Touji and Kensuke about wht she's been able to
figurre out about what just happened as they walk back towards the clasroom to see if
Shinji had returned.
---After lunch in Classroom 2-A---
Asuka is idly tapping on her keyboard when a message pops up on her screen.
Pilot Sohryu
Somewhat annoyed at the sudden message from the First Child, Asuka begins typing out
a response.
What is it, Wondergirl?
Where is Ikari?
Now surprised that Rei would be interested in Shinji's whereabouts, Asuka gets that
much more annoyed with the blue-haired girl.
How should I know?
You do live with him do you not?
'Damn her logic.'
I would rather not live with that baka hentai, but yeah. Why?
I am...
What?
Concerned
'She's concerned? The DOLL is CONCERENED?' Now very much in a near full rage,
Asuka nearly pounds out the next message she sends to her fellow pilot.
Look, I don't know where he is, and I don't care.
Very well, I will leave you alone.
Good
---Misato's Apartment, about the same time---
Misato is standing just inside her door removing her shoes.
"Ahhh... I thought I'd never get all that paperwork done..."
As she says this, she walks down the narrow hall of her apartment and stops at the
kitchen table. On it is a note with her name on it. By the look of the well-formed kanji, she
figures it must be from Shinji. Opening the note, she begins to read:
Misato,
Life here has become too stressful for my liking. I'm leaving. This time I won't be coming
back.
Shinji.
Upon reading the last line, Misato collapses next to the table and begins to cry
uncontrollably. For her, this is almost as painful as having lost Kaji, but it's more like
having lost her son.
---Katsuragi residence, 4:30 pm---
"Tadaima..."
"Asuka, get in here."
"Huh?"
Hearing Misato's voice just now, Asuka can tell she's not in a very good mood. Slowly,
Asuka walks into the kitchen and sees Misato sitting in one of the chairs surrounding the
table. Misato waits until Asuka is across the table from her before she begins.
"He's gone."
"Who?"
Misato doesn't say anything, she just slides the note across the table to Asuka. She
doesn't even need to open it to know who it's from and what it says.
"OPEN IT!"
Asuka slowly complies, opening the letter and reading it.
After reading the letter, Asuka nearly breaks down herself, but manages to keep enough
control to keep her facade up, but just barely.
"What did you do to him?"
"..."
For once, Asuka is speechless as the ramifications of the letter sink into her
consciousness.
"WHAT DID Y..."
"Where did he go!?!?"
"What?"
Surprised at Asuka's question more than her outburst, Misato pulls back a little bit and
just sits there staring at Asuka.
"WHERE DID HE GO!?!?"
Seeing that Asuka is now close to tears, Misato tells Asuka about some of the places she
might find Shinji if he's not already gone. The moment she's finished, Asuka bolts out the
door and begins her search for Shinji. She begins by going to a few of the places they've
been together and a few places he's told her about. After trying the first few places, she
figures it's time to go look for him at Rei's.
-----Rei's apartment 6:00 PM----
Asuka is standing in front of the appartment labeled 402 in the more run-down section of
Tokyo-3. She steps forward and knocks on the door. A few moments later, Rei opens the
door and looks at Asuka.
"Has Shinji been here at all?"
"No. Why?"
"Rei, there's something you should know."
"..."
Asuka hands Rei the note that Shinji had left for misato. Rei takes it and begins to read.
"I see."
"What?"
"That Ikari-kun has left."
"Well don't you want to do something about it?!?"
"What could I do if he has already left?"
"We don't know if he's gone yet! We have to at least look for him to make sure!"
"Why do you wish to find him?"
"What?"
"Why do you wish to find him? Earlier you said you did not care where he was."
'Why do I want to find him?'
Because he is your friend.
'No, that's not it.'
Because you wish to beat the living daylights out of him.
'NO!'
Because you want him to stay.
'Yes, that's it.'
Because you want him to stay with you.
'Yes.'
Because you love him.
'Love him?'
Yes, because when you read that letter, you realized just how much he meant to you.
'No! I just don't want to loose another person in my life.'
Because you love him and everyone who you have loved has left you.
Images of her mother, father and Unit 02 flash through her mind until it settles on a
continuous stream of images of Shinji ranging from him piloting, to him smiling, him
walking next to her, him blushing from her teasing, then they freeze on him kissing her
last night.
'Yes. I do love him. And he's left me just like everyone else.'
Because you drove him away.
'Yes.'
There is still a chance he hasn't left.
'Yeah, but not much of one.'
But it is still a chance. USE IT.
Seeing Rei staring back at her awaiting an answer to her question, Asuka snaps out of
her introspection and speaks:
"Because I don't wnat him to leave before I have a chance to say goodbye."
"Very well."
"Would you like to help?"
"What can I do?"
Asuka asks Rei to check for Shinji in certain places realted to her by Misato. After that,
Asuka takes the letter back from Rei and they split up to look for Shinji.
-------------------------------------------------
Asuka arrives at the scenic overlook of Tokyo-3 and looks around briefly. It's getting late
and the sun is hanging low in the sky over the mountains casting an orange light over
everything.
"He's not here either. Maybe I should go to the station and see if he's there."
She begins to walk in the direction of the train station when she remembers something
from the previous day:
"Whenever I've felt that my world was being ripped apart, I would come here and I would
feel better."
"AH. Of course!"
Now with new hope, Asuka runs off in the direction of the lake that Shinji had taken her to
yesterday.
---The lake near Tokyo-3 just before sunset.---
Shinji is sitting on the grassy hill overlooking the lake remembering the fight with Asuka
from earlier that day. Next to him is a small backpack containing all the possessions he
cared enough about to bring with him.
Shinji is so engulfed in memory, he hasn't registered the passage of time nor does he
hear Asuka walk up behind him.
Panting, 'Thank Gott... I thought I'd lost him...'
"Shinji..."
On hearing his name, Shinji is snapped out of his reverie and turns to face the person
who had addressed him.