NEON GENESIS SUPER CUB
Chapter 2
(Musical Reference: Waltz in A-Flat Major Op.39 No.15 by Johannes Brahms)
The morning sun shined against the tall retractable skyscrapers of Tokyo-3 as a teen boy rode his 'new' motorcycle towards his junior high school. He was sporting a jacket with leather elbow patches and a full coverage helmet with a visor covering his face. He thought back to the events that led to him getting his new riding gear.
Two Days Prior...
Shinji Ikari returned to the Katsuragi apartment complex after his Cub purchase and his contemplation at Lake Ashi. He parked next to his roommate's blue Renault Alpine A310 in front of a light post. I need to get a lock, he thought as he propped the motorbike on its kickstand.
In the elevator he held his helmet and gloves in his arms. It reached his floor, and he exited with a cautious step. He hesitantly reached the front door and instinctually rang the doorbell. He knew he didn't have to...he lived there. He just didn't feel like it the moment he left. Would Misato close the door on him for that? Fear ran through him as he waited for her to open the door; he so desperately wanted to run away again! He heard the handle mechanism turning; it was too late to run now.
With a whoosh the front door flew open to reveal a mess of violet hair almost covering her tired, bloodshot eyes. She was wearing her usual off-duty casual wear of a skimpy yellow shirt and jean shorts. He smelled in her labored breathing and knew that she had been drinking heavily. Was she...worried about me?
The inebriated woman didn't expect him to come back on his own. She honestly thought Section 2 agents would have to drag him back to Tokyo-3. She was at a loss of what to say to him. Did she want to punish him for running away; did she want to be relieved for him coming back on his own? What was the right thing to do?
Shinji took the initiative to answer this by wrapping his arms around his caregiver and placing his head on her shoulder. She slowly returned the gesture cradling his head.
"I'm home, Misato."
That did it for her. She released tears she didn't know she needed to let go of. They stayed like that for a few minutes as she worked to collect herself and her emotions. Their eyes met; she wiping tears from hers as his gathered looking at hers. "Welcome home, Shinji."
She moved from the doorway to allow the boy into their home. Why does he have a helmet and gloves? As he entered she happened to look towards her car and the new vehicle that was parked next to hers. She knew everyone's there and the spots they normally parked in. What was more intriguing was that everyone else left empty spaces between cars at the sparse complex. Come to think of it... He DID come home quicker than expected. "Shinji," she called out to him in the apartment, "Who's motorcycle is that?"
"Uhh..."
The lecture he got after that was NOT pleasant compared to their bonding moment in the doorway. She weighed the pros and cons of this purchase. Yes, it meant that he could respond to emergencies more quickly instead of walking; but it also meant that, heaven forbid, if he got into an accident it could possibly cost him his life. She also couldn't ignore the shine in his eyes when he returned...it was like looking at a completely different person. Could a motorcycle create that much happiness in someone? She guessed she could understand; her own Renault made her happy, especially after it was repaired following the first Angel attack in the city. If she were to take that happiness from him now how would it affect his piloting? She concluded that the bottom line was what made him happy and in turn made him a better soldier. She finally told him that if his Cub ever impacted his ability to pilot the Eva she would have no choice but to confiscate it. He agreed to this and went to bed that night thoroughly satisfied with how well the conversation went.
The next day they both went shopping for items to make sure he stayed safe on his motorcycle. She got him black leather riding gloves, a full cover helmet with a face shield, and a light, breathable, but durable jacket with leather elbow patches to protect him if he fell and scraped himself. He also remembered to buy a bicycle lock to use on that light post.
At Present...
He drove up onto the school grounds passing by walking students who stopped and stared at this boy. Since his face was covered they couldn't identify who it was, and since the engine was still running he couldn't hear their not-so-hushed comments.
Who is that?
Is he new here?
Is he some rich kid?
Is he a delinquent?
That bike is so cool!
Nah... It's a Super Cub. It's not cool at all...
Oh... So definately not a delinquent then.
My grandpa has one.
