I don't own Evangelion. It turns out I wasn't depressed enough at that time. XP
My thanks to Hamstadini, Genesis D. Rose, Alucard180, Dog Demons Rock, Rahhel, Zeroeye, RahXephon and that anonymous guy for the reviews! They're greatly appreciated. :)
Once again I'd like to thank Rahhel for beta reading this. :)
If you'll excuse me, I have to hit the bars to try and reach a new level of depression for some ideas. Without further ado: on with the story! Please R&R. :)
Wednesday
"Dammit!" Shinji shouted as he made his way to No. 1 Public Middle school. Rounding the corner, he ran as fast as his throbbing legs would allow him to. Just as the morning bell rang, Shinji stumbled into the classroom.
"Good morning, Shinji." Hikari greeted when he entered.
"Morning...Horaki." Shinji panted, trying to catch his breath.
"Hikari." she corrected sternly.
"Huh?" he wheezed.
"You told me to call you by your first name yesterday, so I think you should at least call me by mine, too." she stated with her hands on her hips.
"It's..." he was about to say he didn't have to if he didn't need to, but that'd sound stupid now that he thought about it. "Okay." he nodded
"'Okay...?'" she pressed.
"Okay, Hikari?" he asked once his breathing calmed down.
"Good!" she nodded with a smile. "You look tired." she added with concern.
Shinji took a quick look around the classroom. He frowned a bit seeing the same five students from yesterday were the only ones attending today. "I am. I don't live very close from here and I woke up a bit late this morning."
"No," she shook her head. "I mean you look fatigued."
"Oh! I didn't sleep well last night. My fridge kept on waking me up."
"Is it making a loud noise?"
"Yeah. It's very loud." Shinji nodded.
"If it's making a loud noise, maybe you should call an electrician or something before the food spoils."
Shinji stared at her for a bit before exploding into fits of laughter at the idea of an electrician checking up on the small fridge ready with tazers in hand, causing the Class Rep to give him a confused look. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry." he said in between laughs before calming down. "Ahhh." he sighed. "I needed that." he wiped the tears from his eyes.
"What's so funny about an electrician?" she asked.
"It's not that." he answered. "I don't even think a stick of dynamite will take care with what's wrong with that fridge. Besides," he added "I have a new fridge next to the old one."
"Then why don't you get rid of it?"
"It's...a little bit more complicated than that." he chuckled nervously. It was strange for him to be talking to Hikari this way. He had never spoken with her directly like this in the past.
"Oh." she said realization striking her. "It's an in-wall fridge."
Shinji blinked at her, and then bit back a snicker.
"Anyway, I wanted-" the warning bell cut her off. "I'll tell you at lunch." she said before they both made their way to their seats and took her role as the Class Representative. "Everyone, stand. Bow. Sit."
The morning class would've been boring had the teacher not given Shinji his laptop. He spent half of that morning setting it up, installing the software, and inputting in the required information from the pamphlet that came with the red lifesaver. He spent the other half of that morning playing solitaire. If Kensuke were here I'd be able to access the internet.
When the bell rang for lunch, Hikari made a bee-line straight towards Shinji. "Listen. I want to apologize. About yesterday, I mean."
"Yesterday?" he asked, pausing the timer on his game.
"Yeah." Hikari began to shift uncomfortably. "On our way off the campus, I said something that I shouldn't have."
Shinji had a thoughtful look on his face and finally remembered what she was talking about. "Don't worry about it." he said smiling to reassure her. "It's no big deal."
"Really?"
"Yeah. We wouldn't be here if I refused, anyway."
Hikari cocked her head to the side, "Huh?"
"What?"
"What?"
"Huh?
"You said, 'we wouldn't be here if you refused.' What did you mean by that?"
"Never mind." he quickly replied.
Hikari shrugged and made her way out the classroom.
Shinji turned to each chair that normally reserved his three friends and sighed. He turned back to his game and un-paused it. For some reason, he didn't feel very hungry for lunch today.
Friday
Busying herself with making dinner for her family, Hikari was deep in thought as to why Suzuhara and Aida hadn't attended class for the past three days. A tug on the hem of her sleeve brought her back to reality. She turned to see her younger sister, Nozomi pointing at the stove.
