Author's note: Thank you for your reviews. I also respect some of the constructive criticism, just note that any OOC occurrences are to be somewhat expected since this is a rewrite. Although we attempt to do our best in maintaining a characters personality as they were created, remember that because this is a rewrite, some event will occur that will eventually have drastic results on any and all characters attitudes and personalities. Shinji may not stay a wimp, or a lonely depressed child forever.
This chapter was originally much longer, but it got so long, that I've decided to split it up into yet another chapter, so that the readers will have a chance to digest this chapter instead of throwing the whole thing at them at once. Besides, it's been a while since I've added a new chapter, and I'm sure that some of my readers are becoming impatient.
One last thing, I've rewritten the first chapter. While it's not necessary that you read it if you already have, it is considerably better than the original, and there is an important detail that has changed. We've decided that Shinji hasn't met Rei yet, so if you're confused about that, just read chapter one and you'll understand.
Anyway, enjoy chapter six!!!
Chapter 6 "New Suspicions"
**
"Shinji? Shinji are you awake?"
The boy barely stirred, obviously still in a deep sleep.
"Come on, it's time to get up. I thought I was bad."
Still, no movement came from the young Ikari. It was then that the older Guardian had decided to enter the room slowly and cautiously. She hovered over the boy, wondering if he was dead. Just to make sure, she began to shake his shoulder. It obviously had the desired effect, because he began to wake up.
Misato still hovered over the boy with anticipation. "Come on now, wakey wakey."
Finally, Shinji opened his eyes, only to be greeted by the Director of Operations. She startled him, and as a result, he quickly jumped back. Misato was somewhat displeased. "Well, good morning to you, too."
After the Eva pilot got a hold of his surroundings, he replied in an apologetic tone. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to being woken up like that."
Misato, who was still in her pajamas, stood up and began to walk towards the kitchen. "Don't tell me that I look that hideous in the morning."
"Not at all." Replied the boy as he caught himself and displayed a blush.
Misato's head once again appeared in the doorway. "Your so sweet. By the way, feel free to make whatever you want to make for lunch."
After she walked off again, Shinji remembered that his first day of school was today. 'Dammit, I really don't want to go. I don't think school is really for me.'
He reluctantly got up and headed for the kitchen. It was there that he saw Misato guzzling down her fist beer.
"YYEEEAAAHHH!!" Screamed the purple-haired woman. "That was awesome."
The boy could little except sweat drop. "Um, drinking already?"
Misato put the empty can down and looked to the boy with a gleeful smile. "Nothing hit the spot like that first beer in the morning."
Ignoring the comment, Shinji headed for the cabinets to hopefully find something to eat for lunch. It wasn't long before he was quickly dismayed. 'It's all snack foods. How can I have a lunch that consist completely of snack foods?'
Misato got up and headed for the bathroom. "I'm going to take my shower while you make your lunch. We have to be quick since school will start in about an hour."
The boy continued to stare at his choices for lunch, and quickly decided that none of them were really any good. He then decides that he really didn't want to make a lunch and decides to go with out. "I'll just eat when I get home."
Shortly afterwards, Misato finished her shower and moved on to getting dressed. Shinji took this opportunity to take his shower. He began to devise way of surviving the first day, like hiding under the desk, or by being completely quite. He even toyed with the idea of being a class clown, but he knew that he could never pull that off. Stayed in the shower a little too long, though, because the water was getting cold and Misato was banging on the door.
"Hurry up! We only have fifteen minutes before we have to leave!" Screamed the temporary guardian.
Sighing in a depressed way, the boy finally exited the shower and got dressed. It wasn't long before they were out the door and heading towards the school at break neck speed.
"Sorry I have to drive like this again." Spoke Misato. "But you spent a lot of time in that shower. Not to mention the fact that I could barely wake you up."
Shinji stared out the window, barely listening to the driver talk. He only had one response. "I couldn't sleep…."
Misato frowned at his response. "You're taking this way to seriously. It's not like I'm driving you to you're death. School's not so bad, and I'm sure you'll be just fine."
The car finally stopped in front of the school. Shinji slowly got out of the car and began to walk towards to front doors. Misato called out to him before he got any further. "I should be back to pick you up later, ok?"
Shinji looked back and nodded. Misato waved and said her goodbyes as she finally drove off and headed back to her house.
Swallowing deep into his well of courage, he finally went into the front doors of the school.
The building was rather large, and it didn't take long for the boy to get somewhat lost. The unfamiliar surroundings made him even more uncomfortable, and he was beginning to wonder if it was a bad idea coming to school today. Fortunately, he eventually found the main office, and figured that it would be a good idea to ask for some information before he wondered further.
Upon entering the office, the receptionist had a look of disappointment. As the boy walked up to her, the woman pulled out a post-it note and began to write. "Let me guess, you're late."
He just got there and already the boy was in trouble. Nervously, he approached the woman, trying to explain his situation. "I…uh…didn't know that…um…uh…I…was…this is my…first day of school."
The lady had a look of surprise, and quickly threw away the note. "Why didn't you say so? I would be more that happy to direct you to your appropriate class."
Shinji smiled. "Thank you. I was afraid I'd never find my way there."
Chuckling briefly, the receptionist began to type on her computer. "What is your name?"
After telling her, the woman hastily discovered the class in which he was supposed to go. "I believe that you are supposed to be in room 2-A. Just head down the hall to the left, then take the last right, and you should see it right there. I hope your first day is rather pleasant."
Relieved, Shinji thanked the woman and began to walk towards the classroom in the direction in which the woman told him to go. Taking the last right, he saw a sign that said 2-A, which was obviously his classroom. It was then that a deep feeling of nervousness began to overwhelm him. He very slowly walked up to the door, and he slowly place his hand on the knob, then he turning it slowly until it opened, he then weakly pushed the door open, and took a look inside the classroom.
He blush rather deeply when he realized that the entire class was staring at him, including the teacher. Slowly entering, he bowed his head, hoping that he wasn't interrupting anything important. "Hi. I'm Shinji Ikari. I believe that this is the class in which I am supposed to be attending?"
Recognizing the name, the teacher approached the boy. "Yes, this is your class. I'm glad that you could join us. I believe that this is your first day of school, correct?"
The young Ikari nodded. "Yes sensei."
The old man pointed towards an empty desk. "That will be you seat over there. I hope that is not a problem."
Looking that direction of the seat, the boy noted that the seat was four rows back, and on the second column on the right, the side closer to the window.
After thanking the teacher, he went and sat in his seat, taking all of his essentials out of his bag and placing them in the desk.
Little did he realize that behind him were the two kid that he met at the movie theatre. Kensuke was in the desk behind him while Touji was to Kensuke's right. Both students became alarmed when they first realized who the kid was entering the classroom.
It wasn't long before the two of them began to converse via use of their laptops.
**
Touji: Isn't that the kid that I met at the movies last night?
Kensuke: It sure is. What the hell is he doing here?
Touji: Like I would know. I don't know about you, but I'm don't know if I trust him.
Kensuke: Oh come on. It's not like he's done anything.
Touji: Still, it's kinda weird that he shows up out of nowhere when everyone else is trying to move out.
**
Shinji began to look around the room, looking at all of the people that were in the class. It didn't escape him that the class was mostly consisting of girls, although as strange as it was, the darker side of him enjoyed the idea of a class of mostly girls.
Putting the thought of it into the back of his mind, he then decided to look behind him. It was then that he realized that the two boys that he met that the movies yesterday were sitting behind him.
Swallowing hard, he first decided to talk to the boy in glasses. "Um…hi. I'm Shinji Ikari."
Kensuke smiled while closing his laptop. "I'm Kensuke Aida." He then puts out a hand. "Nice to meet you."
Accepting the friendly gesture, Shinji shook his hand. "Indeed." Shinji then looked towards the other boy, who seemed less friendly. "Uh…He's not still mad at me for what happened yesterday, is he?"
Kensuke looked at his friend and shoved him in the shoulder. "Cut it out, man. Aren't you even going to introduce yourself?"
After giving his friend a hard stare, Touji reluctantly introduce himself. "My name is Touji Suzuhara." After that he looked away.
Aida looked again at the new student. "Don't be offended by him. He's like that to a lot of people he doesn't know. You have to gain his trust first."
"Oh." Said the young Ikari as he gave another look at the dark haired boy. "Well, I certainly don't mean any harm."
Kensuke patted him on the shoulder. "Don't you worry about it. You seem like a pretty cool guy to me."
Shinji gave a slight smile. "Thank you."
**
Misato had just entered a store. It was a store that sold cell-phones and cell-phone accessories as well as phone plans. She greeted the woman at the register with a smile. "Hello, I'm interested in buying a cell-phone as a gift."
Nodding, the sales woman patiently went through the selection of phones available, as well as phone plans. After seeing the right phone, which was a standard black medium-sized cell-phone, she pulled out her NERV ID. "I need a phone plan with unlimited anytime minutes. Don't worry, NERV will cover the cost."
Staring at the card with wide-eyes, the sales clerk then hands it back to her customer. "Must be a gift to a pretty important person if the cost is being covered by a government organization."
Misato nodded in agreement. "You can say that again. And see to it that the activation is immediate."
"Yes ma'am." Responded the woman.
