A/N: Wow...it's another chapter. As I've researched the next couple of chapters, I've realized that so much of the original plot was how Shinji was a wimp and a lot of psychology. This chapter and the next were originally about how Shinji didn't want to pilot, tried to move away, made no friends, got yelled at for defeating the angel, and was pretty sappy overall. In other words, I'm sad because I have to make up most, if not all, ofthe plot. So I'm inserting my own episode now and taking out the running away after the fourth angel episode. (my own episode, then episode 03, and then episode 05 if you're anal retentive)
One person pointed out Unit 01 was made from Lilith, not Adam. I point out Sachiel is stupid and it took Kawrou (last angel) within 100 yards of Lilith to tell the difference for some reason...didn't he meet Gendo at some time?
Cheap advertising time! LegendarySuperNamek is the friend who I promised to write this for and he's happy (but not completely) that I out review any of his stories on my first try. I like only one of his stories (I've only read one as well) and it's called Neon Genesis Humangelion. Basically the main characters, Eva, and Angels switch places, meaning that a giant PenPen attacks Unit Asuka with Sachiel and Ariel retaliating on Over the Rainbow. It's a parody and some parts make no sense/suck, but there's a couple of lol moments. So, as a thanks to him for guilting me into this and forcing me to update, read his story if you're bored. Or flame me for advertising and I'll claim the review count. Either way, I don't care! .
I don't own Evangelion, if I did, I dub over the word "Gendo" and "Commander" with "bastard." Imagine, "This is my Bastard's work?" "Correct." or anytime Rei refers to him. Heehee. In fact, I'll try that this entire chapter.
Italics: Thoughts/Yui
Bold: Sound
"Okay Mr. Ikari, we'll just send these samples for analysis," the pilot's doctor told Shinji and left. This was the most annoying part of the job. Considering he was a pilot for a top secret military organization, he was inclined to give blood, saliva, tears, hair, semen and all other sorts of bodily indicators to allow him to pilot. He was sadly used to this monthly treatment.
"This is so stupid. I've already piloted once and even if something was wrong, the bastard would intervene... speaking of him' Shinji knew that he had a while before Ritsuko came in with the results and started prodding him for plug suit measurements. Walking over to the phone, he set up his iPod, took out an envelope, and made some important calls.
Bastard was heading from his office towards terminal dogma, scaring his underlings along the way. The Bastard was having a good day. His days were never enjoyable anymore, Bastard blamed it on Yui's death, and little, unexplainable things always happened to him. For example: losing pens, broken chairs, light fixtures burning out, shocks of static electricity, and other acts of God always seemed to happen to him several times a day. But once the angels started attacking, the random events stopped. It was a good omen, his luck must be changing, only the third child and Eva Unit 01 had caused any annoyances. But he would have taken care of one of those by mid-afternoon, checking on the Reiquarium (kudos to whoever came up with that) was top priority compared to his son, he had already sent those payroll forms.
"No, thank you" Shinji hung up the phone. He hoped this would work, but there were a lot of things that could go wrong. 'I hope to God that he still ignores me with a passion and that next angel better be on time...ok, need to spend more time not plotting, I'm definitely messed up if I want to fight one' Shinji realized.
"Hello, Ikari-san. I'm here for a pickup." A heavy built, black-haired security officer with the traditional shades and earpiece came in.
"Hi, the instructions are on the outside, apparently the Bastard wanted it done immediately and it was left behind." Shinji smiled in a confused fashion.
"Yes sir." the officer wasn't going to complain about being sent as a mailboy to the Bastard's son. He read the label and left at a brisk walk, passing Ritsuko on her way in.
'Hm, that's the top Section 4 agent, must have been checking on Shinji...'
"Hello Shinji, we have the results of your tests," Ritsuko put on the most comforting, thus out of character, smile on, "everything's going to be ok." in a slow manner.