Moving her gaze in the direction her younger sister was pointing to, Hikari let out a cry as she dumped the flaming rice into the sink and ran cold water on it. Groaning through the heavy cloud of smoke at the loss of her rice, she cheerily turned to Nozomi. "Tell dad and Kodama we're ordering out." she said with a toothy grin.
"Okay." the shorter double-pigtailed girl nodded and headed towards her eldest sisters room first.
Hikari grabbed a nearby phone, walked into the livingroom and slumped, exhausted, onto the sofa. She hoped nothing happened to her childhood friends.
Saturday
Thursday went by very slow. Halfway through class, Shinji was called in for testing at NERV. Unit 01 was so heavily damaged they had to run the simulation through the entry plug. He found rather pointless though, seeing as there was no way in hell an Angel would just stand there waiting for car-sized bullets to hit it. At least it proved more entertaining than remembering all the basics of the umbilical cord and escape hatches.
Friday went by in a blur as he enjoyed a conversation with Hikari. Shinji never knew she had two sisters. Then again, he never bothered to know anything about his non-pilot friends back then...other than Kensuke, that is.
Not surprisingly, Hikari's dad also worked for NERV. It seemed that everyone from class 2-A had a parent or guardian working for NERV. Hikari didn't bring anything up about his dad, which he was grateful for. He was a horrible liar, after all.
Hikari mentioned two of her old friends she thought would get along with him. When he asked where they were, she said she didn't know and that she's been worried that they were somehow involved in that attack on Monday. He never thought about it until now. What if Toji and Kensuke were injured during the attack? There's no way of knowing whether or not they would be stupid enough to try and get up close and personal with the action that was going on. Not after the last time...
Shaking the thought from his head, Shinji resumed to finishing his toast and orange juice. Grabbing his book bag and his lunch, he exited apartment 296 and raced down seven flights of stairs.
As Shinji walked down the streets of his forsaken neighborhood. He found it odd that whenever he turned to look at anyone, they would turn the other way. As if he was shunned from society. Putting little thought to it, he shrugged and headed for school.
"Hey, Newcomer!"
Shinji froze in place. He slowly turned around to find a tall boy leaning against the building with his arms crossed. Attired in his usual gym uniform, Toji kicked off the wall and made his way to Shinji with an annoyed expression. Shinji carefully stepped back as the he came within inches from his face.
Shinji flinched and shut his eyes as Toji raised his arm. He hadn't expected to be placed in a headlock and receive a nasty noogie on his poor scalp. His captor let out a loud laugh that seemed to contrast his early expressions. "Hey, Kensuke!" he shouted. "I found him!"
"T—Toji!" Shinji's arms flailed about as he desperately tried to escape his detainment.
"On my way!" came a yell from around the corner of another complex.
Shinji managed to get out of Toji's 'Killer Hold' and looked to find the owner of the yell. "Kensuke!" he shouted at the otaku who was making his way to them with a big smirk on his face.
Not being able to restrain himself anymore, he grabbed Shinji in a tight hug around the waistline and was jumping like a mad rabbit as he and Toji laughed like they just became kings of the friggin' world! It didn't take long for the infectious laughter to reachShinji as he joined inwith his friends.
It seemed all was right with the world.
-------
"So where have you guys been all week?" Shinji asked making their way to school.
"Well, to be honest, we were taking a little vacation."
"Yup! We've been hanging around the arcade, going to the movies, the mall, the courts, the arcade again..." Kensuke said counting them down the fingers.
"So you two decided to come to school today to keep from arousing suspicion?" Shinji asked with a smirk of his own.
"Well..." Toji started "Actually, we came today 'cuz Mari busted us."
"The Class Rep stopped by Toji's place with his printouts. Mari was the only one there at that time." Kensuke informed.
"And she didn't tell Hikari?" Shinji asked interested in the answer as Toji sulked.
"Nope, she covered for him that time. When he got home, she threatened to tell if Toji didn't get his lazy butt back to school." Kensuke laughed.
"Shut up, will ya?" he growled. "I can't believe she's blackmailing me!" he grumbled. "So, what about you Shinji? We haven't seen you in almost three years." He asked eager to change the subject.
"Nothing much, really. I've been traveling most of the time."
"Yeah? Where?"
"Well," Shinji started trying to recollect his memory. "I started traveling east from Japan. When I reached the shore, I took a boat all the way to United States and kept going from there."
"That's cool. What about Hawaii?"