Shortly afterwards, the captain walked out of the store with a deep grin. 'With this cell-phone, I'm sure that Shinji will pick me as his guardian. I mean, come on, a cell-phone with unlimited minutes. Ha! And the best part about it is that I don't even have to pay for since it's standard issue for all NERV personnel."
While she was laughing, her own cell phone began to ring, ruin her moment of triumph. Reluctantly answering the phone, she soon discovered the voice of her colleague and friend.
"Good morning, Misato." Answered the good doctor. "Not hung over first thing in the morning?"
Narrowing her eyes at the smart-ass comment, Misato held back her retort. "I just dropped off Shinji at school and I have picked up a cell phone for him."
"Good." Said Ritsuko. "Seeing that you've gotten off to such a good start this morning, why don't you come in at eleven, today?"
Misato became a little panicky. "Eleven? You mean eleven till seven."
"Yep."
"But how can I pick up Shinji at school when he gets off? I know that he doesn't know the way back on foot yet."
Ritsuko sighed. "Just go and pick him up when his classes end and come back. I'm sure he'll be fine at home by himself."
Nodding in agreement, but still a little upset that she had to start work early, Misato ended the conversation. "Understood. Talk to you later."
After hanging up, the Director of Operations a left with the decision as to what to do till she had to go to work. 'I guess I'll hang out at home…"
**
Shinji listened casually to the lecturing of the teacher. He was an old, decrepit man who barely seemed coherent to what was going on around him. He talked mindlessly about the second impact, and it wasn't long before Shinji began to fall asleep, considering his complete lack of sleep the night before.
It was then that the bell rang, indicating that the period had ended. All of the students began to walk out the door. Shinji began to follow suit, but before he made it to the door, a hand stopped him. Turning to see whom it was, a brown haired girl who wore pigtails met him. "Greetings Shinji Ikari. I'm Hikari Horaki, the Class Representative."
"Um…Hi." Was all that the boy could say, seeing that he wasn't very comfortable talking to girls his age.
Without skipping a beat, the girl picked up her belongings and placed them on her desk. "All of the students are heading to gym class. I'm assuming that you don't have a change of clothes."
The young Ikari nodded. "I didn't know that we had a gym class."
"It's ok." Continued the Class Rep. "You and I are skipping gym today. As Class Representative, it is my responsibility to see to it that you become familiar with the school, so I'm giving you a tour. But before I do that…"
She then opened up her book bag and pulled out a laptop. "Our school issues out one of these to every student. It's school property, so be careful with it. If you break it, you pay for it."
Grabbing the laptop nervously, Shinji began to look it over. It was apparent that he was unfamiliar with how it was supposed to be used. It wasn't long before Hikari caught on. "First time using a computer?"
Shinji looked up at the girl in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I've never really used one of these before."
Trying to hide her smile, Hikari then began to search through her bag again. "If you need any help with that, I'm sure Kensuke will lend you a hand. He's a computer nut. Oh yeah, and about his friend Touji. Don't sweat him. He's the most inconsiderate jerk I've ever met. Whatever chip is on his shoulder, he needs to get over it."
Shinji smiled. "Thanks for the advice."
Shinji smile soon disappeared as a large stack of papers was suddenly handed to him.
"These are earlier assignments that you need to complete." Said Horaki. "Don't feel too overwhelmed, you have two weeks to finish."
The stack was nearly two inches thick. "Two weeks?"
Ignoring the desperate tone of the boy, Hikari zipped up her bag and threw it over her shoulder. "Follow me. I'm going to show you around."
The two of them walked out of the classroom and around the corner into a hall that had locker on both sides of the hallway. The pig-tailed girls hands Shinji a slip of paper that was folded up. "That's you locker number and combination. I would recommend that not only do you memorize it, but see to it that no one else gets it either."
After he looked at his locker number and combination, the tour continued leading to the gym area, where the both of them briefly watched both the boys and the girls gym area.
"The boys and girls gym areas are separate." Explain Hikari. "The locker rooms are located over there." She point slightly further down the hall. "By the way, I hope that you're gentleman enough not to try anything perverted while you're here."
The statement took Shinji aback. "What?"
"Well, you don't seem like the type, but I just wanted to point that out just in case." Said the girl as they continued on ward.
They made it to their final destination before heading back to class, the cafeteria. "As you can see, this is the cafeteria. The food isn't the greatest, so most people make their own lunches."
Shinji look around the room, neglecting to mention how he decided not to make a lunch, which he was starting to regret. Then another thought came to him. "Where exactly am I supposed to sit?"
"Well…" Answered the Class Rep. "You could theoretically sit anywhere but most of the seat are usually taken." She then points to a table in the far off corner. It was heavily worn and it was quite a bit off balance. "Usually that table over there is used by only one girl named Rei, but she hasn't been in lately, so if you can't find any other place to sit, I guess you could use that one. Sorry, but I would like to be nice and let you sit at my table, but it's kind of girl exclusive."
Shinji ignore the girl's last comment, focusing more so on the mysterious girl to whom he has yet to meet. "Rei…"
Hikari seemed surprised by the boy's reaction. "Do you know Rei?"
Realizing that he foolishly got himself backed up into a corner, he did his best to try and evade the question…without any real success. "What? Oh no, I've never met her or anything like that."
The brown-haired girl seemed a little confused. "Then why did you repeat her name?"
Fumbling with words, Shinji came up with another half-assed answer. "Oh uh…I…well…was thinking of…a different Rei. Heh yeah. There's no other reason as to why I would care about that girl. Heh…."
Hikari raised an eyebrow, seeing as that she obviously didn't buy his explanation, but decided to drop the subject. "Whatever. It's not like it matters."
It was then that the bell rang, indicating that gym was over. "We need to head back to class. Follow me."
While the two of them went back to class, Shinji frowned at himself for his own stupidity. 'Damn it. Stupid Shinji. You almost got yourself caught. You don't want people to know who you are, especially that one guy Touji. He'd probably kill me.'
The rest of class was no different from earlier, only instead of sleeping, Shinji decided that now would be a good time to catch up on overdue assignments. He was fortunate that most of the material on the assignments had been subjects that he had already covered in home schooling. Still, there was a lot of work that needed to get done, and it was going to easily take the two weeks that he had to complete it.
Eventually, the lunch bell rang, signaling everyone to the lunchroom. Since he didn't even have a lunch, or any money in which to buy a lunch, the young Ikari decided not even bothering to follow along. 'I might as well keep working on these assignments anyway. With any luck, I'll finish sometime in the next century, and it keep my mind off of my stomach.'
His absence did little to quell the suspicious thought going through both Touji's and Hikari's minds. Touji and his friend sat down at their designated table, both lunches in hand, and took no pause in bringing up the subject about the new kid.
"So what do you think about him?" Asked Kensuke. "He doesn't seem so bad to me."
"I don't know." Said Touji as he guided a sandwich into his mouth. He continued to talk with his mouth full. "Fares som tin abut hm."
Kensuke sweat dropped. "Can't you at least swallow before you talk?"
Taking the time to swallow, Touji spoke again. "I said that there was something about him. Like he was hiding something."
Aida rolled his eyes. "You're imagining things."
Suzuhara put himself in a deep train of thought, while stuffing his face with rice balls. This time he remembered to swallow before talking. "That last name of his sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before?"
"Probably during a TV commercial pertaining to some kind of food." Responded his friend as he went to drink some milk.
The dark-haired boy was not amused. "Very funny. But I'm pretty sure this is something else, something serious."
"Oh I know." Continued Kensuke. "He's the only son of the King of Tibet."
Touji shoved his friend lightly on the shoulder. "Will you cut it out? I'm serious."
"Well sorry." Said Kensuke while rubbing his shoulder. "But it's much more likely that he's just some kid whose family moved here because the rent was probably at an all-time low. It's not like anyone in their right mind would live here if the price wasn't right, especially if attacks like the one over a week ago are a common occurrence."
"I still suspect something." Said Touji as he finished the remnants of his meal.
Kensuke also finished his meal. "Whatever. Now if you want a real conspiracy, you should read my paper about how area 51 has been moved to Denver by the aliens after Nevada was submerged in seawater."
Touji got up to put away his tray. "And you tell me that my theories are half-baked."
Meanwhile, in another table, Hikari was sitting with her friends sharing the latest gossip.
"And I heard that her toes are webbed."
Gasps were heard from everyone at the table. One of the girls then looked at Hikari, who seemed to be in a world of her own. "What's wrong Hikari? You seem to have something on your mind."
Hikari looked up at her friends. "Sorry. I was thinking about the new kid."
The other girls leaned in closer. "Oh my god! Do you like him?"
The class rep's eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly shook her head. "Of course not. I was thinking about something else."
"Well then, what is it?" Asked another girl.
Hikari thought for a little bit more, and then gave a look as if she'd just pieced together a puzzle. "I found out that the new kid seemed to recognize Rei Ayanami's name."
The girls started to giggle. "Do you think that they are boyfriend and girlfriend?"
The brown-haired girl shook her head. "I don't know about that. He denied that he actually knew her, but I am sure that he at least knew of her."
Her friends continued to stare, expecting more to what she said. "So is that it?"
