Evangelion Days

Home is where the Heart is

Kokoro had gotten out of her student council meeting. Together, just like always, we walked together out of the school...hey, not hand in hand or anything... just together, don't get any funny ideas...

"Hey, Sazanami-kun?" Kokoro asked, looking up at me, "Did you ask anyone else if they wanted to come along to the baseball game tonight?"

"Actually, yeah, I did... but she said she was busy and couldn't make it."

"Really? Who did you ask?"

"Rei Ayanami."

"Aww, I actually was kind of hoping she would've said yes. She and I don't get to talk much. She's not exactly very talkative, as I'm sure you've noticed. But, I just wish I could have more time to talk with her. There's not really a lot of time during the school day and aside from the subway ride here... well, I don't see her at all outside of school."

Yeah, so it was the same for Kokoro as well. Well, at least for now we could head to the Tokyo Dome – the home of the Yomiuri Giants. Aside from professional wrestling, baseball was Kokoro and my favorite sport to watch live. If you thought the baseball games at the Tokyo Dome were exciting, you should really come out to see the professional wrestling events. But before we left, I told Kokoro to wait a moment and headed back inside the school to where the shoe lockers were located. As I figured, Hikari was still here and probably was just about ready to leave like we were. Heading towards the student council room, I met up with Hikari just as she was locking up.

"Ah!" Hikari screamed, immediately throwing her leg up in defense.

"Gaghhhh..." I slumped down to the grown in agony, as I had just been kicked in a place no man should ever be kicked in. Almost immediately, Hikari realized that it was me she had just punted south of the boarder. Kneeling down, she checked to see if I was alright...

"Sazanami! You idiot, I thought you were some molester pervert trying to take advantage of me!"

Well, ok, maybe she wasn't checking to see if I was alright, but I can dream can't I?

"...Hikari...that hurt..."

After regaining my senses, I was able to talk to Hikari about what I came back inside the school to talk to her about in the first place. I wanted to find out where Rei Ayanami lived, strictly for fellow classmate reasons only. In no way was I trying to get her address so I could spy on her or anything uncouth as that. What? Don't believe me? Fine, see if I care, either way, that's how it was. And, as I figured, Hikari wasn't exactly forthcoming with the information.

"Sazanami... You know I can't just give out classmates personal information without expressed permission? I could get in serious trouble if I were to just give you that!"

"Come on, Hikari, look it's not like I'm going to stalk her or anything. Actually, I'm worried about her. She doesn't talk much, and sometimes she comes in to school in bandages and has bruising on her face or arms... I just want to make sure no one is abusing her at home. You know, just looking out for a friend."

"Well... you do have a point. There were times Ayanami would come in looking worse for wear... Ok, you win. Wait right here, I'll be right back with her address." Hikari said right before she disappeared back into the student council room. It wasn't long before she returned, handing me a small three by five sized index card containing the address of Rei Ayanami.

"You can't tell anyone that I gave you this, okay?"

"Sure, and thanks a lot, Hikari. I didn't expect you to actually go out of your way to help me out."

"Well, you made a good point and you are Kokoro's friend... I guess it's the least I can do. But remember, you CAN'T tell anyone that I gave you this address!"

"Okay, okay! I got it, Hikari," I replied, putting my hands up in defense and motioning them to calm her rather nervous self.

"Good. Well, I'm locking up the student council room here and then I'm leaving the school. You should leave too, you shouldn't leave Kokoro waiting for too long."

"Yeah, okay, I'll be going. See you, Hikari." I waved as I was leaving. After leaving the hallway where the student council was located, I made my way though the shoe lockers and out the entrance/exit to the school where Kokoro was still waiting for me.

"Hey there, Kokoro, did you wait long?"

"What took you so long? I was starting to get worried! I feared the worst!"

I really didn't want to know what she meant by that, but still, I ended up asking her anyway. The reply I got was mildly perturbing.