"I didn't see it on the way over."
Kensuke adjusted his classes. "Think it was underwater?
"I don't know. I must've been too far to see it. All I did was follow the compass east. I think I managed to reach Farpoint, South Dakota, before Kaworu caught up to me. I still can't figure out how he found me, though."
Kensuke was staring at the sky absentmindedly, "He's a weird one, alright. But I'll tell you this: he's really tough to beat in a fight."
Shinji blinked, "Tough?"
"Yeah, even two-on-one he still kicks both of us around. Me and Kensuke have been working our asses off to beat him." Toji grimaced at their last showdown. "I think he's still toying around with us."
"You mean 'going easy', Toji." Kensuke deadpanned.
"My ass! He never broke a sweat! And he kept on wearing that goofy smile of his!"
"What'd you expect? He was probably trained at NERV."
"I think he said something about 'seals' or something."
"SEELE." Kensuke rolled his eyes. "He was talking about SEELE."
Toji pointed at Kensuke, "Yeah, that."
"Anyway," Kensuke said loudly to get off the boring subject, "wanna see what we can do?" he asked Shinji with an eagerness of a child wanting to impress his parents.
Shinji held up his hands defensively, "You shouldn't."
"Yeah, Shinji can't take a hit from us, remember?" Toji said, arms extended to his sides trying to balance on the edge of the sidewalk.
Ouch. Shinji thought taking a blow to his already deflated ego. "No, I mean Section 2 might be keeping an eye on me."
"Oh yeah." he snapped his fingers in disappointment, causing him to nearly lose his footing. "Well, it's not like we can't take them."
"I doubt you can dodge bullets." Shinji grinned wryly.
"When the time is right; I won't have to." he quoted The Matrix before Shinji and Kensuke playfully shoved him off the sidewalk.
-------
"Hey, Class Rep." Toji greeted.
"S—Suzuhara..."
"What'd we miss?" Kensuke added.
Shinji walked passed the three to see if Rei had already arrived but only saw an empty seat. "You guys missed out on some really important stuff." he said nonchalantly.
That was strangely bold of him. Hikari thought as she grabbed the printouts from the teacher's desk and handed them to the faltering Kensuke. "Where have you two been? Were you involved with what happened on Sunday?"
"Something like that..." Toji answered uncertainly while nervously scratching his jaw.
Without a solid explanation for their absence, he sidestepped the Class Rep and made his way to his seat in the back. "Hey!" she said turning around. "Aren't you going to tell me?"
"Sorry, Class Rep, it's kinda personal." Kensuke informed.
Hikari let out a disgusted sigh at the two. "Then can you two at least greet the new student?"
Both Toji and Kensuke looked around to see the so called 'new' student. They then turned back to Hikari with a look that seemed to say, 'Where?'
"Him, you idiots! Behind you!" she stated impatiently walking over to Shinji and placing a hand on his shoulder causing the young boy to flinch a bit but Hikari didn't notice it. "This is-"
"Shinji. Yeah, we know." Kensuke blurted out before receiving a panicked look from the other two friends in the class.
"You...know each other?"
"Yeah," Kensuke quickly answered realizing his blunder. "We're pen pals." Toji nodded to Kensuke's answer. "We met on an online game a couple months ago."
"Really?" she asked mildly surprised. "I didn't think Suzuhara played online games."
"I don't." he answered quickly to save face. "I'm more into racing games or sports games. I was just there to kill some time."
"I kinda like fighting games." Shinji commented. "I don't play that much, so..." Shinji had rarely played a video game in his life. He never really had good friends like Toji and Kensuke to invite him to the arcade. His talents seemed to be worthless against Toji's choice in entertainment but he was glad Toji agreed to play against him every now and then.
"Oh...well, I'm glad you already know each other. Saves me the time of introducing you." she made her way to her desk wondering ifSuzuhara ever told Shinji anything about her. Several minutes later, two more students walked in before the late bell rang and Hikari played her daily roll. "Everybody, stand. Bow. Sit."
"Thank you Ms. Horaki. Good morning class. Today we're going to discuss the hazards of today's building materials and compare them to those of the 1900s. Now, when I call out your name, please say 'here'. Yes Ms. Horaki?"
Hikari lowered her arm. "You already discussed that yesterday, sir."
"Oh. Very well. Then let's move onto produce."