Horaki continued explaining herself. "Well I had this thought. You all know that Ayanami has connections to that government agency that heads the city, right? Well, it was believed that she was the pilot of the giant robot that saved the city. But then there was a rumor that she was in the hospital before hand, and couldn't have piloted it. Until now, I thought that was just a cover up, but now…"
Another girl interrupted her. "You think that the new kid was the pilot?"
"Maybe." Answered the Class Rep. "But there's isn't any real proof."
"Should we ask him?" Asked yet another friend.
Hikari shook her head. "No, don't! Like I said, I might be wrong, and I'd hate to spread a rumor that might be untrue, so promise me that you won't tell anyone about this, please!"
Of course, everyone agreed, but as human nature is, rumors spread regardless of effort to contain them.
Lunch eventually ended, having all of the student return to their classes.
Shinji had managed to finish about ten of the assignments, which was still only a small portion of what was still remaining. He was very hungry, but there little he could do about that until school ended.
Fortunately, the last few hours of class went by quickly, and the class ended with all the kids rushing quickly out the door. The boy walked out the front door, and to his relief, Misato was on time to pick him up.
Upon entering the car, he was greeted with a smile. "So how was your first day of school?"
Shinji began to stare at his laptop. "A lot better than I had expected. I met a couple of people, and got this laptop for me to use. Sadly, I have to finish a whole lot of back-assignments."
The temporary guardian decided to tease the young boy. "So, did you meet any girls?"
Shinji narrowed his eyes. "Very funny. To be honest, I got a tour of the school by the Class Rep. She was pretty nice."
"Is that all she gave you a tour of?" Said the woman while holding back a laugh.
"What?" Said Shinji in a startled tone.
Misato laughed. "As studly as you are, you probably already have girlfriend."
Shinji crossed his arms and turned away. "Ha ha."
Misato decided to become serious. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." She then grabs what looks like a map. "As I'm sure you already know, you need to be at headquarter tomorrow after school." She hands the boy the map. "Unfortunately, I can't pick you up, so you're going to have to walk. This map will show you the quickest way. I highlighted the path to and from both our home and headquarters. I hope you don't mind walking."
The young Ikari stared at the map. "Walking doesn't bother me, although walking in the city might be a different story."
"Don't worry about it." Said Misato. "You'll be fine. By the way, I have to go back to work, so I'm dropping you off, ok? You remember the pass code to get in?"
Shinji nodded as they pulled into the parking lot.
"See you later, Shinji!" Called out Misato as Shinji got out of the car. "I'll be home at around 7:30 P.M. And I have a surprise for you when I get home."
"Ok." Replied the young pilot. "Thank you for the ride. Bye!"
Contemplating what the surprise would be, Shinji made his why into the apartment. Remembering that he hadn't eaten anything all day, he went to the cabinets to grab something to eat. 'Maybe the surprise will be something edible to eat for school lunch.'
Settling for a bag of pretzels, he then makes his way to the living room in order to relax for an hour or two. After turning the T.V. on, the young Ikari laid back on the couch, only to be poked in the back by some object. Unsure as to what it was, but pretty sure that Pen-pen was not sitting on the couch at the time, he quickly got up and turned around.
The object, which was wedged between the couch seats, was a small, cylindrical object that rounded out at the tip. Unsure at first as to what it was, he pulled it out and began to examine it. He then saw a switch at the base of it, and decided to turn it on. The object began to vibrate.
It was at this point that the fourteen-year-old boy's brain began to do the math. Thinking back to his teacher Misotaka's porn stash that he himself at peeked at once or twice, he remembered what the object really was. Eyes widening, heart pounding, face reddening, Shinji dropped the object and screamed. "AAAHHHH!!!"
Startled and curious, the abnormally intelligent penguin race out to see what the noise was about. Seeing what the object was, which was still vibrating, the penguin shuddered, and quickly ran back to his private refrigerator/living quarters.
After the initial shock, Shinji began to look down at the object. 'A vibrator? I've seen them on my teacher's porn tapes, but I never thought I'd ever see one for real.' Deciding that maybe he should do something about it, Shinji went to the kitchen to grab a paper towel. He then returned to the living room and slowly and cautiously reached down to pick it up as if it were about to bite him. Once he had it within the paper towel, he headed for his guardians room.
Along the way he stopped and looked around to see if anybody or anything was watching him, despite the fact that the house was empty. He then looked at the vibrator and slowly brought it close to his face. He then took a few sniffs, and found the smell to be different then he'd expected. After he was done and thoroughly disgusted with himself, he quickly hustled into his guardian's room. Stepping over the numerous beer cans laying on the floor, he then placed the vibrator, making sure that it was off, on Misato's bed. He then hurried out, trying his best to forget the whole incident. He then grabbed some of his homework, and he busily worked away, trying to convince himself that he didn't see what he actually saw.
At approximately 7:30, the front door swung open to reveal Shinji's temporary guardian. "Hello! How are you doing?"
The boy didn't answer, too deep in his schoolwork to acknowledge Misato.
Misato once again called out. "Hello. Earth to Shinji. Do you copy?"
Finally noticing the woman's presence, the young Ikari put on a fake smile and pretended like nothing was wrong, in which he failed. "Oh hi Misato. I didn't hear you come in. How am I? I am great. Couldn't be better, In fact I'm super. Gotta get back to work, can't fall behind."
The Director of Operation raised an eyebrow. "O…K… Are you sure you're ok?"
Shinji once again looked at his guardian. "Like I said, I'm fine and dandy. Especially fine, and especially dandy."
Deciding that now was a good time, Misato began to dig through her purse for the cell phone. "Well, let me get that surprise for you."
Shinji's eyes widen. "Surprise? I don't need a surprise. I hate surprises. Especially now."
It was then that Misato handed the boy a brand new cell-phone. "Here you go!"
The pilot of Unit 01 grabbed the phone. "Great! A cell-phone! I love cell-phones. Cell-phones are great. They're clean, and sanitary, and I'll always know where it's been."
Sweat dropping, Misato decided to walk off to her room to change. "I'm glad you like it. I'm gonna go change now…"
As Misato walked towards her room, Shinji stared blankly at his cell-phone, realizing that it wouldn't be long before Misato discovered why he was acting the way he was.
It was then that he heard her voice in the background. "Oh shit!!"
Shinji didn't say anything, knowing that Misato was eventually going to say something about it to him, even though he really didn't want her to.
Misato slowly walked into the living room with a huge blush on her face. "I…I wondered where that went…" She then decides to sit next to Shinji. "Um…Do you want to talk?"
The boy's response was somewhat unfocused. "Talk. Talk about what? What's there to talk about? My cell-phone? I like my cell-phone. There, we talked. We're done."
Swallowing hard, Miss Katsuragi began to explain about the vibrator. "You see Shinji, I'm an adult woman, and I have needs. Although there are times when I wish I could find someone appropriate to help relieve these needs, the vibrator is a substitute. Oftentimes, before you came here, I used my apartment freely to…please myself, and I forgot to put away the vibrator. I just want you to know that from now on, I'll be more private about it." Upon saying that, she rested her hand on his shoulder. Shinji then fell forward, as if he had passed out.
Staring at the body on the ground, Misato shook the body in order to wake him. "Shinji, are you ok?"
There was no response. Sighing heavily, she then tries to drag the boy into his room. She plops the young Ikari onto his bed. She then walks away, but turns around and stares at him one more time. "Sorry about that…."
She then gets dressed out of her work clothes, and sees to it that the vibrator is put away in a secure place. After that, she walked into the kitchen and takes a beer. She then sees PenPen walk out of his refrigerator. He also grabs a beer, and takes a seat at the table.
Misato greets the penguin. "Good evening buddy."
The penguin nods in response and opens his beer with is beak.
Misato had a slightly depressed demeanor, and so she decided to smother it with some beer of her own. "I'm starting to wonder…if I'm cut out for being a guardian."
PenPen listened intently was sipping his beer. "Wark…"
Misato also sips her beer. She then puts it down and rested her head in her hands. "I'm trying my best, but I keep getting this feeling like I'm not doing a good enough job." She then gets an angered expression on her face. "I'll bet that stupid Adams did a great job as a guardian. I mean, he's a guy, he's got lots of money, and he can do all the things that I can't."
PenPen puts his beer down and shakes his head. "Wark Wark…"
The Director of Operations smiled at her pet. "Thank for trying, but I know better."
Deeply concerned, PenPen jumps off his seat and gives Misato a hug.
The hug deeply touches Misato, and she picks him up and hugs him back. "Thanks PenPen. I needed that."
She then puts the penguin down. "You're right. I shouldn't give up that easily. You'll see. I'll win him over yet."
And it was like that when the night ended, with Misato getting drunk, PenPen passing out, and Shinji dreaming about things that he really doesn't want to.
**
Shinji awoke the next morning on his own this time. Upon checking the clock, he was relieved to see that he had at an hour before he had to go to school.
Noticing that Misato wasn't up, he went to her room and knocked on her door. When there was no answer, he opened it slightly to look inside. He saw Misato, still passed out on the bed. Shinji decided to risk calling to her. "Misato? Are you awake?"
The corpse of his guardian moved slightly, and then slowly opened her eyes to see the young Eva pilot. She was apparently hung over, and it seemed unlikely that she would be going anywhere. "Shinji, I'd hate to say this to you, but I don't think I can get up this morning."