'Ok, what's up? I've never heard Ritsuko like this... maybe something's wrong because of third impact...' Shinji was quite honestly nervous, he had a second chance and didn't want anything to go wrong. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing's wrong... just r e l a x. Stand up and don't move too much, I'll take your measurements." with a concerned face.
"Okay..." 'What the hell is with her?' Shinji stood up and Ritsuko took the measurements and entered them into the computer.
"Your plug suit will be done for tomorrow, Misato will be teaching you about procedures around here so you can leave. Be careful..." Shinji, picked up his bag, left the room, and Ritsuko broke into a spiteful grin, 'Ahh, now were even. Shouldn't have made me fall in the LCL Shinji-kun.' She looked at the display on the computer. 'Time to meet Bastard near terminal dogma.'
Shinji, who had never expected this, was confused of course. 'Maybe I'm turning part angel or maybe the results were simply messed up.' He continued on to bump straight into Misato.
"Hey there, you were zombified for a minute. Walked straight into me," Misato noticed his expression, "What's wrong?"
"I honestly don't know..." "Should I tell her?...maybe she knows,' "do you think something's wrong with me? Ritsuko was being weird after seeing my results."
"Weird as in how?" 'I should at least try this guardian bit,'
"She smiled and spoke slowly, like you would to someone who couldn't understand your language. She told me to relax and to be careful."
'Ok, that is weird,' "Listen, I'll check on it tomorrow. No offense, but if it was anything wrong, someone besides Ritsuko would be there. She's not a medical doctor. Now come on! We can go home early and study up there!"
"Fine, I think I did everything I had to...last one to the car makes snacks!" and Shinji took off in a dead sprint, shutting the elevator doors and pushing the parking garage floor's button. Shinji knew Misato couldn't cook and he was being immature, but snacks were easy enough as long as she didn't experiment or combine them and he needed to get his mind off of things.
. Misato stood still for a few minutes, thinking if it was worth the effort, until the thoughts that beer battered shrimp and a Yebisu constituted a snack for her and Shinji could cook!
cell phone dialing "Hello, this is Captain Katsuragi. Shut down elevator...M-3. I don't care. Just for 5 minutes, NOW!" click.
'Shit, still have to run to the next elevator and to the car!' and Misato was off, heading in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile...
"I am such a baka..." Shinji was stuck a half of a floor above where he wanted to be, maybe 20 actual yards from the Renault.
Misato was currently on the elevator on the way down, 100 yards from the Renault, who would win? 'Maybe I should shoot a few warning shots if Shinji gets out of the elevator a little early...'
'Finally,' the elevator opened and Shinji ran out. Misato was opposite of him in the garage and sprinting for the car at 30 yards. Shinji was almost there and Misato, well what do you expect? She was a meter away. Military training and being half a foot or so taller than Shinji meant she was going to win.
Misato ran past the car, tapping it with her right hand, and shouted out in victory "Yes!"
Shinji was dejected with losing and then realized 'Stupid first law of motion' as they, being two different objects in motion, collided. Shinji tossed his bag to the side as he was tackled chest first and had the air knocked out of him. He decided not moving felt like a good thing to do.
'Oh my God, I killed Shinji!' irrational thought.
wheeze! Shinji wishing he could breathe.
'Or just knocked him a meter or two backwards and forced all the air out of his lungs.' rational thought. Currently, Misato was inadvertently breathing heavily, straddling Shinji, and waiting for him to say something so she could stop worrying.
"Misato...as much as I enjoy this...please get off me." looking up to her face, conflicted, he had chosen self-preservation rather than temporary pleasure.
"I'm sorry Shinji-kun," Misato had lifted him up and gave him a tight hug and smile, "I still won though so..."
"Hai, hai, what do you want?" 'At least she's honest, she's only been my guardian for a day and she already treats me like family... Oh man, mom's gonna have a field day with all of this tommorow.'
