Ehy there, everybody!
So, some of you may notice that this is not the first time this story appears on the site; in fact, I had already published three chapters of it, in these last three days.
But I also realized something that, unfortunately, I had taken for granted. And I realized it by reading the few reviews the story had received, that made me wonder how, probably, everyone else was feeling the same confusion about it.
So, I decided to restart, and make things clear from the beginning, starting with the new summary, and now with this Introductory Note:
This story is set in THE REAL WORLD. No EVAs, No Impacts, No Angels, No Instrumentality, No Sci-Fi elements at all.
Take it as another Universe, of course, one more akin to the Reality imagined by Shinji in the finale of the Series, the one where he and the other characters are just common people, even Rei.
THIS IS NOT that same reality, but the concept is the same: we're in the Real World, during Christmas time, and our Children happen to be homeless kids.
Why? I'll let you find more out by reading it ;)
Hope this time things are more clear, and possibly even more interesting. I'm going to publish the chapters anyway, and we'll see how it'll turn out.
Thanks again for the attention, and have a good reading! Sorry for any grammar errors, English is not my first language!
See you soon, hopefully!
CHANCES IN THE SNOW
A Christmas fiction, in loving memory of Satoshi Kon
December 25th
"Shinji ... wake up."
The violent shake he gave with his head, followed by a surprised gasp, woke him up totally.
Eyes slightly widened, he turned around nervously, eyes scanning all the silent shapes around him, intent on watching in front of them.
The boy's sight didn't rest long on them, as he kept to watch around him.
He wasn't sure if what had woken him up was the subtle coldness of the breeze, or his head lowering towards the ground while asleep, or even if it had actually been the soft voice who he thought to have heard.
He watched again around him, 'til his eyes rested also on what the rest of the people around him were watching with surely more interest than him.
The only spot of the place where actual light was, although an artificial one, enlighting the small group of smaller shapes, intent on giving back to their viewers the most candid sound their voices could emit.
Shinji's muscles seemed to relax more at that point, as his sight softened, and his lips contorted in a somewhat disheartened frown.
He stared at the still ongoing chanting totally emotionless, his ears actually not really receiving anything, or at least refusing to let that melody come fully to them.
"Are they done?", he asked softly.
"It shouldn't be longer.", was the quiet response, who made him now understand he had actually heard that voice calling from him a few moments before.
So he turned his head to his left, with his blue irises now watching the slightly shorter girl next to him.
Even she was sporting a somewhat disinterested expression, devoid of apparent emotions, although in this case it seemed like she was freezed right on the spot, unable to make any apparent movement.
And that (at least he knew it was so), was not related to her apparently sick looking appearence ... but then again, it would be really unfair to consider it like that, only because her skin was almost as pale as wax, or because of the light blue streak of hair showing from the hoodie of the equally white hoodie she was wearing, almost as if they were frozen on the spot; no, at least physically, she definitely was just fine as the rest of the people around them.
The boy stared at her for some other moments, before sighing weakly, returning to witness the rest of the performance in total silence.
Like she had said, it didn't last that much, but even then they didn't show any more form of interest in their eyes, even though the girl partecipated in the applause from the crowd, although her arms moved in a more mechanical way, as if she was just imitating what the others were doing with much more convintion.
Then again, Shinji knew it wasn't any show of malice, on her part. On his own, instead, he too just wanted to get to the part both of them were truly expecting, and for which they had ended up there a few hours ago, knowing very well they would've had to wait a lot, but just because they also knew perfectly they couldn't count on another occasion like that, in a period like that.
But still, they had to witness the black-dressed man on top of the stage, with a white cloth put around his shoulders, end his speech with which he reminded everyone in the place about the impending threat of the wintery climate, especially for those like them ...
Yes, those like them.
Who, according to the man's way too "motivated" speech, were just left to themselves, unable to find or seek for a real help ... but that was still there for them, even if they couldn't see it ... but they could definitely feel it, if only they held more on it.
Luckily, Shinji thought, he was not a vulgar nor aggressive kind of guy, or he would've started to call for him to just stop talking, once and for all, and not just to go soon where he was aiming for ...
