Chapter 6 – May the Charm be with you
Post-Third-Impact
Shinji sat up on the beach as the souls of humanity lapped quietly against the sand a few feet away. He leaned back with a sigh, placing his hands behind his head. Ah, a little peace and... Turning his eyes upward he caught a glimpse of Lilith on her cross and almost jumped out of her skin.
"WAAH! ...oh, Lilith," he murmured, picking himself up sheepishly. "I thought I was alone..."
"You'll never be alone as long as I'm around!" she beamed. "...um, let me down?"
"...oh, right." Sighing a little, the boy freed her from her cross with a twang. Wait, 'twang'? The twanging continued, and he finally noticed Mana tuning her guitar. "...hmph," the boy groused, "I thought I was in control here. Might as well bring everybody..."
The other girls appeared with a flash of light.
"...no, Hikari, I'm telling you there's nothing between me and that idiot Shin-AAH! What the hell, Third?!" Asuka desperately looked around regaining her bearings and calming a little, then flying into another panic. "Wait, is Misato here??"
"Asuka, even I wouldn't be so stupid as to bring her here," Shinji said in a rare moment of courage. He did not notice that he happened to be walking into a magic circle.
"Oh, right, HEY! Since when do you talk to me like that??" she shrieked, spots of pink just barely showing on her cheeks. Verdammt! I'm blushing! She turned away furiously so the boy wouldn't see. Shinji was, of course, utterly oblivious.
"...er, sorry," he mumbled, as Rei sidled closer.
"Dear Gott, what's with all the apologies?!" Asuka screeched, hiding her face with one arm and backhanding the boy with the other. Shinji flopped over into a heap, and Rei, who had just closed her eyes and quickly leaned in, fell over him suddenly and got nothing but a mouthful of sand. The two girls ended up looking daggers at each other.
Mana, meanwhile, had finished tuning her guitar. Setting her practiced hands to the strings, she drew from the instrument a haunting melody of such power and beauty that everyone on the beach paused momentarily. After using her ethereal senses to check that the music had done its job out in the real world, she put the instrument away.
"That was beautiful," Shinji said, and Mana smiled, preparing a fake blush for the boy. The side of her mouth developed a tic when the blush turned real. No! This isn't possible, she thought desperately, turning away in embarrassment. Asuka began to snarl, and Rei gave another of her sad little sighs. In order to forestall the coming bloodbath, Shinji sent them all back to reality.
Gendo looked up from his desk, frowning suddenly. I sense a disturbance in the Charm, he thought. As if a multitude of women had suddenly cried out and swooned. He set his pen down, the report in front of him forgotten. Could my son have managed to activate his nascent talent? He reached over and pushed a button, waiting as a small hologram of the back of a chair popped into existence. The chair slowly turned around, revealing... Chairman Kihl. In a worn-looking robe that mostly obscured his face.
"He is nearby, and has grown strong in the Charm," Gendo intoned.
"The boy?" Kihl asked, distrust in his voice.
"I have felt him," Gendo insisted.
"Strange that I have not," the Chairman said with a piercing gaze. After a few moments of silence, the man's gutteral voice continued. "You will bring him to me. I have foreseen it..."
"Yes, my Master."
Misato stepped out of the lobby and into the parking lot of her apartment complex still wearing her sleeping shorts and shirt. This particular t-shirt was themed after one of her favorite TV shows, and on the front were the two words 'Disco Stu.' She reached inside her cleavage for her Tarot card which she flicked into an empty area of the parking lot. The card spun through the air and stuck into a crack in the pavement, and her Precious appeared in a flash of light. Disco Stu may not advertise, but I'm not Disco Stu, she thought happily. The vanity plate on the back of the super-car now read 'SATO ROX' and she had changed the color scheme to midnight black with yellow-orange flames running down the sides. Glancing down in satisfaction, she noted that the Goth-loli outfit she had registered was as fetching as she had hoped, especially when she stood next to her Precious. Must thank the boy. Must-thank-the-boy-very-thoroughly!
"Misato-says-open!" she exclaimed, and she began to vibrate happily as the driver-side scissor door slid up noiselessly. "...hehehehehehe!"
Shinji and his entourage walked down the sidewalk on the way to school, and the air was filled with bickering.