"I want beer battered shrimp, a lot of them! And Yebisu of course!" Misato sat down in the car and was looking for the keys.
"Sure, just drive by the store and I'll buy some." Shinji had buckled in and was tightening the strap for maximum restraint.
"I thought it was Friday at the earliest. I also thought you didn't have any money on you?" the car started and the digital clock read out 1:59 and then 2:00.
"I do now." Shinji replied with a cheshire grin.
The sign on the door before us says 'Payroll & Employee Benefits' and as we pass through it we see a heavy built, black-haired security officer with the traditional shades and earpiece dropping off an official looking envelope at the department head's desk.
'What's this...oh shit, the Bastard wants this done at 2:00...that's 10 minutes!' Mrs. Money (for simplicity) panicked. 'What is this?'
She picked up the SDAT and looked at the forms inside again. She read as quickly as possible and recognized the forms. The Bastard wanted to deposit one Ikari Shinji's wages and bonus into his account, but what were they? All he wrote was to follow the directions that he had included. There was one filled out for establishing the account, and one for his wages, but the bonus was missing. Where was that paper? Wait... She hit the play button and sat at the computer, ready to type.
"You will pilot it."
"Okay, for the same amount Ritsuko makes in cash each paycheck I will pilot it once, but why should I?"
"You have to."
"Well technically I don't, I could choose to walk away."
"Humanity depends on it."
"Is humanity not worth a few yen?"
"Fuyutsuki. Bring in Rei. The spare's unusable."
"Come on Shinji, will you pilot for us?"
loud explosion and rubble
"Rei seems to be incapable of even walking right now. Do you honestly think she can pilot this against that monster?"
"She will if she has to."
"Kuso...you do know you're running out of time?"
"You will be paid, but it will be in a fund for when you turn 18 and not in the amount you specified."
louder explosion
"No. You don't have another choice but to use me, do you?"
"Katsuragi's pay."
"Agreed. Show me what to do."
'Okay, so it's a bonus worth Katsuragi, Misato's pay to his account...' the tape continued.
"I trust you remember our agreement father."
"Katsuragi's pay...Katsuragi's pay...Katsuragi's pay..."
"I trust you will take care of it, I have sent a copy to payroll and I expect my payment by Friday. I expect my regular wages to be in cash as well"
'Okay, the forms told me put the bonus and his newly established wages into his account no matter what, the bonus was the amount on the SDAT, and it needs to be done in...one minute!' Mrs. Money typed furiously and hit the enter key in one, almost, decisive stroke to transfer it all into Ikari, Shinji's account.
Mrs. Money typed furiously and hit the enter key in one, decisive stroke to transfer it all into Ikari, Shinji's account.
Not one minute later, her phone rang.
"Hello, this is Money speaking, may I ask who's calling?" with the fake cheerful tone all office workers are entitled to learn.
"This is Bastard, have you done as I've instructed?"
"Yes Bastard, I did it personally."
"Destroy the requests."
"Yes, Bastard." 'Phew that was close, I really hope I got everything or my ass is fired...'
On the other end, Bastard turned off his cell phone as he entered the Reiquarium. His son would have no proof that he had even touched his account and no one would be able to touch it for a year. As Bastard watched the Rei's float by and Ritsuko walk in, he knew it was a good day and proceeded with the dummy plug experiments.
Shinji was at the checkout in a grocery store a couple of blocks from the apartment. It was the moment of truth to see if his plan worked, he had selected some other food as well and picked up a lighter as his last item.
"Bill it to my account please," as Shinji handed the cashier his NERV id. 'Come on...'
The cashier slid the card through the register and pulled the receipt. "Sign here please."
Shinji signed it and started to leave..."WAIT! you forgot your lighter."
"Thanks, I need this." And Shinji exited through the sliding door towards an awaiting Misato.