But he just stood there on his spot, his ears taking in all the voice was talking about, unlike before when he had managed to keep away the sound of the chanting.
What option was better, he couldn't really tell ...
But in the end, the speech actually came to its end, prompting the two fourteen years old to actually move where they really wanted to be, alongside a good portion of the people there with them.
This meant they still had to wait more, causing Shinji to feel slightly more upset, as he and the girl put themselves in line, as the men and women in front of them blocked their view of the table, and of the food on it.
As they slowly moved, the boy's gaze fell on the ground, looking at nothing in particular.
The girl, instead, kept looking in front of her, her blank stare under the hoodie not releasing any palpable emotion, as if she was really turning into a glacial statue, uncaring of anything around her.
Some of the people in line, turning around their heads while waiting, occasionally laid their eyes on her, and felt actually creeped by how it looked to them, but if she ever noticed it was left unanswered.
Not that they would really care, anyway ... and neither her, probably.
Finally, the two teens were the next in front of the table, behind which stood the greeting smile of a bespectacled woman, who upon focusing better on their shapes felt a slight shiver going down her skin.
While her brain actually spoke internally what she could've said to the two directly, taking in what seemed to her all that wasted youth, she just kept her lips slightly upwards, while filling up the plastic bag with the free supplies that were being given to all the needing wanderers of that precise Christmas night.
While staring back at her, she felt a short buzz of surprise hitting her, as she noticed the boy's weak expression returning her a tiny smile of gratitude, as his eyes rested upon the hot looking food she was about to give them.
"S-Sorry, ma'am ... could you put s-some more ... we're taking it for another one, too."
The quiet, almost embarassed request she heard prompted her to blink in surprise, eyeing the slightly blushing boy, while his pale companion just kept her stare still, without adding anything.
The woman herself didn't feel like responding vocally to it, but instead gave an understanding nod, doing what the boy had asked her.
Once it was done, the bag found its way in the boy's gloved hands, and both he and the pale girl gave their thanking bows.
"Alright Rei ... let's go.", he said one last time, before they both started to walk away, where the tallest buildings of the enlighted Tokyo stood.
The small, wet sensation on her lips lasted for a very short time, as the drooling drop left them to fall directly towards the ground, passing rapidly in front of the luminous poster of the smiling girl on top of the building, right under the roof she was on, and arriving where a trio of waiting men stood.
Soon, one of them raised his head up, causing the redhead to quickly retreat away from the banister, kneeling on the partially snowy floor.
One of her hands came down to touch it, a small piece of chalk between her fingers, which she used to mark the sign of a drawn drop on its surface.
"Serves you right!", she muttered to herself, her tone as hard as stone.
Her expression, under the large furry hat she was wearing on top of her long red mane falling down on her back, turned into a mix of upsetting and apathetic frown, although she also felt an inch of satisfaction as her mind focused on the hit she had just made on top of that stooge's head.
Then, a new sound made itself clearer to her ears, prompting her to turn immediately towards it with a warning sight, before relaxing a bit as she recognized the two shapes, clothed in their respectively dark blue jacket and white hoodies and winter trousers, coming from behind a steely door, a pair of plastic bags in their hands.
"Ehy Asuka ... dinner's here.", was the quiet call of the boy, as he slowly raised his bag a bit, offering a tiny smile to the kneeling girl.
She, in response, only frowned a bit more.
"About time"
As the other two teens approached her, she stood slightly up, to better sit herself on the ground, being soon reached by the boy, who put himself on her right, passing her the bag, from which she immediately snatched the first things her hand could reach, being them a loaf of bread and a bottle of water.
The boy flinched slightly at her impulsiveness, but let go soon of it with a somehow resignited look, and so did the same as her, grabbing another loaf of bread from the bag.
The pale girl, instead, just stood in front of them, as quiet as ever, and took out of her bag a small container, which she slightly opened on top, starting to drink its content slowly.
"You should take it slowly", Shinji spoke quietly, as he noticed the redhead's jaws assault forcefully the bread.
She glanced at him, her right eywbrow raised in a severe way, before resuming her eating.
"I waited all night for this ... You can't tell me how to enjoy my Christmas dinner."