Aren't they only for old fogeys?
It sure beats walking! (Yeah, that's for sure!)
Since he didn't know where to park he decided for the time being to park in a visitor's spot near the front entrance. The spot happened to be near the window to his class 2-A. At the window peeked the freckled class representative, Hikari Horaki. She wanted to yell out the window and say something to the mysterious kid about driving a motorcycle and how much of a distraction it would cause. When the student finally took off his helmet the girl's mouth hung open in surprise. Shinji Ikari?! That withdrawn boy is riding a motorcycle?! She could not believe that someone as shy and timid as him would be so bold as to drive a motorbike to school. At the opposite end of the reaction spectrum, the red eyes of the pilot of Unit-00, Rei Ayanami, did notice the boy she worked with dismounting the Cub and trying to find a spot to store his helmet but resigning to take it and the gloves with him into the building. Her stoic exterior didn't show the intrigue that was swirling in her brain. She guessed that Captain Katsuragi knew about this, but she wondered if the Commander knew. What would he think of his son owning this?
The brown-haired boy made his way up to the second floor of his school with nearly the entire student body looking at him with various looks. It was like that day when he admitted on the public chat on his laptop that he was an Eva pilot. However this was far worse because it involved so many more people! He saw girls looking at him with lovey eyes, waving, blowing kisses at him, and mouthing words like "call me." The boys, on the other hand, were more stern with their looks, almost like they were mad that the Eva pilot was once again getting more attention from the girls they were trying to get to notice them. The stares were starting to get to the boy; that familiar feeling of running away starting to dominate his emotions. He was snapped from it by a slap on his back.
"Hey, Ikari! I didn't know you had a Super Cub 50! That is a fantastic piece of machinery! Did you know that the Cub is what got Japan back on the road after World War II? Sure they had bicycles, but the Cub..."
Behind the two of them was a taller boy with spiked hair that was looking around at the other boys on either side of them. His eyes narrowed at them as if to tell them, "This one's mine..." They knew not to bother Toji Suzuhara or his best friend Kensuke Aida who was still giving a detailed history of the Super Cub and it's importance in modern Japanese history. The sideliners stood back and let the three pass with no other problems as they made their way to class 2-A.
"...That's a cool helmet! Did you know the death of British officer T.E. Lawrence prompted neurosurgeon Hugh Cairns to research and help implement the use of helmets to prevent more deaths...?"
Thankfully and mercifully the trio entered the classroom only for the boy to be assaulted again by everyone with similar questions they were asking themselves earlier that morning. The freckled class representative tried to bring the class to some kind of order before the teacher would arrive and most likely scold her for letting the class fall into such chaos.
The boy felt so small as he slowly inched his way to his chair. Eventually the class calmed down and the school day began with another Second Impact lecture. Every once in a while he would get questions or comments from students on the classroom chat. He mainly ignored it while Hikari would type back about not using the chat area for personal business. The cobalt-eyed boy wasn't necessarily avoiding answering any questions. His mind was somewhere else...actually on someone else, someone who didn't react at all when he entered the classroom. He wondered why the blue-haired girl didn't at least look to his direction. He wasn't actively trying to get her attention, but he would have been lying if he wasn't at least trying to get a little focus from the only girl his age he somewhat knew. He sighed and looked to his left side to see her staring out the window. What he didn't see was her eyes glancing from time to time at the small cycle parked in that spot.
Blue... It's a nice color...
After school while riding on his way to NERV Shinji thought about the whirlwind of events that happened throughout the day. First it was the onslaught of student questions in the morning AND during lunch; but more importantly it was the meeting Toji and Kensuke wanted with him immediately after the school bell rang. The jock made the Eva pilot punch him back for what he did to the shy boy. They all reconciled and with that Kensuke bugged Shinji to let him drive his Cub which he politely declined several times. He did show them the bike up close. The military otaku was impressed by the simplicity of the design and the care that was put into it.
