The next day began like any other- Asuka woke me up noisily, I ate an instant breakfast, and walked off to school with a complaining Asuka. It continued like normal, I walked into class, sat down, and was pretty much ignored. It seemed like everything was like usual, but then I looked around. Afraid that maybe this was a continuation of the nightmare, I opened my eyes, but they just got wider. It was real. And it was Toji Suzuhara, the boy I had grudgingly traded my life with.

"You ok, Shinji? Why the big eyes?" I had been too busy being shocked to notice that he had actually approached me.

"Well… why are you here?"

"Aww, that hurt, Shinji. I don't cut school that often."

"But that angel possessed your eva and …!"

"What are you talkin' about, Shinji? Are you crazy? I've never piloted an eva, you know that!"

"But Dad made me kill you, and my eva destroyed you!"

"Sound like a weird nightmare. Get a grip," he grinned, patting my shoulder. Even though it was nice to have him back, I was a little uncomfortable. I knew I had killed him, so why had he been standing there, talking to me? He didn't exist anymore, he couldn't exist! I tried spend the rest of the day like any other, ignoring that my friend was back from the dead.

It was kind of fun, being at school without having the weight of having killed on my chest, Once again, I was the class idol, "calm, cool, mysterious-eva-pilot" Shinji instead of "that-guy-who-had-to-kill-Toji" Shinji. What was happening? Was life giving me a second chance to be happy? What a blessing.

And soon, school was over. The bell rang and then I was walking home with Toji and Kensuke. As usual, Ken-kun was going on and on about the newest Gundam figurine he was saving up for, Toji was griping about an upcoming test, and I was intently listening but remaining silent. I was really enjoying Toji's company, having not seen him in so long, so it was a relief when Kensuke turned around the corner to go home. Just as I started to open my mouth to talk, Toji heaved a sigh of relief, turned to me, and grabbed my shoulders with a hurt expression.

'Oh, God no, what's wrong this time?' I thought.

"Say, Ikari-kun? Could you come over to my place tonight? Something big happened, and I want to tell you," he said with sad eyes.

"W-why can't you just tell me here?" I asked, afraid.

"Because… I'm not ready. Bye, Shinji." He turned left onto his home street, leaving me alone to pray that I wouldn't relive the past.

Ello, minna-san. Yes, I am leaving you with a bunch of angst. How evil. This was actually the first fanfic I've ever written that I finished and actually approved of. Yay. I might not update for a while, have a lot of stuff to do. Either way, hope everyone's enjoying the fic! Luv, nanodaneko

PS, this isn't going to turn into a shounen-ai fic. Just thought I'd let you know, what with all the "come over to my place tonight" stuff. My shounen-ai fic is gonna be my Tokyo Babylon one.