The young Ikari frowned. "You drank too much last night, didn't you?"
Misato nodded. "You're gonna have to walk to school, today. I'm really sorry."
Shinji's eyes widened. "But I'm not sure how to get there."
"Just use the map I gave you." Answered the purple-haired woman as she pulled her covers over herself. "You'll be fine. You're a stronger person than you realize."
Shinji wasn't too sure of what she said, but he knew that he couldn't force Misato out of her bed. So he decided to takes his chances and walk. Before walking away, he wanted to say one more thing. "By the way Misato, I'm really sorry about last night. I probably overreacted, and you were only trying to do the responsible thing to do. I'm just not comfortable about such things. Just thought you wanted to know."
Misato smiled. "Thank you Shinji. Apology accepted." She then closed her eyes and fell back to sleep.
Shinji saw to it that he made a lunch today, even though it mostly consisted of snack foods. Packing everything, including some gym clothes, into his school back, he headed off on his first trip to school by foot. Carrying the map close to his face, he tried to do whatever he could to make sure that he didn't get lost.
His actions didn't go unnoticed. As he was walking to school, two other classmates noticed his behavior.
"Hey, it's that new kid." Said Touji. "What's he doing around here? And what is he looking at?"
"Say…" Answered his friend Kensuke. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he was going to school."
Touji glared at his friend. "Enough with your sarcasm. I didn't realize that he lived around here."
Kensuke searched through his bag and pulled out a camcorder. "Want me to record this for…evidence?" He then cracks up.
The dark-haired boy was not so amused. "Will you cut it out? It's not that funny."
"Come on, Touji." Spoke Aida. "The way you rambled on yesterday, I wouldn't have been surprised if you thought he was an alien." He then turns on his camcorder and points in Shinji direction. "Look as the evil alien Shinji does the most awful thing of all. Walking to school!! Dun Dun Duuun!!"
Touji tries to grab to camcorder. "Give me that!"
Kensuke turns it off and shoves it back into his bag before his friend could get it. "No touching private property."
Touji, who was slightly annoyed at this point, quickened his pace to school. "Come on. We're going to be late…"
Eventually, Everyone made it to school on time. The class bell rang, the teacher entered, and everyone rose, bowed, and sat back down. The first couple of hours were no different from yesterday, so Shinji decided to take advantage of this time to try and fumble with his new laptop. After pulling it out, he began to look at it, trying to figure out how to open it. He then tried opening it with his hands, but the computer wouldn't open.
Kensuke watched the boy in front of him struggle with his laptop. As a friendly gesture, he leaned forward to assist the young Ikari. "If you want to open it, just push this." Kensuke pushed a button at the side of the laptop.
Shinji looked back at the boy. "Um…thank you." He then looked around to see if he could turn it on.
Kensuke also helped him with this. "Just flip this with here." Kensuke then flipped a switch on the side.
The computer screen began to flicker and brighten as the computer loaded up. Shinji stared at it with awe. Never was it more obvious than now that he had no computer skills. When the screen was fully loaded up, Shinji was unsure. He had no idea as to what to do.
"Geez." Said the blond-haired boy. "Have you ever used a computer before?"
Shinji sunk his head in shame. "I never lived with anyone who had a use for them, so I never learned."
The boy with glasses pointed to the pad on the laptop. "You see that pad? Move your finger around that in order to move the arrow icon."
Shinji blinked a few times in order to figure out what the boy was trying to tell him. Kensuke, for the next couple of hours, continued to teach the basics of using a computer to Shinji. As the period went on, Shinji found himself slowly understanding the computer, and he was starting to use it like a pro…well almost.
"Don't touch that!" Said Kensuke trying to warn Shinji, but it was too late.
"What? What'd I do?" Asked the Eva pilot.
Kensuke slapped his forehead. "You just closed the program. Now you have to load it up again."
"Oh…" Responded Shinji just as the bell rang. "Um…thank you for your help."
Kensuke got up and headed for the door. "No problem. Have anymore questions, send my way." He then walked of with Touji.
Everyone left, heading to his or her appropriate locker rooms. Shinji found that Gym class was hardly anymore exciting that class itself, consisting of mostly running a few laps, playing basketball, or some dodge ball, none of which were Shinji's cup of tea. After running a couple of laps, Shinji leaned against the fence and watched the others play. Although the classmate Kensuke seemed like a nice person, Shinji couldn't gather the courage to ask to hang out with him, especially since he hung around Touji, who seemed to have made up he mind about him.
Gym ended as fast as it came, leaving the boy back in class. Choosing to do homework instead of messing with his laptop, Shinji once again worked away at the seemingly endless stack of worksheets, although he managed to put a pretty good dent in them already.
Several more hours later, the lunch bell rang, and all the students, including Shinji this time, headed for the lunchroom. Taking the advice of Hikari yesterday, he went and sat at the empty table that Rei usually sat by.
Even though his lunch was hardly anything nutritious, Shinji began to munch away at his chips, wishing that they could be something else more wholesome.
Nearby, Touji and Kensuke were once again sitting at their table. Touji seemed to have more startling news to tell his friend. "I over heard something during class from the girls about the new kid. I think you'll be quite surprised."
Kensuke opened up his Bento Box and examined the variety he had to choose from. "Well I think it's safe to assume that he's not an alien. He doesn't even know how to work a computer. Unless, of course that the technology his so primitive than he can't comprehend it."
Touji smacked his friend in the back of the head. "Will you cut it out with the alien thing. I never said he was an alien."
After rubbing his head, the boy in glasses chuckled. "So what is this thing that you heard?"
Touji smiled. "He knows Rei Ayanami."
The blond-haired boy blinked. "What? Are they dating or related or something?"
The dark-haired boy shrugged. "I don't know. But I think I know one thing, and that is that Rei is somehow involved with NERV, the same organization the my father and grand-father as well as your father work for."
Kensuke seemed unimpressed. "So you're going to tell me the Shinji is involved with NERV somehow?"
"Exactly!" Answered Suzuhara.
Kensuke had had enough. "Listen, I've had enough. I'm going to prove to you that Shinji is a normal kid, with normal parents, and a normal life. And just to prove it to everyone else, I'm going to take my camcorder along."
Touji accepted the offer. "Deal. We'll follow him after school. You'll see I'm right."
**
The rest of the school day went without anything unusual occurring, and Shinji now had to get to NERV by foot. He once again took out his map, and followed the highlighted areas that he was supposed to go. He seemed to be finding his way rather well. Unfortunately, getting to NERV was the least of his problems.
"Stop being so noisy you moron."
"You're getting too close. He might spot you."
"So what if he spots me."
Touji and Kensuke were doing exactly what they planned on doing. They were following Shinji.
"See?" Asked Touji. "He's not heading back the way he came from this morning."
Kensuke followed the boy's movement cautiously with his camcorder. "So? He could be heading anywhere. He might be going to get something to eat. After all, I'm sure his lunch of chips and snack foods hardly filled him up."
"I don't know of any noodle shops and restaurants going this way." Responded Suzuhara.
"Whatever." Said Kensuke without taking his eye off of the boy.
Over the course of time, they followed Shinji throughout his entire path, making sure to stay hidden and sneaky. Shinji was too busy trying to find his way to notice them.
Within a half an hour's time, it seemed increasingly more obvious that Touji was right, and Kensuke was wrong. "I told you. I bet you he's heading straight for NERV."
Kensuke didn't say anything, still hoping that he wouldn't have to admit that he was wrong. Unfortunately, they followed him straight towards the entrance to NERV Headquarters.
Shinji, who was still unaware that he was being followed, was quite satisfied that he was able to find his way. Smiling, he pulled out his ID card, and swiped it through the card checkpoint. The doors soon opened, and Shinji quickly walked in. No sooner had he walked in had the doors closed, leaving the two other boys outside.
Touji gave a satisfied smile. "Ha I knew it. I was right all along. In your face."
Kensuke rolled his eyes. "I have two things to say to you. One, you are not right, the girls you overheard were right. Two, this proves absolutely nothing. He could be visiting a parent or some other relative that works for NERV."
It was then that the wheels in Suzuhara's head turned just a few more clicks, and another revelation was revealed. "I got it!! I know where I've heard that last name before. Commander Ikari is the head of NERV. And Shinji is his son. Ha!"
The blond-haired boy nodded. "Congratulations. You figured something out for a change. Want a medal, or a chest to pin it on?"
The dark-haired boy beamed with pride. "You're just jealous that you weren't able to figure it out."
The two boys start to head back home. Kensuke narrows his eyes in a realization. "You know, of the dozens of conspiracy theories that I've come up with, none of them have been proven true. You finally come up with one theory, and you end up being right. There's something that isn't right about that."
Touji was in quite reflection. "Well while I'm on a role, I think I have another thought."
Aida shook his head. "Don't get too carried away. You just got lucky."
"I'm going to question him in front of class tomorrow." Said Touji.
The boy with glasses gasped. "Why? Can't you just let it be?"
"You'll know why tomorrow. Make sure you bring the evidence that we recorded." With that, the two of them went home, both knowing that what they now knew wasn't going to stay secret for long.
