Shinji's Redemption
Chapter 7
Shinji was tired, for many reasons. He just came back from New Yokosuka and had to cook dinner. He didn't mind cooking, but when he was tired he felt like his mind was foggy and unclear. Ritsuko came over since she hadn't for a while. Misato and Ritsuko talked. Shinji just stirred his vegetable soup around with his spoon. He looked at how the vegetables swirled around inside. He was thinking about his conversation with Asuka about his high synch rate. During his fight with the fourth angel, he heard a voice, it was to faint to be recognizable, but just enough to be noticeable. He originally passed it off as his imagination, but after hearing about his high synch rate he could help but think more deeply into it.
"Shinji!" Misato shouted. She repeatedly tried to get his attention, but he just kept staring at his soup. Shinji shot up and his eyes widened a little bit. "You look tired, what's wrong?" Misato asked in a drunken tone. Shinji looked down and started to stir his soup again.
"When did my synch rate peak during the fight with the fourth angel?" Shinji asked. Misato tilted her head in confusion.
"It was during the last few seconds before Unit 01's power ran out," Ritsuko answered. Misato saw Shinji's eyes narrow.
"Why?" Ritsuko asked. Shinji looked u from his soup.
"I heard a voice," Shinji said. Misato leaned forward in curiosity. Ritsuko, on the outside, was calm and collected. But on the inside, she was freaking out. She needed to tell the commander about this as soon as she could.
"It was just adrenaline. It's rare, but there have been cases where people have experienced auditory hallucinations during an adrenaline rush." Ritsuko lied. She completely made that up, but she knew that Misato or Shinji wouldn't know otherwise. "Oh look at the time, I have to go and register Asuka's pilot records. Thank you for dinner." Ritsuko said. She sat up and walked out of the apartment.
"That was sudden," Misato said.
"Yeah, too sudden." Shinji thought. He was around Ritsuko enough to know she wouldn't just pass something like that off. It just wasn't like her.
"Who did it sound like?" Misato asked. Shinji looked back down at his soup.
"It was very faint, I couldn't really tell," Shinji said. "Why?" Shinji asked.
"I'm just curious, is all," Misato said with a half-drunken smile. Shinji finally started eating his soup. After he was done with washing the dishes he decided to go to bed early, after all that happened today he could use the extra sleep. He walked by his painting that Misato hung up. He looked at Unit 01. A thought popped into Shinji's head, but he shook it off. He went to bed and fell asleep.
The three boys sat in the cafeteria, eating lunch.
"Why does she have to be here?" Toji complained."I feel bad for you Shin-man. I hate having the same classes as her, much less work with her." Toji said. Shinji unpacked his lunch. He made himself a PBJ sandwich. He took out the first half and started eating. Kensuke was too busy cleaning out his camera, to be engaged in the conversation. Shinji was about to say something until a certain redhead came up to their table. "Oh look who it is, the devil queen," Toji remarked. Asuka huffed at him. She looked down at the other half of Shinji's PBJ sandwich. She yanked it off the table.
"Hey!" Shinji protested. Asuka took the sandwich out of the bag.
"You owe me for letting you inside in my Eva." She retorted. She bit into the sandwich and was immediately hit with an intense flavor. The peanut butter was as nutty as it was creamy, and the jelly tasted like actual fruit. She also tasted...was that caramel?
"Where did you get this?" Asuka asked as she took another bite.
"I made it myself," Shinji said. Asuka's face went from glee to utter frustration. She threw the sandwich on the floor. Toji whimpered at the waste of good food, especially Shinji's.
"It wasn't that good anyway!" Asuka stormed off. Kensuke looked up.
"What was that all about?" Kensuke asked. Tojo shrugged.
"I'm tellin' ya man, she's crazy." Toji marked.
"All right you two, Units 01 and 02 will take turns in close-quarters combat," Misato informed. Asuka and Shinji sat in their respective units, flying above Tokyo-3's beach.
"Ah c'mon! This is my first battle in Japan, I should be fighting on my own!" Asuka complained. A little window popped up on Asuka's monitor.
"You saw our combined synch score against the sixth angel, this will go better if we work together," Shinji stated.
"The only reason we killed that thing was because of me! And stay out of my way!" Asuka shouted. The Units were dropped off by the planes. They glided through the air before landing, the impact of them landing cause waves of sand to scatter throughout the bach. The seventh angel came running down the beach.
"Commence the attack!" Misato ordered.
"I'll go first! Watch and learn, Shinji!" Asuka declared.
"No! Wait!" Shinji warned, but she had already charged forward, leaped in the air and split the angel in half while landing.
"That's how it's done, Shinji." Asuka boasted. Just as she finished, the angel came to life. What was once a dead angel was now two completely different angels.