As Shinji drove onward he saw a familiar tuft of blue hair walking with her head forward. He was glad that she didn't have to wear a sling for her arm anymore. He thought about stopping to see if she wanted a ride to get to their workplace quicker, but he thought better of it for two reasons. 1) You don't just go asking a girl if she wants a ride! That's super creepy! She'd definitely think I was some kind of pervert for trying to pick her up like that!; the second and most important reason was that he didn't have a second seat for anyone to sit on (that most likely would cost more than his salary). He sighed and continued his trek.
The sync tests were nothing very different. He did get praised by Dr. Akagi for going up 3 whole points since the last Angel attack. That was something nice for him to hear from someone there at NERV. He cleaned himself of the LCL and got dressed. As he was about to head back to the surface he happened to pass by Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki. He spoke to the boy with hands clasped behind his back.
"Ah...Mr. Ikari. I'm glad I caught you."
Shinji felt a little nervous around the second-in-command of NERV but not nearly as much as the Commander.
"I've got something for you. Please come to my house at 9:30pm."
What would he older gentleman want to give to the boy?! As much anxiety as it put into his brain he could not decline the command. But being that it was still several hours away, and since Misato would be working late he decided to drive around the city. He got the Sub-Commander's address and left NERV headquarters.
He had no idea how expansive this technological marvel that was his home of Tokyo-3 was. There was still damage on some parts of the streets that were easy enough for him to navigate with his Cub. He passed through the entertainment district and stopped at a red light. From his left he could hear some commotion over the purr of his four stroke engine.
"Oi! Hey, kid!" Were they talking to him? He didn't want to chance that they were talking to someone else possibly. "OOOOII! You! On the Cub!" 'Kid...on the Cub'... Ok...they were DEFINATELY talking to him. The brown-haired boy looked to the side to see the owner of a small ramen shop trying to wave him down. "Oi, kid! You wanna make some money?!" Shinji froze in place as the light turned green. Cars behind him were honking at him to move or were going around the boy. Since he had been addressed personally he couldn't ignore the man now. He turned hard and drove towards the curb then backed up his motorcycle with his legs. "I need a delivery driver badly! My last one left with his family after the last monster attack! It's easy money; all you gotta do is make the delivery before it gets cold. You think you could manage that, kid?" He had never driven around Tokyo-3 to memorize the streets. What was he supposed to do?! If he said 'no' then the shop owner would be without a driver and would eventually go out of business. Shinji didn't want that to happen! But what was he supposed to do? He decided that he didn't want to let the owner down.
"Sure. I'll help you."
"Oh, thank you so much, kid! You're a lifesaver! Here, I have something you can use." He went back into his shop and a moment later returned with a basket. "This belonged to the last driver. He'd leave it here after work so it wouldn't look too embarrassing when he tried to pick up girls. Put the food in the basket and it'll be fine. I'll give you some time to put it on your Cub." The owner handed Shinji some tools to help him put the basket on his Super Cub while he went back inside to prepare orders. The idea seemed easy enough to the Eva pilot: use the wrench to secure the brackets onto the front of the motorcycle. Within a few minutes the basket was in place at the front of the Cub, and the owner came out with an order wrapped in a plastic bag. "This delivery is going to 1802 Kawahara Drive. You think you can manage this?" The boy gave an unsure nod. "Thanks again, kid! You're saving my store! Oh, one more thing..." He pulled what looked like a thick phone from his pocket. "It's a GPS. What?! You didn't think my business was that badly off did you?! I'm a man of the 21st century after all! I'll input every order as they come in. You just get the orders to them as quickly as you can!"
The device had a clip that attached easily to the Cub's handle bar, and with that Shinji was off. Sure enough a red line appeared showing the route to Kawahara Drive. Within ten minutes he arrived at a house. Anxiety again riddled the boy as he steeled himself to walk up and knock on the door. He finally did and was greeted by an older gentleman who thanked him and gave him the amount owed. The boy drove back to the noodle shop and gave the owner all the money. "Nice job! Now go back out there and take this order to the Hinode Apartments."