A collective groaned filled the classroom walls.
Shinji booted up his laptop and waited.
:"NERVwrecker" is inviting you to NERV:
:"SI" has logged in:
:"The Stomach" has logged in:
SI: did you really have to rename the chatroom "NERV?"
NERVwrecker: What's wrong with the name?
The Stomach: just let it go. he'll never learn
SI: can I ask you guys something?
NERVwrecker: Shoot.
The Stomach: depends
SI: how did you guys know where I lived?
NERVwrecker: Ayanami told us.
SI: Rei? When?
NERVwrecker: This morning. We were heading to your place and we ran into her.
SI: From my place?
The Stomach: actually, Misatos. we ran into her when we were about to take the elevator
SI: Rei's living with Misato?
NERVwrecker: We asked if you two were going to class together or something and she said no.
The Stomach: yeah, she didn't tell us exactly where you lived, just where it was
NERVwrecker: I guess so. It makes sense, seeing as she kinda smelled a bit like beer. So we asked her where you were living and me and Toji headed there. She didn't give us any detailed info as to where you were.
Shinji turned in his seat to look at a specific vacant desk. I wonder where she is, then. He then turned back to his laptop to see that both Kensuke and Toji had logged off. Looking up, he fell victim to Hikari's glare and quickly logged off.
-------
"I'm telling you, I sent him flying, like, maybe five feet!"
"I already told you; that was a pity shot! Pity!" Toji shouted in his defense.
The three stooges were sitting on the rooftop enjoying their lunch as they conversed what they had done and went through. While Shinji's story seemed to sound more like something out of a fairytale or the bible, Toji and Kensuke's story was very humorous from their sparring bouts. Although Toji held the title over Kensuke, he couldn't hold a flame next to Kaworu.
Kensuke threw an arm over Shinji's shoulders, "Whatever. So, when are you gonna fill us in on what happened on your trip with Kaworu?"
"Yeah, you guys didn't do anything sick, did'ja?"
Shinji raised an eyebrow, "What are you guys talking about?"
"Come on. He gets the same weird look Ayanami gets when you come up in a conversation."
Shinji blinked several times. "...a weird look?"
"Don't play coy!" Kensuke shouted, holding Shinji in a headlock. "Toji told me all about it!"
"I'm serious! I don't know what you're talking about!" he managed to croak out before Kensuke released him. "You guys are weird." he said massaging his throat. Leaning his back against the rail again, Shinji began to eat his lunch. Toji and Kensuke began doing the same thing. "I wonder why Rei didn't come today..." he muttered thoughtfully.
"Maybe she had a test today." Toji insisted.
"They would've told me if they did."
"Like the time they told you about Toji being a pilo—OW!" Kensuke was cut short by a hard elbow jab to the ribs.
The jock nervously glanced at Shinji. Seeing him stare at his lunch made him even more nervous. He waited until he finished chewing his meal and swallowed. "Well, anyway," he said trying to get off the subject, "I don't see why we even have to come to class. It's just gonna be vaporized in about a year."
"Not to mention the fact that we've already went through everything the teacher discussed."
"Didn't you guys sleep through most of the lectures?" Shinji asked earning a light swat over the head from Kensuke.
-------
"You summoned me, Commander?"
"Come here, Rei." Rei walked down the cold dark office and stood on the opposite side of the desk. "Why haven't you gone to school all week?"
"The doctor ordered me to rest." she instantly replied.
"He gave you one day's rest." he stated turning to the view the GeoFront behind him.
"I have felt ill as of late." which was true. The Captain's cooking could probabily bring down a wild boar.
"I see." he said turning his head slightly to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "Perhaps it's your new residence...I should have placed you in the same complex as the Third Child. It appears that is the closest available residence to the school."
"Is that not further from the express train to the GeoFront?" the First Child asked.
"Correct. Is that acceptable?"
Rei blinked. It was hard to believe that the Commander of NERV would assign her to live with the Captain in the first place. It was even harder to hear him ask for her opinion.
"Rei. I asked you a question." Gendo stated losing his patience. The light somehow gleamed eerily off his tinted glasses.
"I believe it would be best to stay with Captain Katsuragi. Under any type of attack, she is far more reliant than Section 2." She could feel she was closely being studied as the Commanders cold gaze scanned her body for a sign of any kind from the ordinary.