***End Chapter 6***
Author's Note: It shouldn't be much longer before the next chapter is posted. I just have to finish it and proof read it. BTW, Shinji will be making his final decision as to who he'll stay with in the next chapter, so place you bets… or not. Nothing else to say, so I hope I get some positive reviews. Thank you.
This chapter was originally much longer, but it got so long, that I've decided to split it up into yet another chapter, so that the readers will have a chance to digest this chapter instead of throwing the whole thing at them at once. Besides, it's been a while since I've added a new chapter, and I'm sure that some of my readers are becoming impatient.
One last thing, I've rewritten the first chapter. While it's not necessary that you read it if you already have, it is considerably better than the original, and there is an important detail that has changed. We've decided that Shinji hasn't met Rei yet, so if you're confused about that, just read chapter one and you'll understand.
Anyway, enjoy chapter six!!!
Chapter 6 "New Suspicions"
**
"Shinji? Shinji are you awake?"
The boy barely stirred, obviously still in a deep sleep.
"Come on, it's time to get up. I thought I was bad."
Still, no movement came from the young Ikari. It was then that the older Guardian had decided to enter the room slowly and cautiously. She hovered over the boy, wondering if he was dead. Just to make sure, she began to shake his shoulder. It obviously had the desired effect, because he began to wake up.
Misato still hovered over the boy with anticipation. "Come on now, wakey wakey."
Finally, Shinji opened his eyes, only to be greeted by the Director of Operations. She startled him, and as a result, he quickly jumped back. Misato was somewhat displeased. "Well, good morning to you, too."
After the Eva pilot got a hold of his surroundings, he replied in an apologetic tone. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to being woken up like that."
Misato, who was still in her pajamas, stood up and began to walk towards the kitchen. "Don't tell me that I look that hideous in the morning."
"Not at all." Replied the boy as he caught himself and displayed a blush.
Misato's head once again appeared in the doorway. "Your so sweet. By the way, feel free to make whatever you want to make for lunch."
After she walked off again, Shinji remembered that his first day of school was today. 'Dammit, I really don't want to go. I don't think school is really for me.'
He reluctantly got up and headed for the kitchen. It was there that he saw Misato guzzling down her fist beer.
"YYEEEAAAHHH!!" Screamed the purple-haired woman. "That was awesome."
The boy could little except sweat drop. "Um, drinking already?"
Misato put the empty can down and looked to the boy with a gleeful smile. "Nothing hit the spot like that first beer in the morning."
Ignoring the comment, Shinji headed for the cabinets to hopefully find something to eat for lunch. It wasn't long before he was quickly dismayed. 'It's all snack foods. How can I have a lunch that consist completely of snack foods?'
Misato got up and headed for the bathroom. "I'm going to take my shower while you make your lunch. We have to be quick since school will start in about an hour."
The boy continued to stare at his choices for lunch, and quickly decided that none of them were really any good. He then decides that he really didn't want to make a lunch and decides to go with out. "I'll just eat when I get home."
Shortly afterwards, Misato finished her shower and moved on to getting dressed. Shinji took this opportunity to take his shower. He began to devise way of surviving the first day, like hiding under the desk, or by being completely quite. He even toyed with the idea of being a class clown, but he knew that he could never pull that off. Stayed in the shower a little too long, though, because the water was getting cold and Misato was banging on the door.
"Hurry up! We only have fifteen minutes before we have to leave!" Screamed the temporary guardian.
Sighing in a depressed way, the boy finally exited the shower and got dressed. It wasn't long before they were out the door and heading towards the school at break neck speed.
"Sorry I have to drive like this again." Spoke Misato. "But you spent a lot of time in that shower. Not to mention the fact that I could barely wake you up."
Shinji stared out the window, barely listening to the driver talk. He only had one response. "I couldn't sleep…."
Misato frowned at his response. "You're taking this way to seriously. It's not like I'm driving you to you're death. School's not so bad, and I'm sure you'll be just fine."
The car finally stopped in front of the school. Shinji slowly got out of the car and began to walk towards to front doors. Misato called out to him before he got any further. "I should be back to pick you up later, ok?"
Shinji looked back and nodded. Misato waved and said her goodbyes as she finally drove off and headed back to her house.
Swallowing deep into his well of courage, he finally went into the front doors of the school.
The building was rather large, and it didn't take long for the boy to get somewhat lost. The unfamiliar surroundings made him even more uncomfortable, and he was beginning to wonder if it was a bad idea coming to school today. Fortunately, he eventually found the main office, and figured that it would be a good idea to ask for some information before he wondered further.
Upon entering the office, the receptionist had a look of disappointment. As the boy walked up to her, the woman pulled out a post-it note and began to write. "Let me guess, you're late."
He just got there and already the boy was in trouble. Nervously, he approached the woman, trying to explain his situation. "I…uh…didn't know that…um…uh…I…was…this is my…first day of school."
The lady had a look of surprise, and quickly threw away the note. "Why didn't you say so? I would be more that happy to direct you to your appropriate class."
Shinji smiled. "Thank you. I was afraid I'd never find my way there."
Chuckling briefly, the receptionist began to type on her computer. "What is your name?"
After telling her, the woman hastily discovered the class in which he was supposed to go. "I believe that you are supposed to be in room 2-A. Just head down the hall to the left, then take the last right, and you should see it right there. I hope your first day is rather pleasant."
Relieved, Shinji thanked the woman and began to walk towards the classroom in the direction in which the woman told him to go. Taking the last right, he saw a sign that said 2-A, which was obviously his classroom. It was then that a deep feeling of nervousness began to overwhelm him. He very slowly walked up to the door, and he slowly place his hand on the knob, then he turning it slowly until it opened, he then weakly pushed the door open, and took a look inside the classroom.
He blush rather deeply when he realized that the entire class was staring at him, including the teacher. Slowly entering, he bowed his head, hoping that he wasn't interrupting anything important. "Hi. I'm Shinji Ikari. I believe that this is the class in which I am supposed to be attending?"
Recognizing the name, the teacher approached the boy. "Yes, this is your class. I'm glad that you could join us. I believe that this is your first day of school, correct?"
The young Ikari nodded. "Yes sensei."
The old man pointed towards an empty desk. "That will be you seat over there. I hope that is not a problem."
Looking that direction of the seat, the boy noted that the seat was four rows back, and on the second column on the right, the side closer to the window.
After thanking the teacher, he went and sat in his seat, taking all of his essentials out of his bag and placing them in the desk.
Little did he realize that behind him were the two kid that he met at the movie theatre. Kensuke was in the desk behind him while Touji was to Kensuke's right. Both students became alarmed when they first realized who the kid was entering the classroom.
It wasn't long before the two of them began to converse via use of their laptops.
**
Touji: Isn't that the kid that I met at the movies last night?
Kensuke: It sure is. What the hell is he doing here?
Touji: Like I would know. I don't know about you, but I'm don't know if I trust him.
Kensuke: Oh come on. It's not like he's done anything.
Touji: Still, it's kinda weird that he shows up out of nowhere when everyone else is trying to move out.
**
Shinji began to look around the room, looking at all of the people that were in the class. It didn't escape him that the class was mostly consisting of girls, although as strange as it was, the darker side of him enjoyed the idea of a class of mostly girls.
Putting the thought of it into the back of his mind, he then decided to look behind him. It was then that he realized that the two boys that he met that the movies yesterday were sitting behind him.
Swallowing hard, he first decided to talk to the boy in glasses. "Um…hi. I'm Shinji Ikari."
Kensuke smiled while closing his laptop. "I'm Kensuke Aida." He then puts out a hand. "Nice to meet you."
Accepting the friendly gesture, Shinji shook his hand. "Indeed." Shinji then looked towards the other boy, who seemed less friendly. "Uh…He's not still mad at me for what happened yesterday, is he?"
Kensuke looked at his friend and shoved him in the shoulder. "Cut it out, man. Aren't you even going to introduce yourself?"
After giving his friend a hard stare, Touji reluctantly introduce himself. "My name is Touji Suzuhara." After that he looked away.
Aida looked again at the new student. "Don't be offended by him. He's like that to a lot of people he doesn't know. You have to gain his trust first."
"Oh." Said the young Ikari as he gave another look at the dark haired boy. "Well, I certainly don't mean any harm."
Kensuke patted him on the shoulder. "Don't you worry about it. You seem like a pretty cool guy to me."
Shinji gave a slight smile. "Thank you."
**
Misato had just entered a store. It was a store that sold cell-phones and cell-phone accessories as well as phone plans. She greeted the woman at the register with a smile. "Hello, I'm interested in buying a cell-phone as a gift."
Nodding, the sales woman patiently went through the selection of phones available, as well as phone plans. After seeing the right phone, which was a standard black medium-sized cell-phone, she pulled out her NERV ID. "I need a phone plan with unlimited anytime minutes. Don't worry, NERV will cover the cost."
Staring at the card with wide-eyes, the sales clerk then hands it back to her customer. "Must be a gift to a pretty important person if the cost is being covered by a government organization."
Misato nodded in agreement. "You can say that again. And see to it that the activation is immediate."
"Yes ma'am." Responded the woman.
Shortly afterwards, the captain walked out of the store with a deep grin. 'With this cell-phone, I'm sure that Shinji will pick me as his guardian. I mean, come on, a cell-phone with unlimited minutes. Ha! And the best part about it is that I don't even have to pay for since it's standard issue for all NERV personnel."