Other orders went similarly. He delivered mostly to houses and apartments. He even received a tip for delivering a large order on his Cub. He tried to refuse it, but the office worker insisted since it was for several on their floor. One address he was delivering to seemed familiar; once his drive got underway he found himself following a similar path he would walk almost daily. Sure enough he reached the steel doors of NERV. Had an employee ordered?! Out of a side door came out Lt. Shigeru Aoba; he was looking down making sure he had the correct amount of money. He finally looked up surprised by his delivery driver. "Shinji?! What are you doing here?!"
"I was asked to be a driver for a noodle shop." The usually shy boy responded to the NERV tech with a confident smile.
"Yeah, I can see that, but what do you mean 'driver'? How did you get here?"
The teen looked back to his light blue Cub and pointed to show the long-haired music enthusiast.
With a crook of his eyebrow he asked more questions. "Does Captain Katsuragi know?"
"Yes."
"Does Commander Ikari or Fuyutsuki know?"
"Fuyutsuki, yes... My dad, I don't know yet..."
Crossing his arms Aoba replied, "Well, if Fuyutsuki knows, then Commander Ikari probably does as well. And if that's the case, and they haven't said anything about it yet, then you're probably good." The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a ¥1000 bill. "Here... For the speedy delivery."
The boy raised his hands waving them defensively in front of him. "I can't accept that!"
"Hey..." said the technician, "It's alright. Please take it. You'll probably have a better use for it than me, anyways. You did good, Shinji!"
The boy's eyes shined at the kind gesture. He bowed deeply at the long-haired man. "Thank you!"
By 9:00pm Shinji was done with his deliveries and the small restaurant was ready to close for the night. "You saved my shop, young man!" The owner patted the boy heartily on the back. He stopped to give him some cash. "This is for your work tonight. I'll see if I can get someone older to cover since you're still so young and have school, but if you have time you're free to work for me whenever you'd like!"
"Um... What about the basket?"
"If you're not embarrassed by it, it's yours. You've earned it! Beats taking it off after every shift! Hope to see you again soon, kid!"
And with that Shinji was on his way. He wanted to go home, tired from driving around the city for the last few hours, but he had one more thing to do that was asked of him earlier that afternoon.
He arrived at a smaller house in a quieter suburb. A light in the front area told him that someone was there. He walked to the front gate and pushed the call button to announce his arrival. An older man wearing a familiar but unbuttoned NERV officer jacket opened the front door behind the gate and addressed the teen motorcyclist. "Ah, Mr. Ikari... Right on time. Let me go around back and get it." He walked around the house leaving the boy waiting behind the gate. The NERV Sub-Commander returned a moment later with an item that looked like a chair cushion.
"This, Mr. Ikari, is a second seat for a Super Cub."
"A second seat?"
"Yes... You see..." He looked down at the seat in his arms as he reminisced. "I met my wife when I had a Super Cub. We were both sixteen at the time. Back when we started dating the Cub was the only vehicle I could afford. I saved up some money to buy this seat to take her around Toyohashi where we grew up. Well...she must have liked me enough because we got married after graduating high school. We both eventually became professors, she teaching philosophy and me teaching metaphysical biology, in Kyoto."
"What happened to her?"
"She got sick... and died suddenly right before her 30th birthday." He inadvertently clutched the seat tighter as he revealed this personal information to his boss's son. "I vowed to not be with anyone else. I kept this seat as a reminder of all the things we did together and how much I loved her. I will say, though..." The man looked at Shinji, studying him, almost as if he were finding something familiar in the boy's face. "There was one who came close... But, she was interested in someone else. Now, Mr. Ikari, since you have a Cub, it's time I passed this to you."
"But, Sir..." The boy spoke to the older man distraughtly. "Why would you give this to me? Especially when you have so much history with it?"
"Objects come and go, Mr. Ikari, just like MY Cub. I made enough money as a professor to buy a car so I sold it because I didn't need it anymore; went to a good home, actually... But I'm giving this to you because you're still young and might someday meet someone who you'd like to take around town...or to the lake..."