"I can't wait! Are you sure you can make those?" 'Should have asked this sooner'
"Yea, I'm sure." 'I remember the first time I made them, it's how I ended up cooking full-time, you bowed down to me and declared me the cooking god.' "Can we stop by the ATM? I want to check what's exactly in my account."
"Ok, as long as you make them, I don't care what you do." Misato didn't mean that exactly, but she has a way with words.
'Sigh, I wish that were true. It would make life a lot simpler and much more fun.' A particular M-rated fantasy floated to the surface of his thoughts. Shaking his head to kill the brain cells holding that image, Shinji jumped out of the car and inserted his card into the machine.
Ikari, Shinji
Account Balance: 41,000,033 Yen or 343,211.39 U.S. dollars or 294,466.43 Euros (A/N: see end)
Do you wish to make a withdrawal? Y or N?
By now, Shinji was just staring. 'Misato makes no where near that, right? I just know she makes less than Ritsuko.' Shinji hit the print receipt after taking out a couple thousand yen. He walked back to the car slowly, expecting Murphy's law to set in any time now and Section 4 agents to swoop down in helicopters and arrest him, claiming he was an angel.
He took out of his bag the rest of Bastard's paperwork. He had swiped it originally from payroll's mail before inter-office mail restarted in the morning under 'permission from the Bastard.' The only thingsthe forms Shinji hadsaid were to lock the account and the bonus would be only be 10,000 yen.
"Hey Misato, the only thing I have in my account is my bonus," he showed her the slip, "you don't make that much do you?" Shinji was still confused, but had to smile at the look on Misato's face.
"No, no I don't. I make 410,000 every week. I wish I made that amount..." Misato tried to maintain her calm. 'It's no fair! Shinji-kun has more money than I do!'
"I wonder why there's that much then?" 'I was able to use my money, so my plan worked, butthe bonus is no where near 410,000...who #$#$ed up in my favor?'
"Ah-choo!" Mrs. Money sneezed. If one could go back in time, one would see that her index finger slipped twice onto the number three on the numpad before it touched the enter button due to jitters. However, Mrs. Money wasn't thinking that: 'Shit. Maybe I caught something from the Bastard's paperwork... I really hope not. My kids would plot against me if I became as big of bastard as the Bastard...'
"Oh well, it's not my fault! Here's what I owe you for groceries yesterday," Shinji handed her some of the bills, "Hey, as long as I have it, I'm going to use it. Bank error in my favor as they say."
Misato was not happy, not angry with Shinji of course, 'It's not his fault, maybe he used all his bad luck up in deciding the chores? When do I get my break?...' Misato slowly drove off with a disappointed look. Shinji noticed.
"Don't forget that I'm paying off the rest of this car" 'I can actually afford it! I was just lying to get her to teach me...I won't take no for an answer.' "and you're teaching me to drive."
"Shinji, it's your money and I don" Misato started.
"Exactly, it's my money and I want to. Besides, someone along the way messed up for me to have this much. So consider it a gift from NERV. Think about all the crap you've had to do. You deserve this."
"..." 'I do, but I shouldn't...' Regardless, she smiled at Shinji's thoughtfulness and kept driving, now at a slightly faster pace.
"Okay, by the smile on your face I think you agree in some way," Misato opened her mouth to refute this, "and if you don't let me, I'll see if Ritsuko or Maya needs a roommate..."
"Fine. You win, but no flaunting your money about NERV and I'll teach you when you're sixteen, that's when I learned how and you're not learning any sooner."
"But I'm going to pilot a giant, multi-trillion times over yen robot. Why can't I learn now?"
"Because when you pilot Eva Unit 01, we evacuate the entire city to get out of your way." A pedestrian jumped out of the way of Misato as she looked at Shinji.
The rest of the day was much more normal, for Tokyo-3 at least. Misato had declared Shinji a cooking god along with PenPen this time and she started her lecture on the procedures of NERV that lasted until a quick dinner and sleep. Shinji was bothered about learning this all over again, but it wasn't as if he systematically memorized it the first time. Before sleep, he burned the paperwork up and thanked whomever wanted to bash the Bastard as much as he did. Tomorrow was the first sync test with mother...