"...Very well. You may leave."
For the second time that day; Rei blinked. "Yes, sir." She turned on her heel and began walking to the door.
She was inches away from reaching the doors. "And Rei?"
She froze in place and willed her body to turn to face him again. "Sir?"
"...Be sure to attend school next week."
"...Understood."
Sunday
"Hey, Shinji!" The said boy turned around to find Toji running to him. "Hey! Where you headed, man?"
"Nowhere in particular. I just needed to get out of that neighborhood for a while." he answered making his way to a park bench. "Where's Kensuke?" he asked. It seemed the two were rarely apart from each other these past few days.
"He's at the store buying disks for the camera."
"That's Kensuke, for you." he chuckled at their friend's hell-bent desire to catch anything out of the ordinary on video. "So, what's up?"
"Me and Kensuke were thinking of heading out of town for a while Saturday afternoon."
"What for? And why Saturday?" he asked puzzled about the Jocks plans.
"Well, we decided to show you what we've been working on these past couple of years."
A skeptic look crossed Shinji's face. "So in other words; you want to brag."
"Think of it like this: you get to check out what we can do and not have to worry about your security checking in on us."
"That's still bragging." he dulled with half-lidded eyes.
Toji scratched his nose. "Well...yeah. But to be honest with you; I just don't wanna be here for the next attack. It's two weeks after the first attack, right?"
"I don't know the specifics, but yeah, it's around two weeks. Are you planning on taking your sister with you, too?"
"I'd like to, but Kensuke doesn't think it's a good idea. Besides, we already got that covered." he said. "I'm gonna take her over to the Class Rep's place for a sleep over with her sister. She's more reliable than I am, so I'm not worried about her if the attack happens when I'm not here."
"Won't she get suspicious?"
"Don't worry about it. She and Nozomi are close friends. They've almost always slept over at our place or hers. And my dad and granddad are always at work, so I don't think they'll notice me missing for a day or two."
"That's cool." Shinji agreed.
Toji began to get restless. "The hell's taking him so long?" Shinji shrugged. "I'm gonna go look for him. Wanna join me? We can hit the arcade later." he offered.
"Nah." Shinji got up from the bench. "I was thinking I'd walk around a bit longer."
"Suit yourself." Toji shrugged before leaving. "If you change your mind, you'll find us at the arcade." he called back before continuing.
-------
It was beginning to get dark. The sun was already making its way behind the mountains that seemed to surround most of Tokyo-3. The street lamps had just started to flicker to life. And the cicadas...well, they continued their incessant chirping.
Without his realizing, Shinji had wandered just in front of the building where Misato and Rei currently resided in. Blinking away his stupor, he decided to see if anyone was home. After taking the elevator to the 11th floor, Shinji stood in front of the door, reading the engraved plaque that held his former guardian's name for what felt like an umpteenth time, his finger against the button, deciding whether or not to ring the doorbell.
A loud crashing sound brought him back to reality and he jumped a bit, accidentally pushing the doorbell. There was a slight silence that hung in the air before a shuffling clatter followed. Shinji knocked on the door. "Misato? Rei? Are you two alright?" he called out. That emitted more violent noise from behind the steel doors. He began pounding his fist against the steel door. "Hey! Are you two alright!"
Still no answer.
Panic-stricken, Shinji ran fifteen feet from the door and charged all out, intent on ramming the door down. Or at least, try to. He hadn't expected a certain warm-water penguin to open the door and tackle his leg, causing the young boy to fall face-first inside the apartment. He rolled on the ground for a split-second before crashing hard against the wall. The act was rather hilarious had anyone had been watching. Shinji was upside-down with his back to the wall. His feet were dangling PenPen on the hem of his pants in the same overturned position he was. "Ow." was all he muttered at the penguin before he tried to shake him off.
Figuring the boy hadn't noticed the situation clearly, PenPen squawked at his feet before the turbulence caused him to toss up his latest so-called 'meal'. Glancing in the direction the penguin had squawked, a twitch in the form of a smirk threatened to cross his face. "You've been trying to sneak around Misato's back again, haven't you?" The item in general that PenPen had squawked at was a sewn net of plastic six-pack can holders that had tangled itself about his feet.