"I was worried that one of the high school girls had made there way into our wing of the school and had taken advantage of you!"

Really, so that's WORSE than if I got jumped by a bunch of thugs and had gotten beat within an inch of my life? Sometimes I never could understand that girl...

"...No, actually I had thought I lost something. I ended up finding it."

"What did you lose?"

"Oh, nothing major, just some notes. I want to make sure I'm ready for Miss Takashiro's English test next week."

"Oh crap! I fell asleep during her lecture today and forgot to take notes! Sazanami-kun...help me out!"

"Haha, maybe if you ask really, really nicely."

"Boo! You're a meanie, Sazanami-kun!" Kokoro puffed her cheeks, a bit miffed at my teasing. Of course that was followed up by us both laughing. Even though, I lied to Kokoro, I was pretty sure she knew I was lying... still, despite that, she went along with my little rouse about the English cheat sheet.

First we stopped at my parent's house where I changed out of my school uniform into something a lot more comfortable: A Giants t-shirt and blue jeans. The Yomiuri Giants were my favorite baseball team of all time. They almost won the championship last year, had it not been for an arrant foul ball that one of our idiot fans leaned out and touched the ball deflecting it. It was a mirror image almost of the "Steve Bartman Incident" in the MLB in 2003. It was a travesty of justice. But anyway, this year was a new year and the Yomiuri Giants looked even better this year. Once I was changed and all set to go, we made our way to Kokoro's parents' house. The Oboro's were actually a really interesting sort, running their own business: A private detective agency. Kokoro's Father, Koji Oboro, was an odd fellow, but I liked him. He really cared about his daughter and took on all sorts of cases so that he could properly provide for her. Kokoro's Mother, Shizuha Oboro, helped Koji with the financial aspects of running his own business. A very close, tight nit family the Oboro's were. My adoptive parents were rarely ever home, but they were both lawyers, they were always working. I guess I couldn't complain too much, I lived practically alone in a rather large home...anyhow, as I was getting lost in my thoughts, Kokoro had changed her clothes...

"I'm ready, Sazanami-kun!"

"Hey! What the hell are you wearing?" I pointed in utter disgust. Kokoro was wearing the enemy uniform! She was wearing a Tokyo Yakult Swallows T-shirt! Blasphemy!

"Hey, this is my Papa's favorite team! And they're gonna beat the Giants! Nyah!"

Well, it clearly was on at this point. Feeling my usually confident self when it came down to a baseball game including my Yomiuri Giants, I decided to make things interesting. Naturally, I suggested we make a bet. However, I was actually quite surprised at how willing she was to bet me. You have to give her credit, she may be timid at times, but when she gets into something she gives it her all and can be quite stubborn. So the stakes of our bet was actually quite trivial, the winner gets treated for a whole day by the loser. Basically it meant a 'date'.

"Heh, don't be complaining to me when you don't have any money, I have expensive tastes I'll have you know" I replied with confidence.

"Papa told me there were going to win tonight, so I have confidence in Papa's judgment."

With that out of the way, it was off to the Tokyo Dome – my favorite place in all of Tokyo 03. After Second Impact, the original Tokyo Dome was destroyed along with most of Old Tokyo during the great flood that happened in tandem. When Tokyo 03 finished completion, they included an exact structural replica of the original Tokyo Dome updated with state of the art facilities. When we had arrived at the Tokyo Dome, we were met with two familiar faces: Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida.

"Well look who it is, it's Shu and Kokoro. I see yer both wearin' different colors, don't break up after the game." Toji replied matter-of-factually. Honestly, I have no idea how Kensuke puts up with this guy all the time. Speaking of Kensuke, he looked rather down in the dumps.

"What's the matter, Aida-san?" Kokoro, noticing as well, asked.

"They confiscated my camera..."

