Chapter 3: Gakkou ga hajimaru (学校が始まる)
Note: If there's a * included after some text, it means to check the A/N at the end of the chapter. This will apply to all the following chapters.
XxXxX
I leaned against the wall to wait. While I waited, I took the time to think through some things. Why were my agents attacked? What were they doing there in the first place? Who did it? Why were the cameras disabled prior to the attack? Unfortunately, I only found more questions without answers, which really bugged the hell out of me.
"Kuso!"
Misato poked me in the side, "What's wrong, Toshi?"
"Just some questions I can't find answers to," I replied after shooting a death glare at her.
She sighed, "Don't let it get to you. You might get answers when the bodies are examined."
"Maybe," I nodded. "I still don't want to do the paperwork. Or deal with the Commander or Sub-Commander. Least of all, I don't want to deal with Seele when they question the security here."
"It wasn't someth—" Misato started before she was interrupted by the door opening.
"I'll deal with it later," I whispered to her before turning to Shinji. "Well, let's go get something to eat; my treat." I really wish I didn't make that decision about buying Misato and Shinji lunch if he left the hospital without any trauma; I'm gonna be out a fair amount of money.
"What's the occasion?" the Colonel asked with a look of suspicion as we started walking.
"To celebrate Shinji's victory, of course!" I half lied. I mean, I couldn't say I lost a bet; that would look bad.
"You don't have to, Toshi," the brown-haired pilot stated.
I raised an eyebrow at Shinji's comment. "And why, pray tell, shouldn't I?"
"Uhm.. well. Uh… That is…" he turned bright red and stumbled over reasoning.
"Just leave it be; we're getting free food!" Misato cheered.
It was barely a whisper, but I heard Shinji mumble: "Sorry."
I sighed, "You apologize too much, Shinji."
He looked surprised that I heard him before muttering, "Sorry."
I shook my head and walked on.
As we passed by the Nerv logo, I couldn't help but find some irony in the slogan. "God is not in his heaven, all is not right in the world."
XX
Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Misato's driving? Well, consider it mentioned. I've been driven around by her a couple times and I'm still terrified; I can only imagine how Shinji feels.
"Misato will you slow down! I don't think the higher ups would be too happy if their only pilot got injured by your recklessness!" I yelled, holding onto the holy shit handles.
"We'll be fine," she replied calmly as we swerved to avoid another car.
Of all the ways to go, Misato's driving was not high on my list.
"Did we just run that red light?" Shinji cried out.
"It was amber, I swear!" Misato countered.
"Bullshit! It was clearly red, that's why that car was in the intersection!" I stated.
Suddenly we stopped. "We're here."
I don't think it's humanly possible to escape that coffin on wheels any faster than Shinji and I did. I looked up at the sign for the restaurant and cringed. We were at one of the fanciest ones in the city. I'm so gonna go broke after this.
"I should have known you'd pick here, Misato," I grumbled as we walked in.
An hour and $200 later, we left. Hah! I'm not broke! That's maybe a day's pay! WOOHOO! I cheered silently to myself.
Taking a seat in the front of the coffin on wheels, I asked Misato, "Where's Shinji going to live?"
Misato checked the clock on the dash, "Well, it's early in the afternoon. Let's head back to Nerv and get this settled. Commander Ikari probably won't deal with the processing…" She mumbled the last bit.
As we pulled back into the parking lot, I sighed. I really, really didn't want to go back to do paperwork. Deaths in a Nerv building would have Seele chewing my ass off for inadequate security. I'm starting to suspect it was someone within Nerv; how else could they enter a high security building like the hospital?
I trudged away to my office where I found a massive stack of papers to fill out sitting on my desk. How the hell did they know already? I shrugged before taking a seat at my desk and I proceeded to sort through the dozen or so forms I had to fill out.
"Is there anyone in here?" A voice asked from the doorway.
"Depends who's asking," I replied.
"Doctor Akagi needs to talk to you," the voice said.
I peeked around the stack of papers to see Agent Anno standing there. "What about?"
"She didn't say," he answered.
"Naturally," I muttered as I finished the last form. "Now then, hopefully the person that dropped these off will pick them up and take them to wherever it is they go." Grabbing my stuff, I said: "Okay, lead the way."
He nodded before walking off to one of the many labs in the pyramid that is Nerv HQ.
We really need some method of travel around here that's not walking and significantly faster. Perhaps get some golf carts, or something. Hah! Nerv Taxi Service.
We stopped outside a door with an "authorized personnel only" sign stuck to it.
Anno snapped to attention and left after I nodded to him.
I swiped my card and entered to find Ritsuko leaning over a corpse. "You wanted to talk to me?" I asked glancing over the body.