"What the Hell!?" Misato complained, ripping off her headpiece in frustration.
After both Units were completely subdued, The JSDF had to drop an N2 mine on the angles as a last resort to stop them from seizing Nerv Headquarters. Whoever was directly involved with the whole operation was sitting in the screening- room. Misato wasn't present. Since she was the one in charge of the whole operation, she was the one who got to explain to the UN and JSDF why the operation didn't work.
"At approximately eleven a.m, both units were physically overwhelmed and subdued. Five minutes later command was given to the JSDF, in which Commander Kishinori ordered an N2 land mine be used. The results of the explosion was a lost of twenty-eight percent of both the angel's total mass. Further details are under review." Maya debriefed everyone. Fuyutsuki facepalmed.
"I thought I told you not to get in my way!" Asuka shouted.
"How is this my fault? Our orders were to attack in turns, but you just had to go and show off!" Shinji rebutted.
"How dare you talk to me like that! At least I was able to fight for myself! Look at Unit 01, it looked like it drowned!" Asuka yelled.
"Oh, because you had such a good view, being half-buried in the ground!" Shinji retorted.
"You two! Enough!" Fuyutsuki ordered. "You two have one job, and that's killing the angels! Nerv doesn't exist for you two to have a glorified shouting match! I will not stand for you two's quarreling any longer! You will cooperate with each other whether you want to or not!" Fuyutsuki lectured. "Thank god the commander isn't here." He said while leaving.
"Humph! I'm leaving!" Asuka declared. She stormed out of the screening room. Shinji began to rub his temples. He started to head towards the exit before Kaji stopped him.
"Hey, Shinji!" He walked over to Shinji. "C'mon let me treat you to a cup of coffee." Kaji offered.
After the two of them left Nerv, they headed to the nearest coffee shop. As they walked in Shinji was reminded how much he loved the smell of coffee grounds. Kaji just got regular black coffee, while Shinji got a latte.
"So how's it going between you and Asuka?" Kaji asked. Shinji just sipped his coffee.
"She's just so... bossy," Shinji admitted. Kaji chuckled.
"Asuka hates losing, no matter what it is. That's just how she is," Kaji said. Shinji looked off into the distance.
"Does she have to be so aggressive about it?" Shinji complained. Kaji smiled.
"Let me give you some advice, Shinji. Women rarely just tell you what they want." Kaji said.
"Why?" Shinji asked. Kaji shrugged.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Kaji said. Shinji looked down into his latte. After a while, he looked up to find Kaji smiling at him.
"What?" Shinji asked. Kaji's smile got bigger.
"I just figured out how we're gonna defeat the angel." He said.
"I refuse! There's no way I'm living under the same roof as him!" She pointed to Shinji, who in return rolled his eyes.
"The Angel will only be stationary for six more days, we don't have time for preferences," Misato said. Asuka crossed her arms. "In order to defeat the angel, a coordinated attack must be in place. Perfect Unison is essential." Misato pulled out a cassette tape. "You will memorize attack patterns to this song. The sooner the better." Misato said.
"This sucks," Asuka said.
"Oh, and you will be wearing these from now on," Misato said while handing them each dance outfits.
"You think he's alright?" Toji asked.
"He's missed school three days in a row, it could be anything," Kensuke said. The elevator door opened and the two boys walked out to see Hikari standing before them.
"What are you doing her class rep?" Toji asked.
"I'm checking in on miss Soryu," Hikari said.
"She lives here too? Kensuke asked.
"Man, I feel bad for Shinji. He has to live in the same apartment complex as her." Toji said. They walked through the halls and came up to the same door. They all looked at each other like they were asking the same question and no one was answering. The apartment door opened with Shinji and Asuka standing in front of them.
"Shinji, how could you?" Toji asked.
"You're wearing the same outfit, like a couple," Kensuke said.
"Misato said it was for synchronization." Asuka and Shinji said in unison.
"Oh, how nice of you three to drop by," Misato said with Rei to her side. The three of them looked at her for an answer as to what was going on.
"Come on in I'll explain inside," Misato said.
"Really? That's hilarious!" Toji laughed.
"Is it at least going well?" Hikari asked.
"Just look at them," Misato said. Hikari looked over to see Shinji and Asuka perfectly synchronized. "I would have never guessed that this would work so well," Misato admitted.
After Shinji and Asuka were done with there synchronization exercise, they joined the group. Asuka led Ikari back to her room, where they locked themselves in there for the rest of the day. Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke stayed in the living room and played video games. After a while, the three of them had to leave. Rei left soon after them.
The next day, Shinji and Asuka were doing their synchronization practices. After they finished they started cooking. Part of the synchronization training was cooking together. They actually worked very well together, when they weren't yelling at each other.