"Injecting the plug with LCL..." "Connect to main power supply..." "Transmit power to all circuits..." "A-10 connection established..." "Critical Borderline passed...Evangelion Unit 01 is activated." The bridge crew and several technicians started up the Eva.
'Jeeze, the same thing over and over. You there mom?' Shinji could be seen without the yellow haze once the LCL was electrolyzed in his new plug suit. He had not chosen the color, but he was happy with blue/white and the skin tightness felt slightly erotic...as he got a headache.
'Mom, get out of my head. What were you doing?' Shinji closed his eyes and pretended to be focusing on syncing.
'Just experimenting, apparently it's easier to imprint feelings and memories than retrieve them. I always loved the feel of leather...'
'Eww...nice job with the third angel, I think you freaked everyone out more than last time...'
'Relax, oh. There's nothing wrong with you by the way, Ritsuko just wanted to mess with your head after she fell of the walkway. The Akagi women always get revenge after they realized they've been had. I'm slowly bringing your sync up, so we have some time to talk...'
"What's taking him so long?" Misato asked Ritsuko after ten minutes.
"I don't know, is one of the connections disconnected?" she asked Shigeru.
"No, all physical connections are at 100, the cause is most likely in the Eva or pilot."
"Maybe he thinks the Eva is doing something to him, is it Ritsuko? He said you were 'weird' when you saw his results" Misato asked.
'Crap, it's a good thing Bastard is not here,' "Oh that. Don't worry it was nothing. I just glanced at it and misread T-cell count in the blood composition."
Misato didn't know what exactly that was, but walked up to the intercom and pressed it down, "Shinji, if it's bothering you, Ritsuko just informed me that the results from yesterday had nothing wrong with them."
'Okay Shinji-kun, that's my cue to stop restraining your ratio, it will return to whatever it should be'
"Really Misato? Thanks, I worried all this time for nothing." 'Grrrr...'
'You partially deserved it. Ritsuko's happy now and could help you if she feels indebted later on. Plus taking two older women under the belt would be good for you!'
'MOM! She's almost twice my age!' Shinji was struggling to keep a collected face.
'I'm sorry...there's 3 older women. I forgot about Maya! What? She's 24, come on!'
'God...I barely even know her and Ritsuko.'
'That's not my fault, you can't just limit yourself to Asuka, Rei, Hikari, and Mana.
'Mom! You can't expect me to go up to someone I barely, supposedly, know and start making out...who the hell is Mana?'
'Forget that part, time's almost up. For the next two weeks when you come and sync test with me, I'll be teaching you how to manipulate the Eva's AT fields. I'll see you later Shinji-kun.'
"Okay Shinji, great job. You're holding steady at an 88. We're shutting down Unit 01 now and removing the plug. Remember the procedure."
Shinji waited for the LCL level to drop and opened his mouth wide. It was the first 'supposed' time he was conscious and had LCL in his lungs. Interestingly enough, LCL seemed to evaporate after the electrolysis stopped and Shinji forced a breath in and out to expel the rest of the vapor. (A/N: my story, hopefully it hasn't been used)
'Let's see... the rest of today and tomorrow I will be taught more about procedures, NERV, and angels. Then Sunday, I get to go shopping for school on Monday. Joy.'
Sunday came and passed, Shinji had fun shopping with Misato and got a few things for himself: a new tape player, some lazy clothes (sweatpants, slippers, etc. you know), the latest gaming system, and a good digital camera. Misato bought him a cell phone and the school uniforms as per se her guardian duties. On the way back to the apartment, they drove by the school so Shinji could 'learn' the way to it from home.