I can't believe he actually tried to bring his camera in here, the Tokyo Dome of all places. Doesn't he know that you can't record professional athletic events without approval from the League? In any case, Kensuke was camera recorder-less at least for the time being. This was probably for the best, because without his camera meant a much greater chance he won't make a complete ass out of himself.

The ball game was a very defensively played game. As a general rule, Japanese baseball is more about defense and field work than scoring ten or fifteen runs like they do in America. Sticking true to this form, we were looking at a 2 – 1 tie game deep into extra innings. At this point, I was getting really antsy, as were Toji and Kensuke. Kokoro, however, was simply having fun rooting on her Swallows. If the Giants weren't able to amass at least one run, it was all over. The Swallows had scored in the top of the 15th and after the change up, it was the Giants at bat in the bottom of the 15th with 2 outs, and the batter had a full count. The Giants were in a situation where bases were loaded, all they needed one run in to tie it, two in to win it. You could just hear the anxiety in the air, the crowd was buzzing. That's when it happened, the batter connected with the ball, breaking his bat in the process. The ball was a grounder but it was getting some distance along the foul line, just fair. As the third base runner started towards home plate, it appeared as if the tying run was a shoe in...however just a second before his finger tips touched home plate... the ball landed into the catchers glove and tagged home plate. The Giants had lost, the Swallows had won. As much as it pissed me off to see my team lose, looking over at Kokoro's gleaming face kinda made it feel not so bad at all. In a way...I didn't care at all that the Giants had just lost a ball game to the Swallows, I was just happy to see Kokoro so happy. After the game, Kokoro and I parted ways with Kensuke and Toji who were sticking around in an attempt to get Kensuke's confiscated camera recorder back. We wished them luck and went on our way.

"Hey, Sazanami-kun?" Kokoro asked me as I walked her home.

"Yeah, what is it, Kokoro?"

"How come you're not upset? Usually you get really, really mad when the Giants lose?"

"Well... actually, for some reason... tonight I just don't mind. It was a great game after all. There will" be many more chances for the Giants to win this year. And you were right, the Swallows won just as you said they would."

"Sazanami-kun, it was Papa that said they would win... not me. I don't know anything about sports."

"That's not true, you were very much into the game just as much as the guys and I were. You understand more than you think." I replied, putting my arm around her shoulder, "So, looks like I get to take you out tomorrow – my treat. That was the bet, right?"

Kokoro's cheeks were flushed, a bright red like that of a tomato. At first she didn't smile, she looked a bit surprised. At the time, I wasn't sure why... but looking back I know it was obvious why she reacted in such a way. After her brief look of bewilderment, she smiled brilliantly and giggled gleefully.

"Yeah! Tomorrow's a Saturday, so that means only a half day of school. We can spend the rest of the afternoon together. There's actually a few places I really want to check out that I've been meaning to but never got around to actually doing so."

"That's great, so tomorrow we will go. We'll go wherever you want to go. After all, I'm a man of my word. I lost fair and square."

Somehow, I got the feeling that she didn't want our 'going out' to be just because I lost a bet. But for now, that's what it was. It wasn't much farther before we arrived at her house.

"Do you want to come in for a drink before you go, Sazanami-kun?" Kokoro asked me, as soon as we had arrived.

"No, I think I'm alright, Kokoro."

"Okay...well, good night then, Sazanami-kun."

"Good night."

After saying "Good night" and Kokoro was safely inside her home with the porch light turned off, I pulled out the index card that Hikari had given me earlier – the one with Rei Ayanami's address information printed on it.

"Outskirts of Tokyo 03, Tokyo 02 huh?" I muttered to myself. This wasn't exactly the nicest part of town. Most of buildings there were decrepit, some scheduled for demolition years ago that never were demolished. To get there, I would have to walk. It was too late for me to catch public transportation, so I would have to make do with walking...

