Before you get too engrossed in my little story here, I just thought I should offer special thanks to dennisud. Not only did his review on the first chapter prompt me into continuing this story, he also took the time to review every single one of my stories and offer me his views on each.
By the way dennisud, I agree, my fics were kind of short so I put a little extra effort into this one, just for you.
DISCLAIMER: - I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. If I did, I'd be rolling in the dough and wouldn't lower myself to the level of writing for the online masses. However, seeing as Gainax are the owners, writing for all you wonderful people out there is enough to keep me happy for now.
Shattered Glass Minds a Neon Genesis Evangelion fan fiction by Richard Abraham
Chapter 2 - Replay Value
"Stop this! Please stop it now!" Was the desperate cry heard throughout Central Dogma and within the cockpit of Evangelion Unit-01
"Let me help her!" A distraught Shinji yelled at the image in the communications window in front of him.
This was the second time that Shinji had made the request, and the second time he had been ignored.
Closing the video link to command. Shinji blew out a half sigh, half snarl of frustration. It was pretty obvious that no one there was going to help him, especially after the commander re-affirmed the freeze order on Unit 01.
Asuka's screams were still disturbingly clear, coming in through the active audio link to Unit 02
He couldn't take this anymore. Listening to her pain, it was just too much. He should switch off the radio transmission, after all, why should he torture himself by listening to this if he was helpless to do anything.
No!
He wasn't helpless!
He had hundreds of tons of angel killing technology surrounding him. He couldn't accept that there was nothing he could do but sit there and listen to Asuka's screams.
Gripping the handles on the butterfly controls in front of him, Shinji closed his eyes and tried to force the activation of the Eva he was sitting in by recapturing the feelings he had felt during his battle with the fourteenth angel.
Desperation!
Anger!
Fear!
Need!
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Most mornings for Shinji were pretty uneventful.
He would wake up at six sharp and lie in bed for a few minutes to savour the warmth and comfort of his bed. After a couple of minutes, he would lazily get out of bed and don either his school clothes if he had school or... well, actually, he wore his school clothes whether he had school or not.
Only after his leisurely 'activation routine', would he set about his morning chores.
Unfortunately, this was not to be the case today as a redheaded girl finally entered his room, growing frustrated with knocking on his door with no response ( though, to be fair to Shinji, she had only bothered knocking once).
When Shinji awoke, it was with a startled yelp and a leap that would have cleared him from his bed had he not still been under the covers. Thus it was a thoroughly drenched and confused Shinji that looked up at Asuka from his position; half on the floor and clinging to his bed.
He couldn't help but notice the huge smirk that she wore and the amusement in her eyes.
Her eyes especially intrigued the young pilot.
Since her homecoming the previous afternoon, Shinji had barely even seen Asuka. She had decided that she was tired and needed to rest less than two minutes after walking through the door.
He had taken note of how her eyes were once again dull, like they were when Shinji had first encountered Asuka after the last angel attack.
Shinji did not especially think of the mean humour in her eyes at the moment as much of an improvement.
"Asuka? What are you doing in my room."
"Take a look at your clock idiot." Replied Asuka, the humour in her eyes fading fast.
Shinji did as ordered and checked the display on his bedside clock. Then he blinked and checked again.
"Ack! 7:30? B-But how, I always set my alarm for six?"
Shinji wasn't really expecting an answer to this, a fact that he was sure Asuka picked up on, given he was already halfway to the bathroom by the time he had finished speaking.
Fifteen minutes later, Shinji burst out of the bathroom heading towards the kitchen. If he was lucky, he might be able to stop himself and Asuka from going hungry at lunch today.
Glancing at his watch to give him an idea of how long he had to prepare lunch, Shinji sighed as he realised that there just wasn't any time to make anything. In fact, even if he left right now, it probably still wouldn't be enough time to make it to school on time.
Bracing himself for the inevitable verbal thrashing he was about to receive from his fiery haired work, class and room-mate, Shinji made his way to the hallway, where she would no doubt be waiting impatiently for him.