PenPen shamelessly nodded and squawked again. Shinji got to work untangling the bird from his leg. Free from the tangled mess of Misato's trap, PenPen made his way down the hallway and into the kitchen with Shinji right behind him. Shinji didn't know how or when, but he always seemed to understand exactly what the flightless bird was thinking aloud.
Well, this time, the grumble emitting from his stomach indicated that PenPen hadn't been given a decent meal in days. Shinji grimaced at the mess. It seemed no one in the apartment would keep the place clean. Grabbing a can of tuna from the freezer, Shinji set it on the counter to let it thaw.
PenPen had a hopeful look in his eyes the moment the aluminum can hit the counter. Shinji knelt down and gave him a friendly pat on his feathery head. "You remember, don't you, PenPen."
Knowing it was more of a statement than a question, PenPen gave another nod and a soft chirping sound.
"I know Misato's at work at this hour... Is Rei home?"
PenPen shook his head.
"Is she with Misato?"
PenPen nodded.
"Hmm..." he hummed glancing at his watch, then at the trash and empty bottles of beer strewn all around the living room. "I'm gonna clean up a bit around here while your fish thaws a bit. Okay?" The bird nodded again and made his way into one of the counters to pull out the box of trash bags.
Shinji chuckled at the penguin holding the box in flipper. "Heh. You want to help?"
"Squawk!"
-------
Two hours after Shinji left, Rei arrived home from her re-synchronization test with Unit 00. She blinked upon reaching the kitchen, walked back outside and checked to see if she had entered the right apartment.
-------
Two hours after Rei had arrived; Misato did the exact same thing. "OH MY GOD! WE'VE BEEN ROBBED!" The only difference is that she panicked.
Monday
The next morning, Toji and Kensuke greeted Shinji at his door and asked if he had new neighbors around the neighborhood.
"I don't know. Why?
"'Cuz they tagged across your door."
Shinji walked out and looked at the wall behind him. Toji was right. There were about four marks of different color spray paint running across the entire floor. "Huh..." In all honesty, Shinji could care less about it.
"They call themselves 'the Clan.'" Kensuke informed. "We walked across some of their work on the way over here." Shinji shrugged and walked back in to grab his book bag.
"Maybe you should think about moving, man. I don't think this place is safe anymore."
"I think I'll be alright." Shinji said walking out of his apartment and to the stairs. "I'm sure there're more Section 2 agents guarding me than normal around here. What's that say?" he asked pointing at the graffiti art painted on the side of the wall.
"'Fuck you all'."
"Really?"
"Yup."
"Ah." Shinji nodded. "How can you misspell 'fuck'?"
Kensuke shrugged, "I bet they're just wannabe bad-asses. Not worth bothering."
-------
Rei didn't like this feeling. It was a heavy feeling of apprehension and dread the moment she saw the three boys walk through the school gates. Her heart began to beat faster, her breathing was shortening and a strong urge to vomit had formed in her belly. Her hand, she noticed, was feeling cold and clammy against her cheek.
The entire class could feel the tension coming from the pale girl. Hikari walked over and tapped her on the shoulder some four minutes later. "Ayanami?" Rei jumped in her seat. No one has ever seen Ayanami so tense. It seemed to creep everybody out. "Are you alright? You don't look so well."
"I don't feel well. Excuse me." She stood up, bowed apologetically to the Class Rep and began making her way to the nearest restroom.
"That was...strange." Hikari muttered to herself.
-------
Rei had just turned the corner to where the restrooms were located and quickly jumped back to hide behind it. As fast and as quietly as she could, Rei ran the opposite direction and turned the corner just as Shinji, Kensuke and Toji casually walked into view. If anything, Rei felt her condition worsen. With a swarm of butterflies in her stomach and her heart threatening to explode, Rei walked to another restroom as fast as her rubbery legs would allow.
I can't continue this way, she thought as she cupped another handful of water and splashed her face. The day hasn't even started and already, she felt like she was about to keel over from the stress of avoiding the Third Child. ...What can I do? Looking up to see her reflection, Rei blinked as realization crossed her mind. She couldn't believe she hadn't see it before. It wasn't exactly the perfect answer, but it was the best she could think of at that moment.
Grabbing a towelette from the dispenser, she patted the moisture from her face, rearranged her clothes and walked out of the girls' restroom with a demeanor colder than the bluest of ice.