As I continued to walk, I was thanking my lucky stars. Reason being because of the full moon light. Outside of Tokyo 03, in this particular district of Tokyo 02, there weren't many working street lights making it extremely dark at night. Thanks to the illumination of the moon, I was able to continue trekking through towards Rei Ayanami's place of residence. Once I had finally arrived, I couldn't believe what I was looking at. The entire building looked like it should be condemned...

"Rei Ayanami...lives here?" I asked myself a loud. I just couldn't bring myself to believe it. I noticed that that the mail slot was stuck full of mail, giving off the notion that either she didn't read her mail or she hasn't been home for a quite some time... or Hikari gave me the wrong address... no, she wouldn't do that...

Mustering up the courage, I pressed the door bell buzzer and waited for a few moments. A few moments later, after no one answered the door, I pressed the buzzer again. Once again, there was no sign of life coming from this hole of an apartment. I looked at the name plate to the upper right of the door and sure enough it read "Rei Ayanami". Knocking lightly on the door, I called out Rei's name.

"Rei Ayanami. It's Shu Sazanami, from school. Are you home?"

No response. It was like talking to a wall. I started to get a little pissed off, there was no way I was making such a long walk here only to leave without finding anything out. In frustration I put my foot against the door which, in turn, caused it to open. It seemed that the locking mechanism wasn't in all the way or the door hadn't been shut properly. Nevertheless, I had just unintentionally broken into Rei Ayanami's apartment. Figuring I had made it this far, I ponied up and decided to enter the apartment. From the moment I walked inside, I instantly regretted it. There was no way that you would've gotten me to accept that this was acceptable living conditions for a 14 year old girl. There was no furniture in this apartment, it reminded me of a simple hospital room. There were used syringes in the trashcan's with bottles of various medications all stacked near the sink in the corner by a mirror. I didn't have any idea what all that was for, at the time, I feared she was on drugs or something. Kneeling down, I sifted through some of the garbage. Definitely she was injecting herself with some sort of drug... as to if it was a prescription or not... I had no way of knowing. One thing that was for sure was that Rei Ayanami was not here. I checked every room in the apartment to which none were occupied by Rei. Feeling I probably shouldn't be here if or when she gets back, I stood up and decided to leave the apartment...of course, once I stood up and turned around Rei Ayanami was standing in the door way simply staring back at me. Startled, I jumped up to my feet, ready to give some sort of half-ass explanation as to why I was there in the first place. However, much to my surprise, that wasn't even necessary. Once Rei had finished removing her shoes, she simply walked right past me without even asking me why I was even there to start with. That didn't set well with me, I mean, here I was breaking and entering into her apartment and she doesn't even seem to mind one bit.

"Wait just a minute..." I said, grabbing her arm as she passed by.

"What?" Rei asked me softly, her voice calm and crisp.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I'm even here?"

"It doesn't matter."

Those words... those were the words that set me off. How in the hell can a girl our age not even remotely care what so ever about the events that just transpired? Upset, I raised my voice a little bit.

"What do you mean, it doesn't matter? What if I was some sort of murderer or something?"

"You are not a murderer. You are Shu Sazanami, a classmate. You are not a murderer."

"That's not the point here, Ayanami! For Christ's sake, you have to lock your door whenever you leave your home. You do have a key to the lock on your door, right?"

"Yes."

"Then use it! You have to lock your doors all the time, do you understand? There's no telling what sort of riffraff will break in here if you don't."

Rei looked at me as if she was studying me, or perhaps thinking over the words I had just said. Looking into my eyes, reminding me of the word's she said to me earlier in the day...

Do you know what it is like to forge a 'bond' with someone?

Next time on Eva Days...

Rei Ayanami didn't come to school today. After school Kokoro and I spent time together going to various different places of her choice. At times we would also meet up with Hikari and Midori as well as Toji and Kensuke throughout the day. I noticed that military activity around the city outskirts was starting to escalate. At the time, I didn't know if it was just mere military drills or if something big was going to happen. Of course, I had no way of knowing the magnitude of what was to come. Next time on Eva Days... A Calm before the Storm...