While she was laughing, her own cell phone began to ring, ruin her moment of triumph. Reluctantly answering the phone, she soon discovered the voice of her colleague and friend.
"Good morning, Misato." Answered the good doctor. "Not hung over first thing in the morning?"
Narrowing her eyes at the smart-ass comment, Misato held back her retort. "I just dropped off Shinji at school and I have picked up a cell phone for him."
"Good." Said Ritsuko. "Seeing that you've gotten off to such a good start this morning, why don't you come in at eleven, today?"
Misato became a little panicky. "Eleven? You mean eleven till seven."
"Yep."
"But how can I pick up Shinji at school when he gets off? I know that he doesn't know the way back on foot yet."
Ritsuko sighed. "Just go and pick him up when his classes end and come back. I'm sure he'll be fine at home by himself."
Nodding in agreement, but still a little upset that she had to start work early, Misato ended the conversation. "Understood. Talk to you later."
After hanging up, the Director of Operations a left with the decision as to what to do till she had to go to work. 'I guess I'll hang out at home…"
**
Shinji listened casually to the lecturing of the teacher. He was an old, decrepit man who barely seemed coherent to what was going on around him. He talked mindlessly about the second impact, and it wasn't long before Shinji began to fall asleep, considering his complete lack of sleep the night before.
It was then that the bell rang, indicating that the period had ended. All of the students began to walk out the door. Shinji began to follow suit, but before he made it to the door, a hand stopped him. Turning to see whom it was, a brown haired girl who wore pigtails met him. "Greetings Shinji Ikari. I'm Hikari Horaki, the Class Representative."
"Um…Hi." Was all that the boy could say, seeing that he wasn't very comfortable talking to girls his age.
Without skipping a beat, the girl picked up her belongings and placed them on her desk. "All of the students are heading to gym class. I'm assuming that you don't have a change of clothes."
The young Ikari nodded. "I didn't know that we had a gym class."
"It's ok." Continued the Class Rep. "You and I are skipping gym today. As Class Representative, it is my responsibility to see to it that you become familiar with the school, so I'm giving you a tour. But before I do that…"
She then opened up her book bag and pulled out a laptop. "Our school issues out one of these to every student. It's school property, so be careful with it. If you break it, you pay for it."
Grabbing the laptop nervously, Shinji began to look it over. It was apparent that he was unfamiliar with how it was supposed to be used. It wasn't long before Hikari caught on. "First time using a computer?"
Shinji looked up at the girl in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I've never really used one of these before."
Trying to hide her smile, Hikari then began to search through her bag again. "If you need any help with that, I'm sure Kensuke will lend you a hand. He's a computer nut. Oh yeah, and about his friend Touji. Don't sweat him. He's the most inconsiderate jerk I've ever met. Whatever chip is on his shoulder, he needs to get over it."
Shinji smiled. "Thanks for the advice."
Shinji smile soon disappeared as a large stack of papers was suddenly handed to him.
"These are earlier assignments that you need to complete." Said Horaki. "Don't feel too overwhelmed, you have two weeks to finish."
The stack was nearly two inches thick. "Two weeks?"
Ignoring the desperate tone of the boy, Hikari zipped up her bag and threw it over her shoulder. "Follow me. I'm going to show you around."
The two of them walked out of the classroom and around the corner into a hall that had locker on both sides of the hallway. The pig-tailed girls hands Shinji a slip of paper that was folded up. "That's you locker number and combination. I would recommend that not only do you memorize it, but see to it that no one else gets it either."
After he looked at his locker number and combination, the tour continued leading to the gym area, where the both of them briefly watched both the boys and the girls gym area.
"The boys and girls gym areas are separate." Explain Hikari. "The locker rooms are located over there." She point slightly further down the hall. "By the way, I hope that you're gentleman enough not to try anything perverted while you're here."
The statement took Shinji aback. "What?"
"Well, you don't seem like the type, but I just wanted to point that out just in case." Said the girl as they continued on ward.
They made it to their final destination before heading back to class, the cafeteria. "As you can see, this is the cafeteria. The food isn't the greatest, so most people make their own lunches."
Shinji look around the room, neglecting to mention how he decided not to make a lunch, which he was starting to regret. Then another thought came to him. "Where exactly am I supposed to sit?"
"Well…" Answered the Class Rep. "You could theoretically sit anywhere but most of the seat are usually taken." She then points to a table in the far off corner. It was heavily worn and it was quite a bit off balance. "Usually that table over there is used by only one girl named Rei, but she hasn't been in lately, so if you can't find any other place to sit, I guess you could use that one. Sorry, but I would like to be nice and let you sit at my table, but it's kind of girl exclusive."
Shinji ignore the girl's last comment, focusing more so on the mysterious girl to whom he has yet to meet. "Rei…"
Hikari seemed surprised by the boy's reaction. "Do you know Rei?"
Realizing that he foolishly got himself backed up into a corner, he did his best to try and evade the question…without any real success. "What? Oh no, I've never met her or anything like that."
The brown-haired girl seemed a little confused. "Then why did you repeat her name?"
Fumbling with words, Shinji came up with another half-assed answer. "Oh uh…I…well…was thinking of…a different Rei. Heh yeah. There's no other reason as to why I would care about that girl. Heh…."
Hikari raised an eyebrow, seeing as that she obviously didn't buy his explanation, but decided to drop the subject. "Whatever. It's not like it matters."
It was then that the bell rang, indicating that gym was over. "We need to head back to class. Follow me."
While the two of them went back to class, Shinji frowned at himself for his own stupidity. 'Damn it. Stupid Shinji. You almost got yourself caught. You don't want people to know who you are, especially that one guy Touji. He'd probably kill me.'
The rest of class was no different from earlier, only instead of sleeping, Shinji decided that now would be a good time to catch up on overdue assignments. He was fortunate that most of the material on the assignments had been subjects that he had already covered in home schooling. Still, there was a lot of work that needed to get done, and it was going to easily take the two weeks that he had to complete it.
Eventually, the lunch bell rang, signaling everyone to the lunchroom. Since he didn't even have a lunch, or any money in which to buy a lunch, the young Ikari decided not even bothering to follow along. 'I might as well keep working on these assignments anyway. With any luck, I'll finish sometime in the next century, and it keep my mind off of my stomach.'
His absence did little to quell the suspicious thought going through both Touji's and Hikari's minds. Touji and his friend sat down at their designated table, both lunches in hand, and took no pause in bringing up the subject about the new kid.
"So what do you think about him?" Asked Kensuke. "He doesn't seem so bad to me."
"I don't know." Said Touji as he guided a sandwich into his mouth. He continued to talk with his mouth full. "Fares som tin abut hm."
Kensuke sweat dropped. "Can't you at least swallow before you talk?"
Taking the time to swallow, Touji spoke again. "I said that there was something about him. Like he was hiding something."
Aida rolled his eyes. "You're imagining things."
Suzuhara put himself in a deep train of thought, while stuffing his face with rice balls. This time he remembered to swallow before talking. "That last name of his sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before?"
"Probably during a TV commercial pertaining to some kind of food." Responded his friend as he went to drink some milk.
The dark-haired boy was not amused. "Very funny. But I'm pretty sure this is something else, something serious."
"Oh I know." Continued Kensuke. "He's the only son of the King of Tibet."
Touji shoved his friend lightly on the shoulder. "Will you cut it out? I'm serious."
"Well sorry." Said Kensuke while rubbing his shoulder. "But it's much more likely that he's just some kid whose family moved here because the rent was probably at an all-time low. It's not like anyone in their right mind would live here if the price wasn't right, especially if attacks like the one over a week ago are a common occurrence."
"I still suspect something." Said Touji as he finished the remnants of his meal.
Kensuke also finished his meal. "Whatever. Now if you want a real conspiracy, you should read my paper about how area 51 has been moved to Denver by the aliens after Nevada was submerged in seawater."
Touji got up to put away his tray. "And you tell me that my theories are half-baked."
Meanwhile, in another table, Hikari was sitting with her friends sharing the latest gossip.
"And I heard that her toes are webbed."
Gasps were heard from everyone at the table. One of the girls then looked at Hikari, who seemed to be in a world of her own. "What's wrong Hikari? You seem to have something on your mind."
Hikari looked up at her friends. "Sorry. I was thinking about the new kid."
The other girls leaned in closer. "Oh my god! Do you like him?"
The class rep's eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly shook her head. "Of course not. I was thinking about something else."
"Well then, what is it?" Asked another girl.
Hikari thought for a little bit more, and then gave a look as if she'd just pieced together a puzzle. "I found out that the new kid seemed to recognize Rei Ayanami's name."
The girls started to giggle. "Do you think that they are boyfriend and girlfriend?"
The brown-haired girl shook her head. "I don't know about that. He denied that he actually knew her, but I am sure that he at least knew of her."
Her friends continued to stare, expecting more to what she said. "So is that it?"
Horaki continued explaining herself. "Well I had this thought. You all know that Ayanami has connections to that government agency that heads the city, right? Well, it was believed that she was the pilot of the giant robot that saved the city. But then there was a rumor that she was in the hospital before hand, and couldn't have piloted it. Until now, I thought that was just a cover up, but now…"
Another girl interrupted her. "You think that the new kid was the pilot?"