He looked at her without responding, before emitting a small sigh.
"But it may make you hungrier, if you keep this way.", he said again calmly.
"As if I wasn't already!", she retorted, before opening the bottle to drink from it.
Then, her eyes rested upon the other girl in front of her.
"Don't tell me it's another vegetarian soup ... Even if it's hot, how can you just have it, and not something more solid, with a time like this?"
The other girl glanced up at her, her expression as blank as before.
"I just prefer it this way.", was her almost whispered answer.
Asuka could only raise her eyebrow once more at her, before huffing slightly and reprising to bite her now almost finished bread.
"I just think I'll never understand you guys, ever ...", she commented.
"After all these months, you should feel easier around us.", was the dry comment from the boy next to her.
That made her turn her head towards him with a more baffled expression reflected in her blue irises.
"Just because you're the less troublesome hobos this city has to offer, doesn't mean I have to keep on with all your weirdnesses ... or wimpinesses."
Shinji just looked in front of him, at no particular point of the floor, his gloved hands holding a cup similar to the one in Rei's hands.
"What're you waiting for? Drink it, before it freezes!", the redhead spoke, her tone showing more annoyment.
He just stared a bit more in silence, before obliging.
"It's good, actually ..."
"Figures. Always praising anything about the Doll's ..."
"It's not like she made it, you know ...", he replied.
"Same thing. It always seems like you can't say just one thing wrong about her. Neither tonight's climate can reduce your idiotness, Baka ...", Asuka said once again, her tone actually getting as colder as the wind.
"Please ... at least tonight, don't argue.", was the sudden, calm request coming from the pale girl.
Both teens stared at her with eyes widened in pure surprise, as if what they had just heard was something they had never experienced ... and actually, it was like that, more or less ...
"Why? What's so different tonight? It's not like we'll start the day any different, tomorrow, if we act different now!", the redhead replied sternly, bringing her hands up to clutch more her red jacket.
"We won't get anything better than usual, just because we see more lights up on the buildings, and people getting more together ... as if they really cared, anyway."
The other two teens didn't say anything at that, actually lowering slowly their heads, with Shinji's in particular going more towards the ground.
Rei still looked as usual, not managing to show any recognizable reaction on her face, or with some body movement.
Instead, she resumed to talk, always as quiet as ever.
"But I actually cared about finding you something, tonight ..."
That made both the redhead girl and the boy look again at her with more surprise entrapped in their bodies, now feeling a more than unsure feeling crawling inside their guts.
As they kept looking around the stuffed bags and piles of papers around them, the air started to feel more freezing than before.
Rei's irises were focused on the series of covers her fingers were rummaging through, and despite her blank look being still planted on her face, she seemed to show slightly more attention as she kept looking.
"I was pretty sure it was here ...", she murmured.
"What was it?", was the slightly hard reply from the redhead.
"The complete collection of Cesare Zavattini's books ...", the blue haired girl replied more calmly.
"What the ... And just what should I do with them?!", was the now more flaggerbasted response from the widen eyed girl in red.
"I thought you might enjoy them. They manage to dwell very well into the reality of the common people's life. He's known all over the world, actually.", the pale girl replied again, while still searching.
"I wouldn't care even if he was a Nobel Prize winner! Just what the heck would I do with them, I repeat!"
"Why can't you just appreciate the fact she wanted to give you something?", was the new reply, slightly upset, from the boy emerging from behind another pile of papers.
"Sei still*!", was the shout the redhead let out in a clearly foreign sounding voice, turning to face him, "Don't make it even more useless! Just like you are, a useless, homeless Baka!"
That actually made his eyebrows frown slightly.
"Look who's talking ... as if these last months had made you any different from us."
"At least, I know I can go back from where I came from!", she shouted back.
"Sure, I wanna see you buy the ticket, and board the first plane to Berlin, without the required adults they want you to be with!", he retorted, his sarcasm partially lost in his more upset tone.
"That would be the easiest thing to do! Not that an Idiot like you could actually see how easy it is, though!"
"Once you're out on the streets for so long, it's not that easy anymore.", he replied with slight more force.
"And just what would you know about it?! It's not like you have some actual home to return to!", she yelled back.