Only Asuka wasn't in the hallway. Shinji spotted her in the lounge, blankly staring at the images shown to her from the screen of the television set.
Standing at the entrance to the room (which was also conveniently out of arms reach of the rather irritable redhead), Shinji couldn't help but stand and stare at the scene.
Shinji had always secretly admired the fierce beauty of his roommate. Her energy and the determination with which she attacked all aspects of her life were traits that Shinji thought all added to her beauty.
Which was perhaps why it was so disconcerting seeing her sitting in front of the television, with a near blank look on her face. It was almost as if she was looking at the images without actually seeing them.
The scene in front of him reminded him of how she had looked, being ushered into an ambulance before being rushed away to headquarters.
Shinji shuddered.
Asuka's mood was proving to be somewhat erratic since her return yesterday afternoon. The worried boy almost wished she would respond to him with her usual anger. That was an emotion he knew how to respond to (apologise profusely and retreat with all haste in the opposite direction to the approaching storm).
"Asuka? Aren't you coming to school today?"
"No." A simple response, delivered with neither thought nor emotion.
Shinji was a little upset at this confession, Asuka had been spending less and less time at school over the past month, culminating with her being absent for the entire last week.
Admittedly, though, Shinji was hardly innocent of a little truancy himself.
After the thirteenth and fourteenth angels, Shinji had spent a lot of time off school, too tied up in his own depression and guilt to bother with something that had seemed trivial at the time.
That had changed the night he had broken down in Misato's arms. Since that night, his relationship with his other flat-mate and guardian had slowly healed the rifts caused by her perceived betrayal over the secrecy over the fourth child's identity.
Indeed, Shinji's relationship with Misato could, perhaps for the first time since he had started living in her apartment, be compared to that of brother and older sister (or mother occasionally, depending on how the major's mood swung).
It was a bond that Asuka did not share with her guardian, and it appeared to Shinji that Asuka would not have it any other way.
There seemed to be a very small number of people that Asuka had actually opened up to with any real depth. Thinking of one of these people prompted an idea to form in the young teen's mind.
"Hikari has been asking after you. She'd like to know when you'll be coming back."
Apparently, the class representative had already approached Asuka on this matter during her two-night stay at Hikari's house, just before coming back home.
The statement did indeed get the young girl's attention, Shinji could practically feel the guilty flinch that ran through her.
After a moment of thought, Asuka eventually responded:
"Tell her... Tell her, I'll see her tomorrow."
Shinji smiled and replied with a barely audible "O.K.", lest she hear him and decide to change her mind.
The young pilot quickly left the apartment and set a brisk pace for school, if he was lucky, he'd make it there just in time for the tardy bell. Then he checked his watch, the information he received from the device prompted him to up his pace to a jog.
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Shinji stood just inside the still open door to his class and sighed dismally as he saw what lay within.
Yet more classmates had disappeared, their parents most likely having moved them to safer locations. The class was now woefully empty, with only eight seats being filled at the moment, there were rumours flying around hinting at a possible merger of classes.
Shinji didn't have any time to contemplate the rumour as the tardy bell rang, prompting the boy to move to his seat and sit down.
The roll call was over quickly (unsurprisingly), which meant that the old lecturer could launch right into his thrilling commentary on how the second impact had affected the different family inter-relationships and economics in his hometown.
Actually, Shinji was pretty relieved that although the class size had changed dramatically, the lecture content hadn't. He figured that he had until after lunch, before the old teacher got onto anything noteworthy (as in, the curriculum material). Until then, he could pretty much amuse himself.
Normally, this was no effort on his part. He would fake the 'attentive student' role, looking as if he was diligently taking notes (while having online conversations with his two friends of course).
Today was different, he just couldn't focus on anything for more than a few seconds before his thoughts turned to his troubled flat-mate.
When Kensuke had inevitably contacted him via the school network chat channel, Shinji had cut his friend off before he even started with a promise to talk with him during first break.
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"So Shinji, you ok man?"
Shinji paused in the middle of closing down his computer station, looking at Kensuke with 'Huh?' written all over his face.