"Schiesse! Why is everyone clustered around Shinji??" Asuka griped.
"No one asked you to come, Sohryu," Rei said in a quiet but firm voice. "...and did you just call him by his name?"
"No!!" Asuka backpedaled, desperately suppressing the blush that was starting to creep onto her face. "...M-Mana, what are you doing here??"
"I go where I will," the girl replied nonchalantly, shifting her guitar case on her back and trying not to look at Shinji. The three girls eyed each other warily, and moved closer to the boy as they walked along. Shinji began to hum a little tune, and wondered at his sudden cheerfulness. He was usually depressed at this time of day, watching the other small groups of students walking merrily to school.
"IDIOT!" all three girls hit him on the head, and he fell into a heap on the ground.
"Sorry, sorry! What'd I do?" he asked, smiling nervously.
"Pilot Ikari, are you alright?" Rei bent over the boy and ended up 'tripping' and falling on top of him and into his arms. Her cheeks tinged pink. "...I-I think you owe me my artifact, Pilot Ikar-"
"What??" Asuka screeched, dragging the girl off him, as several windows shattered in the distance. "Don't try to play that off as an accident!"
"What are you two doing?" Mana asked suspiciously, and the three of them got into a scuffle as Shinji attempted to edge away.
"Oh no you don't!" the three of the yelled, and he broke into a run as they gave chase.
How did it turn into this? He thought frantically, wondering if he would be able to make it to school, and possible safety.
Ah! Rei thought, He's heading right for the...
...magic circle! Asuka finished the thought. Neither knew of the other's plan, and Kamo had been a very busy little ermine indeed. Both of them put on a burst of speed, and the three Children met right at the magic circle.
Bingo! Kamo crowed from where he sat in the bushes watching. Wait...
No one had even noticed the distant engine whine that had very quickly risen in volume. "Shin-chan-want-a-ride?-of-course-you-do!" (SNATCH) The Lambo's brake lights had not even flickered.
Has the Third's mouth gotten a little smaller? Asuka wondered.
I do not recall Pilot Ikari's hair being this long, Rei noted carefully.
Both girls opened their eyes.
The twin scream could be heard for miles around, and Kamo was propelled from his bush by a massive nose-bleed.
Shinji did not even have time to worry about any kind of uncomfortable silence, because Misato's super-car ate up the miles almost as fast as it ate up the gas. Or would have eaten up the gas, anyway. "-no-need-to-buy-gas,-no-need-to-change-the-oil,-it-all-just-takes-care-of-itself!-If-only-men-were-like-that!-Oh-we're-here,-thanks-again-Shin-chan-MMMMMMMMM!"
"MMPHFFffflfhphf-wait!" The boy put both hands over his lips, which for the moment were vibrating in tune with Misato's, "M-M-M-Misato, m-m-my door is lock- AAAH! SLOW DOW-" Before he could complain further, she grabbed his collar and cheerily fired him out the open driver's side window.
For the precious moments of peace during which he was flying through the air, Shinji contemplated his situation. His eyes snapped open as he impacted something soft, and he barely had time to brace himself before he body-slammed the brick facade of the school building. Why is the building so soft? He focused his eyes and found that he was forehead-to-forehead with Hikari, his hands braced against the wall, trapping her against his body. "...h-hi?" he managed to gasp as he regained his breath.
Her entire face was rapidly becoming a deep lavender as she looked into his suddenly entrancing orbs. "...n-n-nuh-nn... AAAAAAUUUUUUU!!" She slipped around him and fled down the street blindly. I like Touji not Shinji, I like Touji not Shinji, I like- She slammed right into Asuka, bowling them both over into a tangled heap in the sidewalk. Kamo, who was just now tottering into view after his previous abrupt journey, flew off into the bushes again in a fresh shower of nose-bleeding at the sight of the two blushing girls tangled up in each other.
Thus, Hikari Horaki joined the ranks of the Shinji-smitten, and thus began what eventually became known as the Longest Day.
Author's Notes: glAssbOy – Shinji's danger level: approaching critical
Popkov – Warning: story may contain elements of Negima
Pyro – For the love of God that Discordia thing was the strangest fiction I've ever read! lol