"Maybe." Answered the Class Rep. "But there's isn't any real proof."
"Should we ask him?" Asked yet another friend.
Hikari shook her head. "No, don't! Like I said, I might be wrong, and I'd hate to spread a rumor that might be untrue, so promise me that you won't tell anyone about this, please!"
Of course, everyone agreed, but as human nature is, rumors spread regardless of effort to contain them.
Lunch eventually ended, having all of the student return to their classes.
Shinji had managed to finish about ten of the assignments, which was still only a small portion of what was still remaining. He was very hungry, but there little he could do about that until school ended.
Fortunately, the last few hours of class went by quickly, and the class ended with all the kids rushing quickly out the door. The boy walked out the front door, and to his relief, Misato was on time to pick him up.
Upon entering the car, he was greeted with a smile. "So how was your first day of school?"
Shinji began to stare at his laptop. "A lot better than I had expected. I met a couple of people, and got this laptop for me to use. Sadly, I have to finish a whole lot of back-assignments."
The temporary guardian decided to tease the young boy. "So, did you meet any girls?"
Shinji narrowed his eyes. "Very funny. To be honest, I got a tour of the school by the Class Rep. She was pretty nice."
"Is that all she gave you a tour of?" Said the woman while holding back a laugh.
"What?" Said Shinji in a startled tone.
Misato laughed. "As studly as you are, you probably already have girlfriend."
Shinji crossed his arms and turned away. "Ha ha."
Misato decided to become serious. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." She then grabs what looks like a map. "As I'm sure you already know, you need to be at headquarter tomorrow after school." She hands the boy the map. "Unfortunately, I can't pick you up, so you're going to have to walk. This map will show you the quickest way. I highlighted the path to and from both our home and headquarters. I hope you don't mind walking."
The young Ikari stared at the map. "Walking doesn't bother me, although walking in the city might be a different story."
"Don't worry about it." Said Misato. "You'll be fine. By the way, I have to go back to work, so I'm dropping you off, ok? You remember the pass code to get in?"
Shinji nodded as they pulled into the parking lot.
"See you later, Shinji!" Called out Misato as Shinji got out of the car. "I'll be home at around 7:30 P.M. And I have a surprise for you when I get home."
"Ok." Replied the young pilot. "Thank you for the ride. Bye!"
Contemplating what the surprise would be, Shinji made his why into the apartment. Remembering that he hadn't eaten anything all day, he went to the cabinets to grab something to eat. 'Maybe the surprise will be something edible to eat for school lunch.'
Settling for a bag of pretzels, he then makes his way to the living room in order to relax for an hour or two. After turning the T.V. on, the young Ikari laid back on the couch, only to be poked in the back by some object. Unsure as to what it was, but pretty sure that Pen-pen was not sitting on the couch at the time, he quickly got up and turned around.
The object, which was wedged between the couch seats, was a small, cylindrical object that rounded out at the tip. Unsure at first as to what it was, he pulled it out and began to examine it. He then saw a switch at the base of it, and decided to turn it on. The object began to vibrate.
It was at this point that the fourteen-year-old boy's brain began to do the math. Thinking back to his teacher Misotaka's porn stash that he himself at peeked at once or twice, he remembered what the object really was. Eyes widening, heart pounding, face reddening, Shinji dropped the object and screamed. "AAAHHHH!!!"
Startled and curious, the abnormally intelligent penguin race out to see what the noise was about. Seeing what the object was, which was still vibrating, the penguin shuddered, and quickly ran back to his private refrigerator/living quarters.
After the initial shock, Shinji began to look down at the object. 'A vibrator? I've seen them on my teacher's porn tapes, but I never thought I'd ever see one for real.' Deciding that maybe he should do something about it, Shinji went to the kitchen to grab a paper towel. He then returned to the living room and slowly and cautiously reached down to pick it up as if it were about to bite him. Once he had it within the paper towel, he headed for his guardians room.
Along the way he stopped and looked around to see if anybody or anything was watching him, despite the fact that the house was empty. He then looked at the vibrator and slowly brought it close to his face. He then took a few sniffs, and found the smell to be different then he'd expected. After he was done and thoroughly disgusted with himself, he quickly hustled into his guardian's room. Stepping over the numerous beer cans laying on the floor, he then placed the vibrator, making sure that it was off, on Misato's bed. He then hurried out, trying his best to forget the whole incident. He then grabbed some of his homework, and he busily worked away, trying to convince himself that he didn't see what he actually saw.
At approximately 7:30, the front door swung open to reveal Shinji's temporary guardian. "Hello! How are you doing?"
The boy didn't answer, too deep in his schoolwork to acknowledge Misato.
Misato once again called out. "Hello. Earth to Shinji. Do you copy?"
Finally noticing the woman's presence, the young Ikari put on a fake smile and pretended like nothing was wrong, in which he failed. "Oh hi Misato. I didn't hear you come in. How am I? I am great. Couldn't be better, In fact I'm super. Gotta get back to work, can't fall behind."
The Director of Operation raised an eyebrow. "O…K… Are you sure you're ok?"
Shinji once again looked at his guardian. "Like I said, I'm fine and dandy. Especially fine, and especially dandy."
Deciding that now was a good time, Misato began to dig through her purse for the cell phone. "Well, let me get that surprise for you."
Shinji's eyes widen. "Surprise? I don't need a surprise. I hate surprises. Especially now."
It was then that Misato handed the boy a brand new cell-phone. "Here you go!"
The pilot of Unit 01 grabbed the phone. "Great! A cell-phone! I love cell-phones. Cell-phones are great. They're clean, and sanitary, and I'll always know where it's been."
Sweat dropping, Misato decided to walk off to her room to change. "I'm glad you like it. I'm gonna go change now…"
As Misato walked towards her room, Shinji stared blankly at his cell-phone, realizing that it wouldn't be long before Misato discovered why he was acting the way he was.
It was then that he heard her voice in the background. "Oh shit!!"
Shinji didn't say anything, knowing that Misato was eventually going to say something about it to him, even though he really didn't want her to.
Misato slowly walked into the living room with a huge blush on her face. "I…I wondered where that went…" She then decides to sit next to Shinji. "Um…Do you want to talk?"
The boy's response was somewhat unfocused. "Talk. Talk about what? What's there to talk about? My cell-phone? I like my cell-phone. There, we talked. We're done."
Swallowing hard, Miss Katsuragi began to explain about the vibrator. "You see Shinji, I'm an adult woman, and I have needs. Although there are times when I wish I could find someone appropriate to help relieve these needs, the vibrator is a substitute. Oftentimes, before you came here, I used my apartment freely to…please myself, and I forgot to put away the vibrator. I just want you to know that from now on, I'll be more private about it." Upon saying that, she rested her hand on his shoulder. Shinji then fell forward, as if he had passed out.
Staring at the body on the ground, Misato shook the body in order to wake him. "Shinji, are you ok?"
There was no response. Sighing heavily, she then tries to drag the boy into his room. She plops the young Ikari onto his bed. She then walks away, but turns around and stares at him one more time. "Sorry about that…."
She then gets dressed out of her work clothes, and sees to it that the vibrator is put away in a secure place. After that, she walked into the kitchen and takes a beer. She then sees PenPen walk out of his refrigerator. He also grabs a beer, and takes a seat at the table.
Misato greets the penguin. "Good evening buddy."
The penguin nods in response and opens his beer with is beak.
Misato had a slightly depressed demeanor, and so she decided to smother it with some beer of her own. "I'm starting to wonder…if I'm cut out for being a guardian."
PenPen listened intently was sipping his beer. "Wark…"
Misato also sips her beer. She then puts it down and rested her head in her hands. "I'm trying my best, but I keep getting this feeling like I'm not doing a good enough job." She then gets an angered expression on her face. "I'll bet that stupid Adams did a great job as a guardian. I mean, he's a guy, he's got lots of money, and he can do all the things that I can't."
PenPen puts his beer down and shakes his head. "Wark Wark…"
The Director of Operations smiled at her pet. "Thank for trying, but I know better."
Deeply concerned, PenPen jumps off his seat and gives Misato a hug.
The hug deeply touches Misato, and she picks him up and hugs him back. "Thanks PenPen. I needed that."
She then puts the penguin down. "You're right. I shouldn't give up that easily. You'll see. I'll win him over yet."
And it was like that when the night ended, with Misato getting drunk, PenPen passing out, and Shinji dreaming about things that he really doesn't want to.
**
Shinji awoke the next morning on his own this time. Upon checking the clock, he was relieved to see that he had at an hour before he had to go to school.
Noticing that Misato wasn't up, he went to her room and knocked on her door. When there was no answer, he opened it slightly to look inside. He saw Misato, still passed out on the bed. Shinji decided to risk calling to her. "Misato? Are you awake?"
The corpse of his guardian moved slightly, and then slowly opened her eyes to see the young Eva pilot. She was apparently hung over, and it seemed unlikely that she would be going anywhere. "Shinji, I'd hate to say this to you, but I don't think I can get up this morning."
The young Ikari frowned. "You drank too much last night, didn't you?"
Misato nodded. "You're gonna have to walk to school, today. I'm really sorry."