"Huh?" He asked, perhaps a redundant question, given that his face had already asked that exact question.
"It's been two weeks straight now, and you've not missed school even once. I gotta tell you, there are rumours flying. People are actually beginning to recognise you again."
"Oh har har." Shinji replied, sarcasm soaking every syllable.
Kensuke laughed at his own humour briefly. Settling down, he continued:
"Sorry man, couldn't help myself. Though seriously, what happened to you those two weeks? You've never been gone for so long before."
Shinji sighed. This was not the first time that Kensuke had asked him about his absence, however Shinji had always body swerved that particular question before.
He could tell by the somewhat hopeless expression on his bespectacled friend's face, that he was expecting another such manoeuvre. Shinji was genuinely touched by his friends concern, a concern that seemed to grow the more resolutely he had tried to avoid Kensuke's questions.
"After... everything that had happened then, I-I just couldn't face the thought of coming back to class and seeing all of those accusing stares."
Kensuke appeared slightly confused.
"Accusing stares, but why would anyone..." He was interrupted by Shinji.
"It's just the state of mind I was in. I was kind of, wallowing, in self-pity."
What Shinji didn't tell his friend was that he had spent almost all of one of those two weeks with Misato. She had managed to wrangle it so that she could spend more time at home with Shinji that week.
During that week, he and Misato had talked more to and about each other than they had in the months previous.
The conversation was mercifully ended by the bell ringing, signalling that the first break period was over.
Unfortunately for Shinji, today looked like being one of the days when his old teacher would forget about the curriculum he was supposed to be teaching, instead droning on about life before second impact for the rest of the day.
While normally this would have provided an excuse for the three stooges to abuse the school chat system, Shinji was not in the mood for chatting. In fact he would have preferred the distraction afforded by an actual lecture.
At least then he might be able to put Asuka to the back of his mind for a while.
Shinji fell into his own thoughts and worries, the outside world held at bay by the intensity of his ruminations.
An indeterminate time later, Shinji was startled out of his introspection by someone shaking him vigorously.
"Hey Shinji! Wake up man, the lunch bell's already rang."
"Huh? Lunch already?"
Kensuke laughed at his friend's confusion. Shinji looked so much like Touji at that moment, he couldn't help himself.
"Yeah, so hurry up I've still got some things to discuss with you." The tone of the bespectacled boy's voice was pure mischief.
Shinji was certain that his friend had something at least mildly embarrassing to torture him with, but he knew there was no way other than forward so he ploughed ahead anyway.
"Uh... What things?"
"I'll tell you as soon as I get back from the cafeteria. I'll meet you at the usual spot okay?"
"Fair enough, see you then."
Shinji watched Kensuke disappear from the classroom and sighed in resignation. If anything, he was even more apprehensive over what his friend had to say to him.
Luckily he didn't have to wallow in his anxiety for long. His friend returned shortly carrying a rather modest looking meal.
"Hi Kensuke. So tell me, what were you wanting to discuss with me?"
Kensuke grinned at the nervousness in his friend's voice.
"Well." He said, dragging the word out to prolong the agony, "I was speaking to Toji last night..."
Shinji immediately paled and slapped his palm to his forehead.
"Argh, that's right! I was supposed to visit Mari with him yesterday!"
"Bingo." Kensuke laughed at his friend's distress.
"I completely forgot. I got so caught up with Asuka coming back that it just slipped my mind.
Toji's not too mad is he?"
"He wasn't too happy with you, but you know Toji, it'll all be forgotten for tomorrow."
Shinji sensed something unfinished in that last sentence. Being doomed already, he decided he had nothing to lose by enquiring further.
"Tomorrow?"
It wasn't until he had asked that he realised what was coming next.
"Yeah, you're going to make it up to him tomorrow. This time he wants you to bring dinner with you. Says the least you can do to make up for disappointing Mari is to save him from the hospital food."
Shinji let loose a mock sigh of horror:
"Cooking dinner for Toji? When will I find any time to do my homework?"
Both of the boys laughed a bit at that. Toji's appetite was, after all, near legendary within the class.