"Yes," she walked over to the other table, which had a white sheet covering the body. Pulling back the sheet to his belly button, she started to explain what she found. "Agent Asano's arm was separated prior to having the hole put through where his heart should have been and his jaw was severed with a blade like object. The cause of the hole is still unknown. All his internal organs are missing; presumably they were pulled out through the hole." She replaced the sheet before checking over the chart sitting by the table.
"Anything else about Agent Asano?" I inquired.
"His family seems to have hereditary heart problems; but nothing else stands out. He was just another agent," she replied after skimming the chart.
"And Agent Tanaka?" I asked, gesturing to the other body.
"His blood has high levels of LCL or something very similar to it," she started.
"LCL doesn't do anything to the blood, does it?" I frowned.
"Not that we can tell, other than it oxygenates it. There was also a strong paralytic agent in his body. I'm not certain, but I believe Agent Tanaka was paralyzed before being stabbed a dozen times with four scalpels then injected with two full syringes of LCL. The gunshot was post-mortem judging by exit wound of the bullet, which I retrieved from the wound." She tossed me a small bottle with a chunk of metal in it.
"I'll get this analyzed," I replied, examining the bullet. It appeared to be the same as the standard Nerv issue handguns. "Was there any GPR on the wound?"
"None, not even a finger print or two on the scalpels. I couldn't even find any tissue under the finger nails. Sorry, but that's all I've got for you," Ritsuko concluded.
"Thanks," I started to walk away before a thought struck me. Okay, two thoughts struck me. "Anything on the cameras being down?"
"Nothing, the Magi just reported them as never going out," she replied after a second of thinking.
"God damn it," I muttered. Before I got a chance to voice the second thought, the phone rang.
Stripping the gloves off, Ritsuko answered it. I ignored the conversation until I heard Ritsuko ask: "What did you say Misato?"
"I said, Shinji will be living with me. I've already got permission from the higher ups. And don't worry, I won't put the moves on him." Misato said.
"I SHOULD HOPE NOT! What the hell are you thinking, saying something like that? Honestly!" Ritsuko screamed. I had to take a step back in surprise.
I shook my head and, unknowingly, echoed the Lt. Colonel's words as I left the room. "She never could take a joke."
XxXxX
The next day, I awoke to my phone ringing. Groggily, I answered it, "Mornin', Kurokawa here."
"Hey, Toshi. I have some orders from the commander,"the person on the other end said.
"Can't it wait, Maya?" I groaned.
"I don't think so. You've got to go back to junior high," she replied calmly.
I sat bolt upright in my bed. "WHAT? Is this some kind of sick joke? Did Misato put you up to this?"
"You're going back to junior high. No, this isn't a joke, so Misato couldn't have put me up to anything." Maya stated. "Your job is going to be evaluating the curriculum. The Commander wanted the pilots watched during school."
"Why? I thought we were supposed to give them some sense of normality. If I'm watching them for the majority of the day, doesn't that ruin the intent?" I climbed out of bed and put my phone on speaker so I could get ready.
"Commanders orders. School starts at 0800, make sure to be there early," Maya explained.
"Sure, thanks," I said. "I'll talk to you later. Let me know if there's an Angel attack."
"Can do," Maya replied before ending the call.
XxXxX
The school was rather bland, to say the least. Slightly off-white walls, two stories, fence surrounding the roof and campus, a track out back, and a pool that was fenced off. I sighed after checking my watch. "Fifteen minutes," I mumbled under my breath.
I checked in at the office and set off to the class I'd be in for the next ten months. I explained to the teacher what was happening and set up a chair at the back of the room to sit at.
Slowly, in groups of two or three, students started piling in. I had been reading when I sensed someone standing in front of me. I looked up to see none other than Rei Ayanami, designated First Child and the pilot of Evangelion Unit-00. I don't know why, but something seems slightly unnatural about her; sparkling blue hair, brilliant red eyes and deathly pale skin. I've met some Albinos in my life, but Rei is still weird, even by their standards.
"Hey, Rei. How's the arm?" I asked as I put my book aside.
"Morning, Toshi. And it's fine. Doctor Akagi says it'll be healed by next week," she replied. Although she's starting to understand emotions, she's still got a long ways to go. Her voice is still rather monotonous, even after 7 years.
"That's good to hear," I said with a smile. "Anyways, class is about to begin, you should take your seat." She nodded and took a seat near the windows.
I dug out my clipboard-folder and looked through the files on the students and the teacher. The teacher walked in and a girl with brown hair in a pony-tail, whom I assumed was the class representative, barked out a few commands. "Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki!*"
"Onegaishimasu!*" the class said as one.