Shinji was confused at first then gasped at this realization.
"Yes, we knew the moment you bought the Cub and took it to Lake Ashi. We were prepared to bring you back by force if we had to. You surprised us, however, by making up your own mind and coming back. This Cub had a big part of it, I'm sure. So think of this also as my way of saying 'I'm proud of you!' for making that difficult decision. Let me help you install it..."
The older man opened the gate and inspected the bracket behind the driver seat. It looked very much like his...he guessed they didn't change the design much. That or Shinji's model was almost as old as his was. Because of how similar it was all that was needed was a crescent wrench to tighten the bolts under the seat to the mounting bracket; they were tightened well to keep from slipping. Double checking his work under the bracket he happened to see a heart etched into the metal with two separate syllabic hiragana... one of them was "Ko", his first name! The second one was...
(Musical Reference: Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 by Frédéric Chopin)
"Well I'll be damned..." He whispered softly smiling to himself.
They both stepped back to admire the bike. All of the memories and emotions attempted to flood the older man's heart with the realization this bike made its way back to him in the most unimaginable way possible! He held them in check as he clasped his hands behind his back.
"Commander Fuyutsuki... Thank you."
The gentleman faked a sincere looking smile and replied to the young Eva pilot. "Don't worry about it, Mr. Ikari. You have the whole city on your shoulders. Try to have some fun at least, and enjoy this Cub! You made a wise purchase!" The NERV Sub-Commander paused thinking the next words very carefully. "You know...I can think of at least one person who might want to ride with you."
"Who, Sir?"
With a chuckle he replied, "I won't give you all the answers, Mr. Ikari. Somethings you just need to find out on your own."
The trip back to the apartment gave the boy plenty to ponder. Who was the Sub-Commander referring to? Who would want to take a ride with him? His first immediate thought went to Misato. He couldn't see her wanting to ride on such a small bike with him; also her well-endowed bosom might pose more of a distraction for their safety! Toji and Kensuke would be jealous and pissed at the same time... That line of thinking kept him there at his school... Yes, there were numerous girls whose attention he stole with his entrance that morning. There was one, however...
Ayanami?! Was he talking about her?! While the idea earlier in the day was deterred due to the lack of the second seat it no longer was an excuse. Now it landed solely on his nerves! With a gulp of air he rode onward, the idea planted growing slowly along with his confidence that the Cub had nurtured.
(AN): I did some research into tipping in Japan, and while I found it more to be frowned upon I could still imagine it might be more acceptable for people performing services like being a delivery driver (especially in post Second Impact Japan). An example of a possiblity for me would have been delivering a large order to an office building (as expressed in this chapter); I could see tipping as a way of saying "sorry for inconveniencing you with the burden of such a large order." In Aoba's case I saw it more as a gift to someone he already knew (although he didn't use a pochibukuro [gift envelope] because of how quickly it happened). I hope you have enjoyed this so far. I have several projects I am working on at once and I'm putting as much time into each one as I can. My brain just cannot commit to one and finish it. I could have done that 20 years ago, maybe, but I have other ideas that come up and need expanding upon lest I forget. Take care out there! See you next chapter!
COMING ATTRACTIONS
(Maybe...)
Work all day, party all night. That's how Misato Katsuragi survives the day-to-day struggle against the Angels. There's only one place that can take her mind off it all. With soundtrack including Gloria Gaynor, Dionne Warwick, The Tavares, Donna Summer, and many others!
Will she find love or will she lose herself in...
STUDIO 54!
([NOT!] A partnership between Gainax, Studio IG, Studio Khara, Miramax, and Majestik Moose Productions)
Shinji and Asuka travel to a natural springs for a weekend date. But he gets more than he expected when a ghost with unresolved regret shows up that only HE can see. Will he risk it all to help her ascend to heaven?
Ayanami and the Haunted Hot Springs!
([NOT!] A partnership between Gainax, Studio IG, Studio Khara, Xebec, and Majestik Moose Productions)