Shinji was standing in front of his desk, having just finished packing for tomorrow morning. 'Okay, relax. You already know their names and they're all still alive and fully intact. Oh, have to warn them not take a piloting position because of the 13th later or get a better weapon to immobilize it.' The toll of being able to change the future sometimes got to Shinji, especially before bed. He had so much he wanted to change, but PenPen offered the best advice.
"OW! Damn bird, I get the point!" PenPen had taken to pecking Shinji whenever he spaced off for more than two minutes starting Friday night. Misato thought it was funny and Shinji just interpreted it as to stop worrying. PenPen thought's were more along the line of: 'Damn, my cooking human keeps freezing up on me. It's worse than trying to run Internet Explorer!'
Shinji shooed PenPen out and finally just laid there, waiting for sleep to come...
The birds chirping, light sounds of engines passing below on the road, Shinji woke up after a peaceful sleep and rubbed his eyes. It seemed as if slept better now that everything was cool, like in that alternate reality in third impact. He stumbled his way to the shower and let the hot water restart his brain, soaking the stiff joints and muscles. A few minutes later, Shinji, now wide awake and dressed, walked to the kitchen and started breakfast.
'Hm, what should I make? I'm in the mood for pancakes, I wonder if we still have flour...'
Shinji looked in the cupboards to no avail and heard the stirring of Misato... "HOLY CRAP! I'M GOINNA BE LATE!"
Shinji paled at her exclamation and looked at the microwave and saw it was 7:00 A.M. already. Scrapping the start from fresh idea, he nuked some leftovers, toasted bread, and tossed Misato her beer has she half-dressed, half-walked to the table. 'I blame all hentai thoughts on mom now...' They both wolfed down the food and Misato ran back to her room to get her hat, while Shinji grabbed his bag and placed newly nuked anchovies in PenPen's dish.
"Bye!" "I'll pick you up for NERV after school!" Shinji and Misato shouted as he ran off in the direction of Tokyo-3 1st Junior High and she peeled off to NERV.
After deciding he was out of shape and still a block or two from school, Shinji gave up on the whole running into the room at the last minute bit. 'I'm the 'new' student, I was lost, makes sense to me.' Shinji walked into the guidance office and got his schedule and laptop without any trouble, a warning not to be chronically late, but no real trouble.
As he approached his homeroom, Shinji listened for a moment to the history teacher, Boring-sensei, ramble on about Second Impact and pre-Second Impact experiences. 'I could wait 'til next class, but it's my duty to save these poor students from the lecture of the living death, even if only for a minute or two.'
Hikari had spent all of last year getting Toji to try and notice her, but all that fool did was play sports and hang out with Aida and she still liked him. Hikari paid attention to the lesson and was appalled with the sleeping students, she had the utmost respect for her senseis, but Boring-sensei pushed it. The door slid open and Hikari looked to her right to see a brown-haired, dark blue-eyed boy with an easygoing look on his face. Secretly, anything was welcome to stop his speech to her.
'Thank goodness, who is he?' as Shinji talked to the professor and handed him some papers.
"Attention class, there will be a change in plans temporarily," all the students looked up with hope in their eyes, "a new student has moved here and is going to introduce himself. Then we will be returning to...to...what was it?" the class was horrified. A collective 'NOT AGAIN!' rang thru the heads of everyone there. "oh I remember now..." and the sensei sat down in his chair.
"Well that was close, right?" snickers "My name is Ikari, Shinji. I just moved here last Tuesday from living with my uncle in Snore" The sensei had fallen asleep. Shinji spoke softer, "I play the cello, I like to cook for people, and one of my roommates is a domestic penguin named PenPen." Shinji held up the test photo from his camera of him and PenPen. awww "I moved here to work for NERV and I look forward to learning more about all of you." Shinji clapped his hands, forgetting about the teacher. 'Damn it!...wait, he's still asleep...he needs a bib...'