It was at this point that the two of them were interrupted.
"Shinji?" Hikari Horaki questioned, bringing the attention of the two boys on to the class representative, "Can I speak to you please?"
Kensuke immediately picked up on the young girls unspoken wish for privacy and decided to make himself scarce. He slipped away, muttering something about visiting the john.
Shinji returned his focus to the class representative in front of him.
"Um, sure Miss Horaki."
Some of the anxiety Hikari had been holding on to evaporated upon hearing Shinji's formal address.
"Shinji, I thought we'd already covered this. It's okay to call me Hikari when we're not in class." She smiled to emphasize her point.
Shinji smiled back, mildly embarrassed by his faux pas.
"Sorry Hikari. What did you want to speak to me about?"
At this, some of Hikari's earlier anxiety crept back into her posture.
"It's about Asuka."
Shinji's mood instantly turned sombre.
"What about Asuka?" He asked.
"Well, it's just that... She did go back to Miss Katsuragi's apartment yesterday didn't she?"
"Yes. Didn't Misato pick her up at your place?"
"Yes. Sorry... it's just that... I thought I'd see her today. She's spent so much time off school the past few weeks. I thought with her going home yesterday, that she might feel up to coming in today. I guess I'm just worried about her."
Shinji was going to re-assure Hikari by passing along Asuka's promise to see her tomorrow, but he was struck with a different idea instead.
"Hikari? Do you think, you could maybe... come back to the apartment with me after school?"
Shinji had to admit, he was somewhat confused by Hikari's reaction to his request.
The girl in question was currently illuminated by an intense blush that looked as if it quite possibly reached her toes.
Of course, the poor boy had no idea as to why on earth the girl would respond as such to his innocuous request. Well, that is, until the girl in question tried to verbalise her response.
"Shinji! I-I hardly think that it's appropriate for you to make such an offer considering..."
Shinji interrupted the class representative's speech with a strangled, "Ack!" as he finally realised the young girls misunderstanding.
"No wait! It's not like that, it's for Asuka. I-I just want you to talk to Asuka."
Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, and to hopefully let his blush recede, Shinji continued at a less frenzied pace.
"I don't think everything is okay with Asuka and I'm worried for her. I was hoping seeing you might help cheer her up a little. I've already tried but she's spent most of her time back home in her room. She doesn't really speak to me at the best of times you know."
Hikari's flushed face now represented an entirely different kind of embarrassment as she digested what her classmate was telling her.
"Oh. I'm so sorry Shinji. I shouldn't have assumed..." The girl's voice trailed off into embarrassment.
Shinji once again smiled at the mortified girl in front of him.
"No, I'm sorry. I should have phrased it differently, it was quite suggestive wasn't it." He finished with a laugh, mostly aimed at himself.
Hikari smiled back at Shinji, her full body blush in full retreat. This time there was humour clear in her eyes.
"You know Mr Ikari." She began, her tone matching the look in her eyes, "You've changed a lot over the last month. You wouldn't mind telling me the secret to your transformation would you?" She questioned lightly.
Shinji was caught slightly off guard by the question. Not by the content, Kensuke, and even Toji had commented on his newfound attitude. He was surprised however, that Hikari knew him well enough to notice the changes in his behaviour.
To be fair though, the changes hadn't exactly happened overnight... well, not all of them anyway.
He had been making an effort to slowly climb out of his shell since the night he broke down in Misato's arms.
Just last week he had visited his friend, Toji in the hospital. And it only took him three hours of agonising over whether or not he should go.
Bringing his thoughts back to the question that had been asked of him, Shinji gave the only answer that he could think of:
"I guess, I've just been happy."
- End of part 2 -
Authors notes
Well, at roughly 3100 words, this is the biggest single chapter I've ever written. Quite pathetic actually huh?
As always, I really need feedback on this. Remember, I no longer have a pre-reader checking over my works and making sure I don't post garbage. Thus it is essential that I get your views, comments and criticisms so I can avoid repeating my mistakes.
I honestly don't know if I'll be writing anything after I finish this story. It depends a lot on the reviews I get, whether or not I continue to write.