While all this was going on, Rei just kept focusing on finding what she was looking for.
"Well, at least I still do something for you and Rei, when I have the possibility! What do you have to offer that makes you so superior, anyway?!", he now replied, purely upset.
"Well, surely I don't stand around letting the world crash me, just as uselessly as you!", the redhead retorted once again, her gloved hand grabbing for a small volume, which was then thrown at full force right on Shinji's face, making him emit a small yelp of pain.
That made Rei raise her head up a bit, watching emotionlessly as the book fell of the boy's face, while his hand rubbed his nose.
"Please, don't treat Futagawa-sama like that ...", she said, sounding almost resignated, her attention now on the fallen book at the boy's feet.
Said boy now looked at the girl in red with his eyes firmly fixed on her, irises shining with a burning light, which also made a small growl escape from his lips.
"Now I'm really thinking of sending you back there myself ...", he said, his voice souding ragely hoarse, as he made small steps towards Asuka, his gloved hands actually clenching in fists.
"You WHAT?! Am I really seeing this?!", the redhead replied, her eyes widened in what seemed a spiteful glance, but with also a genuinely sense of surprise trapped in it.
"You seriously think you can react just like that, to get ME?!", she said again, now raising a bit her own fists.
Shinji didn't say anything else, keeping to walk with no problem towards her, before being abruptly stopped by a concrete feeling of something hitting him straightly in the chest.
"Think fast, Dummkopf!", was the stern reply he heard, as he stepped back slightly, moaning in pain.
But his eyes raised soon up again, and he fastened his steps to reach for her, slowly raising his own fist, but finding himself late once again, as the girl in red hopped quickly to his right, before raising her leg to hit his side, and then moving even faster to come behind him.
He didn't waste too much time, though, and managed to turn on himself to face her again, launchign himself at her with a small yell, but not managing to go for any hit, as he found himself fall towards another pile of papers.
"Come on!", she yelled again, giving a quick, hard pat on his back, prompting him to turn again towards her, who in turn moved herself closer this time, her hands reaching for his shoulders, pushing him strongly away ... only to feel her wrists trapped in his clenching hands, causing both of them to fall between the series of papers, and keeping their scuffling right there.
Rei, on her hand, didn't make any other attempt to react, instead slowly rising up, smoothing her hoodie with her hands to remove the small amount of dirt on it.
The two fighting teens tried to keep their scuffle more on, but from the look of it, it seemed like they were mostly trying to swim their way out of the papers, though still having their angry glares planted on their faces.
Shinji put himself closer to the snarling girl, trying to get up and to keep her down at the same time ... only to suddenly widen his eyes, and for his cheeks to turn as crimson as her clothes were, if not more ...
Noticing this, Asuka abruptly stopped to move, her glare showing a slight quizzical look, before realization hit her as hard, making her look down where his dark blue gloved hand was resting upon the part of her jacket covering her left breast.
"YOU PERVERT!", was the more than furious scream she let out, before starting to hit with more violence the still blushing's boy shape, her voice covering the sound of kicks and punches she inferted without limit.
Again, Rei decided not to interfere, almost as if she knew nothing really worse could've happened ... and actually, it was so.
Despite being together by almost a year, sometimes it felt like the three teens had never made any attempt to actually get really closer to each other.
Still, they had decided to stick together, having perceived, each one in their own way, it was the best thing, and that they could actually gain what was needed to just keep on, while on the streets.
Only that it seemed like neither of them actually knew why the others wanted to keep on, anyway.
Rei for sure, wasn't really able to fully explain it ... but it was only because she really didn't know how to actually respond to any instict or feeling she may have felt all her life, living alone for most of it, unable to make others understand something either.
That's why she was always curious about the rest of the world around them, even though she was perfectly aware of her restricted limits, given her current status.
That's also why she kept on looking for books, and what they may cointain, to let her understand more about things she couldn't even imagine could happen, especially to one like her, and yet still ready to hit her way at any time ... like the loud, whining sound her ears capted in that moment.
As it echoed around them, even topping over the screaming from Asuka and the laments from Shinji, the bluehead's eyes grew slightly bigger, as her head turned towards the direction it came from.