Shinji's eyes widened. "But I'm not sure how to get there."
"Just use the map I gave you." Answered the purple-haired woman as she pulled her covers over herself. "You'll be fine. You're a stronger person than you realize."
Shinji wasn't too sure of what she said, but he knew that he couldn't force Misato out of her bed. So he decided to takes his chances and walk. Before walking away, he wanted to say one more thing. "By the way Misato, I'm really sorry about last night. I probably overreacted, and you were only trying to do the responsible thing to do. I'm just not comfortable about such things. Just thought you wanted to know."
Misato smiled. "Thank you Shinji. Apology accepted." She then closed her eyes and fell back to sleep.
Shinji saw to it that he made a lunch today, even though it mostly consisted of snack foods. Packing everything, including some gym clothes, into his school back, he headed off on his first trip to school by foot. Carrying the map close to his face, he tried to do whatever he could to make sure that he didn't get lost.
His actions didn't go unnoticed. As he was walking to school, two other classmates noticed his behavior.
"Hey, it's that new kid." Said Touji. "What's he doing around here? And what is he looking at?"
"Say…" Answered his friend Kensuke. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he was going to school."
Touji glared at his friend. "Enough with your sarcasm. I didn't realize that he lived around here."
Kensuke searched through his bag and pulled out a camcorder. "Want me to record this for…evidence?" He then cracks up.
The dark-haired boy was not so amused. "Will you cut it out? It's not that funny."
"Come on, Touji." Spoke Aida. "The way you rambled on yesterday, I wouldn't have been surprised if you thought he was an alien." He then turns on his camcorder and points in Shinji direction. "Look as the evil alien Shinji does the most awful thing of all. Walking to school!! Dun Dun Duuun!!"
Touji tries to grab to camcorder. "Give me that!"
Kensuke turns it off and shoves it back into his bag before his friend could get it. "No touching private property."
Touji, who was slightly annoyed at this point, quickened his pace to school. "Come on. We're going to be late…"
Eventually, Everyone made it to school on time. The class bell rang, the teacher entered, and everyone rose, bowed, and sat back down. The first couple of hours were no different from yesterday, so Shinji decided to take advantage of this time to try and fumble with his new laptop. After pulling it out, he began to look at it, trying to figure out how to open it. He then tried opening it with his hands, but the computer wouldn't open.
Kensuke watched the boy in front of him struggle with his laptop. As a friendly gesture, he leaned forward to assist the young Ikari. "If you want to open it, just push this." Kensuke pushed a button at the side of the laptop.
Shinji looked back at the boy. "Um…thank you." He then looked around to see if he could turn it on.
Kensuke also helped him with this. "Just flip this with here." Kensuke then flipped a switch on the side.
The computer screen began to flicker and brighten as the computer loaded up. Shinji stared at it with awe. Never was it more obvious than now that he had no computer skills. When the screen was fully loaded up, Shinji was unsure. He had no idea as to what to do.
"Geez." Said the blond-haired boy. "Have you ever used a computer before?"
Shinji sunk his head in shame. "I never lived with anyone who had a use for them, so I never learned."
The boy with glasses pointed to the pad on the laptop. "You see that pad? Move your finger around that in order to move the arrow icon."
Shinji blinked a few times in order to figure out what the boy was trying to tell him. Kensuke, for the next couple of hours, continued to teach the basics of using a computer to Shinji. As the period went on, Shinji found himself slowly understanding the computer, and he was starting to use it like a pro…well almost.
"Don't touch that!" Said Kensuke trying to warn Shinji, but it was too late.
"What? What'd I do?" Asked the Eva pilot.
Kensuke slapped his forehead. "You just closed the program. Now you have to load it up again."
"Oh…" Responded Shinji just as the bell rang. "Um…thank you for your help."
Kensuke got up and headed for the door. "No problem. Have anymore questions, send my way." He then walked of with Touji.
Everyone left, heading to his or her appropriate locker rooms. Shinji found that Gym class was hardly anymore exciting that class itself, consisting of mostly running a few laps, playing basketball, or some dodge ball, none of which were Shinji's cup of tea. After running a couple of laps, Shinji leaned against the fence and watched the others play. Although the classmate Kensuke seemed like a nice person, Shinji couldn't gather the courage to ask to hang out with him, especially since he hung around Touji, who seemed to have made up he mind about him.
Gym ended as fast as it came, leaving the boy back in class. Choosing to do homework instead of messing with his laptop, Shinji once again worked away at the seemingly endless stack of worksheets, although he managed to put a pretty good dent in them already.
Several more hours later, the lunch bell rang, and all the students, including Shinji this time, headed for the lunchroom. Taking the advice of Hikari yesterday, he went and sat at the empty table that Rei usually sat by.
Even though his lunch was hardly anything nutritious, Shinji began to munch away at his chips, wishing that they could be something else more wholesome.
Nearby, Touji and Kensuke were once again sitting at their table. Touji seemed to have more startling news to tell his friend. "I over heard something during class from the girls about the new kid. I think you'll be quite surprised."
Kensuke opened up his Bento Box and examined the variety he had to choose from. "Well I think it's safe to assume that he's not an alien. He doesn't even know how to work a computer. Unless, of course that the technology his so primitive than he can't comprehend it."
Touji smacked his friend in the back of the head. "Will you cut it out with the alien thing. I never said he was an alien."
After rubbing his head, the boy in glasses chuckled. "So what is this thing that you heard?"
Touji smiled. "He knows Rei Ayanami."
The blond-haired boy blinked. "What? Are they dating or related or something?"
The dark-haired boy shrugged. "I don't know. But I think I know one thing, and that is that Rei is somehow involved with NERV, the same organization the my father and grand-father as well as your father work for."
Kensuke seemed unimpressed. "So you're going to tell me the Shinji is involved with NERV somehow?"
"Exactly!" Answered Suzuhara.
Kensuke had had enough. "Listen, I've had enough. I'm going to prove to you that Shinji is a normal kid, with normal parents, and a normal life. And just to prove it to everyone else, I'm going to take my camcorder along."
Touji accepted the offer. "Deal. We'll follow him after school. You'll see I'm right."
**
The rest of the school day went without anything unusual occurring, and Shinji now had to get to NERV by foot. He once again took out his map, and followed the highlighted areas that he was supposed to go. He seemed to be finding his way rather well. Unfortunately, getting to NERV was the least of his problems.
"Stop being so noisy you moron."
"You're getting too close. He might spot you."
"So what if he spots me."
Touji and Kensuke were doing exactly what they planned on doing. They were following Shinji.
"See?" Asked Touji. "He's not heading back the way he came from this morning."
Kensuke followed the boy's movement cautiously with his camcorder. "So? He could be heading anywhere. He might be going to get something to eat. After all, I'm sure his lunch of chips and snack foods hardly filled him up."
"I don't know of any noodle shops and restaurants going this way." Responded Suzuhara.
"Whatever." Said Kensuke without taking his eye off of the boy.
Over the course of time, they followed Shinji throughout his entire path, making sure to stay hidden and sneaky. Shinji was too busy trying to find his way to notice them.
Within a half an hour's time, it seemed increasingly more obvious that Touji was right, and Kensuke was wrong. "I told you. I bet you he's heading straight for NERV."
Kensuke didn't say anything, still hoping that he wouldn't have to admit that he was wrong. Unfortunately, they followed him straight towards the entrance to NERV Headquarters.
Shinji, who was still unaware that he was being followed, was quite satisfied that he was able to find his way. Smiling, he pulled out his ID card, and swiped it through the card checkpoint. The doors soon opened, and Shinji quickly walked in. No sooner had he walked in had the doors closed, leaving the two other boys outside.
Touji gave a satisfied smile. "Ha I knew it. I was right all along. In your face."
Kensuke rolled his eyes. "I have two things to say to you. One, you are not right, the girls you overheard were right. Two, this proves absolutely nothing. He could be visiting a parent or some other relative that works for NERV."
It was then that the wheels in Suzuhara's head turned just a few more clicks, and another revelation was revealed. "I got it!! I know where I've heard that last name before. Commander Ikari is the head of NERV. And Shinji is his son. Ha!"
The blond-haired boy nodded. "Congratulations. You figured something out for a change. Want a medal, or a chest to pin it on?"
The dark-haired boy beamed with pride. "You're just jealous that you weren't able to figure it out."
The two boys start to head back home. Kensuke narrows his eyes in a realization. "You know, of the dozens of conspiracy theories that I've come up with, none of them have been proven true. You finally come up with one theory, and you end up being right. There's something that isn't right about that."
Touji was in quite reflection. "Well while I'm on a role, I think I have another thought."
Aida shook his head. "Don't get too carried away. You just got lucky."
"I'm going to question him in front of class tomorrow." Said Touji.
The boy with glasses gasped. "Why? Can't you just let it be?"
"You'll know why tomorrow. Make sure you bring the evidence that we recorded." With that, the two of them went home, both knowing that what they now knew wasn't going to stay secret for long.
***End Chapter 6***
Author's Note: It shouldn't be much longer before the next chapter is posted. I just have to finish it and proof read it. BTW, Shinji will be making his final decision as to who he'll stay with in the next chapter, so place you bets… or not. Nothing else to say, so I hope I get some positive reviews. Thank you.