"Shinji, why do you like cooking?" Asuka asked. Shinji stopped whatever he was doing.
"Food makes people happy, and I like making people happy," Shinji said with a small smile. Asuka surprised.
"You don't do it to impress people?" Asuka asked. Shinji shook his head.
"Not really," Shinji said. Asuka looked down at the onions she was cutting. She had a disgruntled feeling in her stomach. She was angry that he kept upstaging her without even trying to, but she felt bad about being mean to him for it. After they finished lunch Asuka went to the living room to watch TV, while Shinji went to his room to draw more. After a while, he looked out his window. It was early afternoon. He got up and picked up his SDAT player.
"I'm going for a walk," Shinji said. Asuka turned her head at him. He started to leave until Asuka walked up behind him.
"I'm going with you," she said.
"Why?" Shinji asked.
"For our training, you idiot." She explained. They walked out of the apartment and then took a bus into the city. It was a cool day in Tokyo-3 and the sun was hiding behind the clouds. Shinji and Asuka walked throughout the city, stopping at vendors. As they were walking Shini felt a droplet hit its head. He looked up to the sky, it was covered in gray clouds
"I think it's about to rain," Shinji warned. Ust after he said that, another droplet hit his forehead. The two made haste to the nearest shelter. They found a bus stop shelter and sat there waiting out the rain. Both of them were soaking wet. Shinji looked at Asuka to see her shivering. He took off his hoodie and tried his best to dry it out.
"Here," Shinji said. He handed her his hoodie. She begrudgingly took it. She put it on and was immediately filled with warmth. Sh could smell Shinji's scent. It was a sweet smell, like baked cookies. She looked over at Shinji who was drawing something in his notebook. She glanced at his drawing. It was a landscape of a mountain with a lake in front of it she crossed her arms and mumbled.
After a while, the bus finally came and they got on. Asuka found herself becoming rather drowsy from the sound of the rain, before she knew it she was fast asleep. Shinji felt something tap him. He looked over to find Asuka resting her head on his shoulder. He immediately froze with a mixture of embarrassment and fear. After breathing a little bit, Shinji was able to calm himself down. When it came time to get off for their stop. Shinji shook Asuka awake. She rubbed her eyes and followed him out of the bus. When they walked out it was completely dark. They ran towards the apartment complex trying not to get resoaked. After they made their way back into the apartment, they quickly mad dinner and took showers to get ready for bed. By the time they were ready for bed, it was about midnight.
"I thought Misato would be here by now," Asuka said.
"She's still working, said she will be there all night," Shinji answered. Asuka put up a gleeful smile.
"Great, that means it's just you and me." Asuka beamed. She walked over to her bedding and picked it up. She walked over to Misato's room and set it down. She swiftly shut the door with her foot, only for her to quickly open it back up.
"By the way, this wall is now the impenetrable wall of Jericho!" Asuka warned. Shinji tilted his head.
"Didn't that fall by people just yelling at it?" Shinji asked. Asuka just humphed and slammed the door shut.
Shinji awoke to the sound of the bathroom door opening. Shinji kept his eyes closed. He heard a loud plop right next to him. He opened his eyes to see Asuka laying no more than a foot away from him. He slowly got up and went to Misato's room and got Asuka's bedding. He gently lifted her head and laid it down on her pillow. He gently draped her blanket around her. A small smile eased on Asuka's face. After Shinji was done he laid back down back inside his bedding and fell asleep.
"Angel has breached the Absolute Defense Line," Aoba reported.
"We're ready for you this time." Misato smiled confidently. "Asuka! Shinji! You two know what to do!" She spoke.
"Angel has reached the target position," Aoba reported.
"Good. Release external power plugs." Misato ordered. The power plugs flew off the Evas. "Launch!" Misato exclaimed. The launch pads rocketed up into the shaft, they quickly made their way up to the surface. The force of the launch pads launched the Evas into the air. Unit 01 and Unit 02 threw electromatic spears in front of and behind the angel. The spears sent up an electrical shield, cutting the angel in two halves. The Angel responded with each half firing electric blast at each Eva. The Evas backflipped in Synch and landed on a pressure pad, causing a Metal shield to come up to block the angel's fire. After the angel stopped firing, Units 01 and 02 simultaneously Upercuted, then ax kicked the angels causing the two halves to rejoin. The Evas took this chance to jump into the air and heel kick the Angel right into its cores. The force of the kicks sent the angel all the way into a nearby mountain. An explosion soon followed suit, when the dust cleared two Evas could be seen standing proudly.
"They actually did it." kaji spoke.
"Would you expect any less from these two?" Ritsuko said. Misato just stood with a proud smile.