However, I've already promised that I would finish off this story, so that's one thing to look forward to.
Richard.
By the way dennisud, I agree, my fics were kind of short so I put a little extra effort into this one, just for you.
DISCLAIMER: - I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. If I did, I'd be rolling in the dough and wouldn't lower myself to the level of writing for the online masses. However, seeing as Gainax are the owners, writing for all you wonderful people out there is enough to keep me happy for now.
Shattered Glass Minds a Neon Genesis Evangelion fan fiction by Richard Abraham
Chapter 2 - Replay Value
"Stop this! Please stop it now!" Was the desperate cry heard throughout Central Dogma and within the cockpit of Evangelion Unit-01
"Let me help her!" A distraught Shinji yelled at the image in the communications window in front of him.
This was the second time that Shinji had made the request, and the second time he had been ignored.
Closing the video link to command. Shinji blew out a half sigh, half snarl of frustration. It was pretty obvious that no one there was going to help him, especially after the commander re-affirmed the freeze order on Unit 01.
Asuka's screams were still disturbingly clear, coming in through the active audio link to Unit 02
He couldn't take this anymore. Listening to her pain, it was just too much. He should switch off the radio transmission, after all, why should he torture himself by listening to this if he was helpless to do anything.
No!
He wasn't helpless!
He had hundreds of tons of angel killing technology surrounding him. He couldn't accept that there was nothing he could do but sit there and listen to Asuka's screams.
Gripping the handles on the butterfly controls in front of him, Shinji closed his eyes and tried to force the activation of the Eva he was sitting in by recapturing the feelings he had felt during his battle with the fourteenth angel.
Desperation!
Anger!
Fear!
Need!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most mornings for Shinji were pretty uneventful.
He would wake up at six sharp and lie in bed for a few minutes to savour the warmth and comfort of his bed. After a couple of minutes, he would lazily get out of bed and don either his school clothes if he had school or... well, actually, he wore his school clothes whether he had school or not.
Only after his leisurely 'activation routine', would he set about his morning chores.
Unfortunately, this was not to be the case today as a redheaded girl finally entered his room, growing frustrated with knocking on his door with no response ( though, to be fair to Shinji, she had only bothered knocking once).
When Shinji awoke, it was with a startled yelp and a leap that would have cleared him from his bed had he not still been under the covers. Thus it was a thoroughly drenched and confused Shinji that looked up at Asuka from his position; half on the floor and clinging to his bed.
He couldn't help but notice the huge smirk that she wore and the amusement in her eyes.
Her eyes especially intrigued the young pilot.
Since her homecoming the previous afternoon, Shinji had barely even seen Asuka. She had decided that she was tired and needed to rest less than two minutes after walking through the door.
He had taken note of how her eyes were once again dull, like they were when Shinji had first encountered Asuka after the last angel attack.
Shinji did not especially think of the mean humour in her eyes at the moment as much of an improvement.
"Asuka? What are you doing in my room."
"Take a look at your clock idiot." Replied Asuka, the humour in her eyes fading fast.
Shinji did as ordered and checked the display on his bedside clock. Then he blinked and checked again.
"Ack! 7:30? B-But how, I always set my alarm for six?"
Shinji wasn't really expecting an answer to this, a fact that he was sure Asuka picked up on, given he was already halfway to the bathroom by the time he had finished speaking.
Fifteen minutes later, Shinji burst out of the bathroom heading towards the kitchen. If he was lucky, he might be able to stop himself and Asuka from going hungry at lunch today.
Glancing at his watch to give him an idea of how long he had to prepare lunch, Shinji sighed as he realised that there just wasn't any time to make anything. In fact, even if he left right now, it probably still wouldn't be enough time to make it to school on time.
Bracing himself for the inevitable verbal thrashing he was about to receive from his fiery haired work, class and room-mate, Shinji made his way to the hallway, where she would no doubt be waiting impatiently for him.
Only Asuka wasn't in the hallway. Shinji spotted her in the lounge, blankly staring at the images shown to her from the screen of the television set.