-------
The class's lectures had taken a bit more interest today as the teachers lectures were about the now-extinct species from before Second Impact. Kensuke and Toji were playing online against each other, trying to knock each others character off the platform or something; Shinji didn't bother to pay much attention considering they were sitting behind him. He was too busy staring at Rei's desk. Having seen the book bag hanging on its holder, all Shinji could think about was what to say to her.
But he was still afraid to confront the girl; even more than he was to Misato. The things he had seen at the age of fourteen were not for the weak of heart. He doubted that even an adult would have the courage to face her once her past is displayed to them. Shinji shook his head to rid the thoughts of organs and limbs floating across the large tank of LCL.
The sound of the classroom's shoji doors brought everyone's attention to its maker. Then back to what they were doing after seeing who it was. Shinji's words caught in his throat as he tried to make conversation with the First Child. "Uh-Aya...I—I-Aya. G—g-g-"Dammit, he thought angrily, I've rehearsed this over and over and all that comes out was sputtering nonsense. Rei was about to walk past him. He knew he had to do something to get her attention but the fear felt like it was compressing his throat, stopping anything but air to escape his mouth. He finally decided to loudly clear his throat at her.
Rei ignored him. She walked passed as if the seat were empty. Toji and Kensuke witnessed this and wondered what was going on between the two Children. They became infatuated with chatting to each other in the chatroom. Everyone else in the classroom was used to Rei's cold attitude towards everything.
Every once in a while, Shinji would turn around to see what Rei was doing. But all she did was stare out the window the way she always does, ignoring the world within the four walls.
The rest of the day was a horrible moment for Shinji. After classes had ended, he finally built up enough courage to stutter a few words to Rei. When those blood-red orbs focused on him, his entire body felt like it was dumped into a frozen lake. The only reply he got from the girl was an 'Excuse me' and walked passed him. Nothing more.
The two stooges were worried about their comrade and had confronted Ayanami before they lost sight of her on her way home. Her reply was no different from what she gave Shinji. With nothing else to do, they headed for home together, conversing about the sudden changes in Ayanami.
Saturday
Most of the week had gone by without any change. On Wednesday, Shinji had stopped trying to converse with Rei after she ask him to. Not wanting to be one to dig his nose into another person's business; Shinji accepted defeat. He spent the rest of his days hanging around as the three stooges hit thearcades and the malls. "So," he said in between slurps of his Coke. "Are you guys really heading out?"
"Yeah, man. I already helped Mari with her stuff."
"So you guys are gonna take her to Hikari's tonight?"
"Yeah, I'm really hoping we get back before the next attack comes." Kensuke said gently patting his camera. He had offered to show the bout filmed between the Third Angel and Unit 01 but Shinji declined the offer. After seeing the damaged Eva still undergoing construction, Shinji had accepted his memory lapse. He found it hard to believe that Unit 01 still hadn't been completely repaired after two weeks.
Thinking about it now; Shinji was starting to get worried. Unit 01 was still in the process of regenerating its missing right arm and most of the torso. He found it ironic that the Eva now shared close to the same physical condition he had a few years ago. Subconsciously clenching his right fist, he forced that thought back to the recesses of his mind.
"You okay?"
Blinking out of his daze, Shinji nodded. "I'm fine."
"You don't look it." Toji said with a side-glance.
"Can you blame him? His Eva's missing its arms and a large chunk of its right side was vapor-ai-i-i-i!"
Toji had stomped his heel on Kensuke's foot. "Shut up, you idiot."
"What. I'm just saying the next attack might be tomorrow and he's-" Toji twisted his heel "AH! Stop that!" he said through clenched teeth.
"So, Shinji! You wanna check out a movie?"
Shinji perked up a bit. "Which one?"
"Doesn't matter! We'll pick one when we get there."
"Hey! Let's watch 'It Ca-a-ame from Tokyo Ba-a-ay!'" Kensuke suggested in as ghoulish voice he could make.
"Those kind of movies are stupid, man!"
"No they're not! They're cool!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yuh-huh!
Shinji watched by the sidelines as the five-year-olds argued. "Guys..."
"Only geeks and nerds watch that kind of crap!"
"No way! I know stupid jocks watch them on their dates!"
"You're one sad little puppy if you go to the movies alone, man."
Had Shinji been wearing glasses, he'd be rubbing the bridge of his nose trying to calm the headache that was coming in. "Guys..."