"Good morning, class," the elderly man started. "Today we have two people joining our class. First is a new student, Ikari Shinji."
"H-h-hi, nice t-t-to meet you," Shinji stammered before bowing.
"Why don't you take that desk over there, by Ayanami Rei," the Sensei said.
Shinji nodded before taking his newly assigned seat.
"Now then, our class has the privilege of being the basis of the new curriculum. Allow me to introduce Kurokawa Toshi," he said.
The class bowed in their seats when I stood up. This is going to take some getting used to.
"Pleasure to be here, Sensei. Continue on with the class as though I'm not here," I explained, going with the cover I was given. "If I have any suggestions, I will make sure to let you know." I returned to my seat after bowing.
He began the lecture on Second Impact that he believed to be the truth, which, in reality, was merely a lie fed to the general populous of the world by Nerv.
XxXxX
Eventually, the bell rang for lunch. Shinji went up to the roof, Rei sat in class and quietly ate her lunch, and I skimmed through the reports from the incident the other day while munching away on my sandwich. Luckily, a staff member had dropped off a music stand for me to sit my folders and such on, beside me sat a desk I stole from the back row.
Shortly after, I heard some kids whispering about a fight out front. I ignored it until I heard something that just made my job more paper-ridden: "I heard that Touji and the new kid are fighting."
I swore, closed my folder before dashing out the door to break it up. When I got there, Shinji was on the ground with a slight cut on his right cheek, blood slowly leaking out. Two boys were standing in front of him. One with a camera, freckles, glasses and dirty blonde hair; the other had black hair and a track suit on. Recalling the files, I called out, "Aida, Suzuhara!"
The colour faded from the jock's face. He turned slowly around to face me.
"Uh… Kurokawa-Sensei*, what are you doing here?" the black-haired boy asked meekly.
"I should ask you the same thing, Suzuhara. Is there a particular reason you're picking a fight with Ikari?" I asked harshly.
"What do you care?" he retorted.
"Don't get lippy with me," I snapped back. "You are aware that fights on school grounds are grave offenses, are you not?"
"But he star—" the jock started.
"Don't even go there, Suzuhara. From what I've seen from him, he's not a violent person," I interrupted him. Not violent, but very much mentally disturbed; who could blame the poor kid, though? I added silently. I moved my gaze to the spectacled blonde. "And you, Aida." He visibly tensed up when I called out to him. "Why didn't you stop the fight?"
He looked at the ground and shifted uncomfortably. "I… um… uh…"
"You two take Shinji to the Nurse's office and get that cut looked at. After class I'll be expecting you to report to detention; consider this a warning," I barked.
"But you can't do that! You're not a teacher here!" Suzuhara whined.
"I'm staff here for the next year. Keep it up, and you'll find yourself in detention for the rest of the week, Suzuhara," I replied. "Now, get to it. Better not be late for class."
I stalked off to the office to make sure Suzuhara and Aida had a detention after school today.
Returning to class, I returned to my files and make a note on the jock's file: Violent.
The trio returned just before the bell ending lunch rang, Shinji came in first followed by Suzuhara and Aida.
The class was just about to start before my phone rang. I quickly checked the message. It read: "Blue 10m."
I sighed before walking up to the teacher. "Excuse me, Shirou-sensei. There's a—" I was cut off by the air raid sirens ringing.
"Everyone, please head to the shelter in an orderly fashion," he said as though it was something that happened all the time.
I lagged behind before flagging over Rei and Shinji. I whispered to them, "Angel ten minutes out" Turning to the teacher, I raised my voice, "Shirou-sensei, I've got to get these two to their designated shelter; principal's orders."
He nodded before leaving with his class.
"Let's get going," I stuffed my files into my bag before leading the way to the nearest Nerv entrance.
Upon entering, we split up. Shinji and Rei went to the change rooms, even though Rei wasn't fit for combat and her unit was still locked down, while I went to the bridge. I logged in with practiced ease and agility. It finished loading as I took my seat, Misato standing nearby.
XxXxX
A/N: Well, there's chapter 3. Here's the notes.
Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki!/Onegaishimasu!: Kiritsu, Rei, Chakuseki means "Stand, bow, sit down", while "Onegaishimasu" is the response from the students to the teacher at the beginning of class.
"Kurokawa-Sensei": I chose to use the honorific "Sensei" for the purpose of reflecting how the students see Toshi. While he's not a teacher, per se (As Touji brings up), he is still a staff member of the school and a teacher-like role in class. That is, he is there to watch over them and make sure the curriculum is set out properly and taught effectively; although, that's a bit of a lie, but that's how the students and the teacher see it.
Thanks to Matsuda Hirioko for beta reading.
Next chapter: Fufukujyuu (不服従)