Standing at the entrance to the room (which was also conveniently out of arms reach of the rather irritable redhead), Shinji couldn't help but stand and stare at the scene.
Shinji had always secretly admired the fierce beauty of his roommate. Her energy and the determination with which she attacked all aspects of her life were traits that Shinji thought all added to her beauty.
Which was perhaps why it was so disconcerting seeing her sitting in front of the television, with a near blank look on her face. It was almost as if she was looking at the images without actually seeing them.
The scene in front of him reminded him of how she had looked, being ushered into an ambulance before being rushed away to headquarters.
Shinji shuddered.
Asuka's mood was proving to be somewhat erratic since her return yesterday afternoon. The worried boy almost wished she would respond to him with her usual anger. That was an emotion he knew how to respond to (apologise profusely and retreat with all haste in the opposite direction to the approaching storm).
"Asuka? Aren't you coming to school today?"
"No." A simple response, delivered with neither thought nor emotion.
Shinji was a little upset at this confession, Asuka had been spending less and less time at school over the past month, culminating with her being absent for the entire last week.
Admittedly, though, Shinji was hardly innocent of a little truancy himself.
After the thirteenth and fourteenth angels, Shinji had spent a lot of time off school, too tied up in his own depression and guilt to bother with something that had seemed trivial at the time.
That had changed the night he had broken down in Misato's arms. Since that night, his relationship with his other flat-mate and guardian had slowly healed the rifts caused by her perceived betrayal over the secrecy over the fourth child's identity.
Indeed, Shinji's relationship with Misato could, perhaps for the first time since he had started living in her apartment, be compared to that of brother and older sister (or mother occasionally, depending on how the major's mood swung).
It was a bond that Asuka did not share with her guardian, and it appeared to Shinji that Asuka would not have it any other way.
There seemed to be a very small number of people that Asuka had actually opened up to with any real depth. Thinking of one of these people prompted an idea to form in the young teen's mind.
"Hikari has been asking after you. She'd like to know when you'll be coming back."
Apparently, the class representative had already approached Asuka on this matter during her two-night stay at Hikari's house, just before coming back home.
The statement did indeed get the young girl's attention, Shinji could practically feel the guilty flinch that ran through her.
After a moment of thought, Asuka eventually responded:
"Tell her... Tell her, I'll see her tomorrow."
Shinji smiled and replied with a barely audible "O.K.", lest she hear him and decide to change her mind.
The young pilot quickly left the apartment and set a brisk pace for school, if he was lucky, he'd make it there just in time for the tardy bell. Then he checked his watch, the information he received from the device prompted him to up his pace to a jog.
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Shinji stood just inside the still open door to his class and sighed dismally as he saw what lay within.
Yet more classmates had disappeared, their parents most likely having moved them to safer locations. The class was now woefully empty, with only eight seats being filled at the moment, there were rumours flying around hinting at a possible merger of classes.
Shinji didn't have any time to contemplate the rumour as the tardy bell rang, prompting the boy to move to his seat and sit down.
The roll call was over quickly (unsurprisingly), which meant that the old lecturer could launch right into his thrilling commentary on how the second impact had affected the different family inter-relationships and economics in his hometown.
Actually, Shinji was pretty relieved that although the class size had changed dramatically, the lecture content hadn't. He figured that he had until after lunch, before the old teacher got onto anything noteworthy (as in, the curriculum material). Until then, he could pretty much amuse himself.
Normally, this was no effort on his part. He would fake the 'attentive student' role, looking as if he was diligently taking notes (while having online conversations with his two friends of course).
Today was different, he just couldn't focus on anything for more than a few seconds before his thoughts turned to his troubled flat-mate.
When Kensuke had inevitably contacted him via the school network chat channel, Shinji had cut his friend off before he even started with a promise to talk with him during first break.
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"So Shinji, you ok man?"
Shinji paused in the middle of closing down his computer station, looking at Kensuke with 'Huh?' written all over his face.
"Huh?" He asked, perhaps a redundant question, given that his face had already asked that exact question.