"I guess I can answer any questions if you have them now if the class representative approves?" Shinji looked at Hikari and wasn't alone. Everyone stared at her, almost daring her to say otherwise.
'There just going to do it anyways at lunch...' she had a responsibility to hold up. "I'm sorry, but could you wake Boring-sensei?" The class groaned.
Shinji frowned and then smiled at her. "Of course." He went over to the man and tapped his shoulder repeatedly.
"hmph...impact...back in my day...snore... 3.14159265358979323846...wha? What is it?"
"There's only five minutes left in class, may I answer questions that the other students have? The class representative wanted me to wake you and now I have."
"Sure." Boring-sensei always agreed with Horaki because she knew the rules more than him. Of course Shinji said nothing about Hikari approving, but no one really cared anymore, 'cept Hikari a little bit.
"Okay, who's first? Tell me your name before responding." Shinji pointed to Kensuke.
'So many questions! Weapons, procedures, capabilities, technology...maybe he knows someone who can get me in? Wait...Ikari?' "Aida Kensuke. Is your father the Bastard of NERV!"
"Yes, my father is the one, the only Bastard. Next." Shinji pointed to a girl with glasses and curly brown hair.
"Junko Iwao. Do you know Ayanami-san?" She was one of the rare people at school who noticed Rei existed. Junko was simply curious about Rei like a lab experiment, not friendly at all.
"Yes, she's my co-worker and is currently hospitalized due to a test experiment. Next." Shinji moved on to a spiky, black-haired guy.
"Tetsuya Iwanaga. What do you do at NERV?" 'past' Shinji had learned his father worked on the Eva's umbilical cable and had saw Shinji being recovered after the third angel. The kid then told some girls to ask Shinji online about it. Tetsuya didn't like Shinji.
"Your father works with us, right?" Tetsuya nodded, "I don't see the harm in telling you since you already have disclosed parts of it to others." Tetsuya seized up. "I pilot a device called an Evangelion, it's basically a giant rock 'em, sock 'em robot."
The class broke out in discussion and a succession of questions no one could understand. Hikari was trying to get things under control and failing, so she resorted to staring at Shinji.
"Ah, quiet please. I think miss, well I don't know, has a question." they kept talking and arguing over him.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" everybody turned to see Boring-sensei sit back down. "Continue, this should be the last question and you can leave for lunch." No one dared mentioned that lunch was not next.
'That was new...' "Thank you sensei, now miss...?" Shinji asked Hikari, enjoying his little charade.
"Horaki Hikari. um..." 'what should I ask?' "how do you like things here?"
"I'm having the best time of my life in Tokyo-3. My guardian's awesome, the city has everything, and it's a blank slate for me to start anew." Shinji smiled at the double meanings as the bell ended class and began lunch...early.
A/N: yay, another chapter. they're killing me, I swear. Explanations:
I based the money as of Dec. 2005, Let's just say a lot of the money was destroyed in 2nd impact and the exchange rates have finally deflated back to what they were now. The prices of goods, I guess, are higher.
I think I got the days right, but I don't care again really. 7:00 was just a random time for being late.
Shinji has mellowed a little bit after some sleep and long thought processes you haven't seen. He's much smarter since he's not committing his brain to worrying to why he sucks anymore. So he's a little less sarcastic...plus I had to make this up completely.
Remember, any differences in character could potentially be a butterfly effect of Shinji and that's not a convenient excuse. Or is it?Also, my goal is to have the fic be canon, but effected by Shinji and Yui in little ways that build up. For instance, as much as I would love Shinji to tell Gendo Yui hates his guts, Gendo would realistically throw a little muscle around, capture Shinji, and torture him until he knows how Shinji knows out of him. Gendo and Seele simply have too much power to go directly thru. Shinji's been using his 'supposed' influence as Gendo's son to get little things done, but nothing like "Start Eva 01 and operate the elevator so I can chase down the bastard's car. The Commander said to do so."
Review if you want about anything (except advertising space).