Because it was nearer that she could imagine. And what made her feet move quickly towards it, was also the possible knowledge of what was causing it in the first place.
She circled around more piles of papers, and soon heard it louder and nearer than before, making her understand she was right where she had to be, prompting her red irises to look down, among the series of shredded papers left on the floor.
"Guys! Come and see, quick!"
The sudden call made the other two teens stop immediately, and widen their eyes in surprise for the second time that night, always related to the tone their companion had used, and that this time sounde even more unpeculiarly full of emotion.
And what made that surprise grow a bit more was also the now cleared sound that had attracted her in the first place.
So, both of them stood up, and reached without a word the spot where the pale girl, know kneeling down on the floor, was still staring, her mouth slightly agape, and her eyes fixed firmly in front of her.
Shinji and Asuka put themselves at her sides, and imitated her, watching and listening carefully towards the spot, under the papers, from which the whining was emerging.
They stood like that for some more moments, before the white clothed arm of the bluehead moved swiftly to remove part of the papers.
Once they were tossed away, the look and emotion on the three teens' faces reached the highest level of stupor, loss and fear, as their bodies freezed uncomfortably on their spots, while their eyes looked intently, trembling slightly, at the smaller shape agitating her tiny fists in the air, her eyes solidly closed, and her mouth letting out all the power she could have in her voice.
"What ...", Shinji started, his voice tone helplessly distressed.
"The heck ...", Asuka continued, sounding more lost than ever.
Rei's open mouth didn't let out any final comment, only slightly trembling, while the crying sound kept to fill the chilling air of that Christmas night.
* Sei still = "Shut Up!" in German
And here we are, end of Chapter 1, and start of the story!
I sincerely hope you've enjoyed this introduction, and I hope you'll keep your reading with more interest!
So, about what I said at the beginning, about respecting the characters' traits, I seriously hope I managed to give them justice.
I also tried to make them resemble a bit more their Anime counterparts, even without the whole Evangelion issues, like making them wear winter clothes resembling their plugsuits (even if Asuka's one was actually inspired by the outfit she wears at the beginning of REBUILD3.0. movie, the part when she punches the glass, minus the eyepatch of course)
As you may have read, if you've already watched TOKYO GODFATHERS, I mostly followed the same route, but with the necessary differences, especially to make it closer to EVA's feeling.
I removed or shortened some parts I thought didn't fit too much, and in turn made some slight additions to better fit the nature of the story, as seen by our main trio of teens.
That being said, I'm sure you may have already started to think of parallels with the movie's protagonists.
But even if, let's say, your first impression is that Asuka is representing Miyuki, Shinji is being kinda like Gin, and Rei like Hana, then I soon warn you not to expect that for the rest of the story.
What I mean is, that their actions won't necessarily be the same as their opposites in Kon's picture, so don't expect Asuka to go and do all the things Miyuki does in the movie, and so on ...
Also, I'll soon make clear that Rei won't have any gender issues like Hana, and Shinji will definitely NOT be an alcoholic like Gin ... but like I said, that won't mean their won't have any lesser issues to deal with.
As for other changes, I took the opportunity to make it more personal in other terms, like in the part when they're looking for the books, where I made a reference to two authors not mentioned in the movie, or rather Cesare Zavattini, one of the most renowned Italian writers, mostly known for his work on the screenplays of the most famous movies of NeoRealism, for which he was also nominated thrice at the Oscars, for SHOESHINE, BYCICLE THIEVES, and UMBERTO D., but he also wrote other gems like MIRACLE IN MILAN, FOUR STEPS IN THE CLOUDS, and the Sophia Loren's classics TWO WOMEN and MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE.
Then, I made Rei say that the book that ends on Shinji's face is from Ryunosuke Futagawa, a famous Japanese author of novels and short stories, from which Akira Kurosawa took inspiration for his absolute masterpiece RASHOMON.
That being said, I still hope you sincerely enjoyed this, and I hope to read your opinions soon.
I kindly ask you NO FLAMES in the reviews, and, if you like, give me some advice about the grammar, if you may have found some errors about it.
Thanks again, and Be Safe, see you next time!