"It's been two weeks straight now, and you've not missed school even once. I gotta tell you, there are rumours flying. People are actually beginning to recognise you again."
"Oh har har." Shinji replied, sarcasm soaking every syllable.
Kensuke laughed at his own humour briefly. Settling down, he continued:
"Sorry man, couldn't help myself. Though seriously, what happened to you those two weeks? You've never been gone for so long before."
Shinji sighed. This was not the first time that Kensuke had asked him about his absence, however Shinji had always body swerved that particular question before.
He could tell by the somewhat hopeless expression on his bespectacled friend's face, that he was expecting another such manoeuvre. Shinji was genuinely touched by his friends concern, a concern that seemed to grow the more resolutely he had tried to avoid Kensuke's questions.
"After... everything that had happened then, I-I just couldn't face the thought of coming back to class and seeing all of those accusing stares."
Kensuke appeared slightly confused.
"Accusing stares, but why would anyone..." He was interrupted by Shinji.
"It's just the state of mind I was in. I was kind of, wallowing, in self-pity."
What Shinji didn't tell his friend was that he had spent almost all of one of those two weeks with Misato. She had managed to wrangle it so that she could spend more time at home with Shinji that week.
During that week, he and Misato had talked more to and about each other than they had in the months previous.
The conversation was mercifully ended by the bell ringing, signalling that the first break period was over.
Unfortunately for Shinji, today looked like being one of the days when his old teacher would forget about the curriculum he was supposed to be teaching, instead droning on about life before second impact for the rest of the day.
While normally this would have provided an excuse for the three stooges to abuse the school chat system, Shinji was not in the mood for chatting. In fact he would have preferred the distraction afforded by an actual lecture.
At least then he might be able to put Asuka to the back of his mind for a while.
Shinji fell into his own thoughts and worries, the outside world held at bay by the intensity of his ruminations.
An indeterminate time later, Shinji was startled out of his introspection by someone shaking him vigorously.
"Hey Shinji! Wake up man, the lunch bell's already rang."
"Huh? Lunch already?"
Kensuke laughed at his friend's confusion. Shinji looked so much like Touji at that moment, he couldn't help himself.
"Yeah, so hurry up I've still got some things to discuss with you." The tone of the bespectacled boy's voice was pure mischief.
Shinji was certain that his friend had something at least mildly embarrassing to torture him with, but he knew there was no way other than forward so he ploughed ahead anyway.
"Uh... What things?"
"I'll tell you as soon as I get back from the cafeteria. I'll meet you at the usual spot okay?"
"Fair enough, see you then."
Shinji watched Kensuke disappear from the classroom and sighed in resignation. If anything, he was even more apprehensive over what his friend had to say to him.
Luckily he didn't have to wallow in his anxiety for long. His friend returned shortly carrying a rather modest looking meal.
"Hi Kensuke. So tell me, what were you wanting to discuss with me?"
Kensuke grinned at the nervousness in his friend's voice.
"Well." He said, dragging the word out to prolong the agony, "I was speaking to Toji last night..."
Shinji immediately paled and slapped his palm to his forehead.
"Argh, that's right! I was supposed to visit Mari with him yesterday!"
"Bingo." Kensuke laughed at his friend's distress.
"I completely forgot. I got so caught up with Asuka coming back that it just slipped my mind.
Toji's not too mad is he?"
"He wasn't too happy with you, but you know Toji, it'll all be forgotten for tomorrow."
Shinji sensed something unfinished in that last sentence. Being doomed already, he decided he had nothing to lose by enquiring further.
"Tomorrow?"
It wasn't until he had asked that he realised what was coming next.
"Yeah, you're going to make it up to him tomorrow. This time he wants you to bring dinner with you. Says the least you can do to make up for disappointing Mari is to save him from the hospital food."
Shinji let loose a mock sigh of horror:
"Cooking dinner for Toji? When will I find any time to do my homework?"
Both of the boys laughed a bit at that. Toji's appetite was, after all, near legendary within the class.
It was at this point that the two of them were interrupted.
"Shinji?" Hikari Horaki questioned, bringing the attention of the two boys on to the class representative, "Can I speak to you please?"