"At least I have the guts to watch them."
Toji pulled back at this. "Wh—what're you getting at?"
Kensuke smirked. Toji's reaction was dead-on "You're scared, aren't you?" he whispered.
"Guys!" Shinji shouted, grabbing the attention of everyone in the mall. He blinked as the words sunk in. "You're scared of horror movies?"
Toji's face turned beet red at that. He roughly grabbed both boys in a headlock and whispered into their ears. "You guys wouldn't tell anyone...would you." Judging from the ominous and life-threatening voice and the lack of oxygen traveling to their heads, both boys vigorously shook their heads. "Alright then!" he said in a cheery tone, letting the two boys slump to the floor." Off to the movies!"
-------
"Aw, man! It's great to have Saturdays off!" Misato cheered, placing her home-nuked dishes on the livingroom table. "Grub's ready, Rei!" she called out to 'Rei's Lovely Suite.' Misato happily filled up PenPen's dish and placed a can of beer next to it. "You too, PenPen!"
Both reluctantly exited their quarters and made their way to their doom. Rei sat down next to Misato and glanced at her malignant meal, then turned to PenPen who seemed to have done the same thing and was now staring at her. Both stared at each other, refusing to blink in this serious contest of who would take the first/last bite.
Misato's ignorance that afternoon was truly a blessing as the silent war was exchanged before her livingroom table. She happily slopped an extra helping of curry into her microwaved noodles and took a heavy swig of her seventh beer.
It was obvious the staring contest was not going to go anywhere. The warm-water penguin seemed to have more willpower than what Rei had expected of him. PenPen was thinking the exact same thing. Never had he met such a worthy opponent besides Asuka. Not evenShinji was a match against him.
Both stared each other down with everything they had. And finally, Rei saw it; Sweat... Yes, PenPen was losing his resolve against the First Child. It would only be a matter of seconds before-
PenPen blinked. Silence hung in the air as realization slowly sunk in. His eyes widened in horror as he threw a fit of arguing squawking sounds. Catching a glimpse of Rei still staring at him, he quickly shut up.
Feeling a sense of being bored into, PenPen hung his head, bowed down a bit, inhaled the miasma that was rising from his still-steaming meal...and paused. A quick look at Rei still staring forced him to continue. Deciding not to place the grotesque noodles in his beak, he let his tongue slide out the side and placed the tip on top of the curry.
Rei finally blinked, she watched with amazement as PenPen straightened up and made a mad dash to the toilet. Rei instantly stood up as well. The sudden movements nearly gave Misato a heart attack. "Not hungry?" she asked with a cheek-full of noodle curry.
"I just remembered; I have important business to attend to at NERV after school. Pardon me."
Misato shrugged as the young girl put her shoes on and walked out the door. "More for me, then." She said gulping down her noodles. "Saturdays' sure are great!" she smiled goofily as she pulled Rei's dish in front of her and began chowing down.
-------
"How are the repairs coming along?"
Ritsuko sighed. I really need an aspirin, she thought, fighting the urge to rub her temples in front of the Commander. She had been working nonstop since after the battle and hardly had a decent day's rest. "We've managed to reattach the left arm and rejuvenated some of the missing torso however; the regeneration of the right arm is still under process."
"How much more time is needed for the repairs to be complete?"
"The damage done to the right side of the chestcavity is extensive. It's hard to believe the entry plug didn't explode due to the intense heat and pressure inside." The Doctor knew she was starting to trail off topic. She could feel the air around Gendo grow cold. "I'll need another three days. We finally managed to repair most of the torso."
"Make it one day."
WHAT! Ritsuko screamed in her head. "But, sir. The regeneration process takes time. Had both limbs been torn off, yes the repairs would be done by n-"
"I did not ask for your comments on the subject, Doctor." he replied so harshly Ritsuko winced.
Ritsuko knew well what the result would be when the Commander used a harsh tone that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. "I can't guarantee that the repairs will be done by then, sir."
"Then do what you can to finish as soon as possible."
"Yes, sir."
Stepping out of the cold office, Ritsuko let out a long sigh and rubbed her temples. "Another all-nighter." she mumbled. Pulling out her cell phone, she asked Maya to start making a strong brew. "God, these hours are going to kill me."
So, how was that? Good? Bad? Still confusing? (You'll have to bear the latter of the three for a while.) Please review!