Kensuke immediately picked up on the young girls unspoken wish for privacy and decided to make himself scarce. He slipped away, muttering something about visiting the john.
Shinji returned his focus to the class representative in front of him.
"Um, sure Miss Horaki."
Some of the anxiety Hikari had been holding on to evaporated upon hearing Shinji's formal address.
"Shinji, I thought we'd already covered this. It's okay to call me Hikari when we're not in class." She smiled to emphasize her point.
Shinji smiled back, mildly embarrassed by his faux pas.
"Sorry Hikari. What did you want to speak to me about?"
At this, some of Hikari's earlier anxiety crept back into her posture.
"It's about Asuka."
Shinji's mood instantly turned sombre.
"What about Asuka?" He asked.
"Well, it's just that... She did go back to Miss Katsuragi's apartment yesterday didn't she?"
"Yes. Didn't Misato pick her up at your place?"
"Yes. Sorry... it's just that... I thought I'd see her today. She's spent so much time off school the past few weeks. I thought with her going home yesterday, that she might feel up to coming in today. I guess I'm just worried about her."
Shinji was going to re-assure Hikari by passing along Asuka's promise to see her tomorrow, but he was struck with a different idea instead.
"Hikari? Do you think, you could maybe... come back to the apartment with me after school?"
Shinji had to admit, he was somewhat confused by Hikari's reaction to his request.
The girl in question was currently illuminated by an intense blush that looked as if it quite possibly reached her toes.
Of course, the poor boy had no idea as to why on earth the girl would respond as such to his innocuous request. Well, that is, until the girl in question tried to verbalise her response.
"Shinji! I-I hardly think that it's appropriate for you to make such an offer considering..."
Shinji interrupted the class representative's speech with a strangled, "Ack!" as he finally realised the young girls misunderstanding.
"No wait! It's not like that, it's for Asuka. I-I just want you to talk to Asuka."
Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, and to hopefully let his blush recede, Shinji continued at a less frenzied pace.
"I don't think everything is okay with Asuka and I'm worried for her. I was hoping seeing you might help cheer her up a little. I've already tried but she's spent most of her time back home in her room. She doesn't really speak to me at the best of times you know."
Hikari's flushed face now represented an entirely different kind of embarrassment as she digested what her classmate was telling her.
"Oh. I'm so sorry Shinji. I shouldn't have assumed..." The girl's voice trailed off into embarrassment.
Shinji once again smiled at the mortified girl in front of him.
"No, I'm sorry. I should have phrased it differently, it was quite suggestive wasn't it." He finished with a laugh, mostly aimed at himself.
Hikari smiled back at Shinji, her full body blush in full retreat. This time there was humour clear in her eyes.
"You know Mr Ikari." She began, her tone matching the look in her eyes, "You've changed a lot over the last month. You wouldn't mind telling me the secret to your transformation would you?" She questioned lightly.
Shinji was caught slightly off guard by the question. Not by the content, Kensuke, and even Toji had commented on his newfound attitude. He was surprised however, that Hikari knew him well enough to notice the changes in his behaviour.
To be fair though, the changes hadn't exactly happened overnight... well, not all of them anyway.
He had been making an effort to slowly climb out of his shell since the night he broke down in Misato's arms.
Just last week he had visited his friend, Toji in the hospital. And it only took him three hours of agonising over whether or not he should go.
Bringing his thoughts back to the question that had been asked of him, Shinji gave the only answer that he could think of:
"I guess, I've just been happy."
- End of part 2 -
Authors notes
Well, at roughly 3100 words, this is the biggest single chapter I've ever written. Quite pathetic actually huh?
As always, I really need feedback on this. Remember, I no longer have a pre-reader checking over my works and making sure I don't post garbage. Thus it is essential that I get your views, comments and criticisms so I can avoid repeating my mistakes.
I honestly don't know if I'll be writing anything after I finish this story. It depends a lot on the reviews I get, whether or not I continue to write.
However, I've already promised that I would finish off this story, so that's one thing to look forward to.
Richard.