Evangelion Rewrite: Chapter 13 Just Desserts
Shinji sat idly at the table, with a bowl of ice cream, which he glossed over with a fork. After a while, Shinji set down the fork and picked up a spoon adjacent to the fork and proceeded to ladle the ice cream with his new utensil. Asuka walks into the room and spots Shinji playing with his food. "You're making a mess, you idiot." She said in a confrontational manner. Shinji ignores her for a little while, mindlessly absorbed by his now half-melted ice cream. Then he put down his spoon, next to his fork (making even more mess) and speaks up. "Asuka, may I ask a question? Considering the fact that you forced me out of my room, threw out my personal belongings, tried to show me up at school and recently antagonized me to the point where I felt it necessary to headbutt you."
"When you put it like that, you make me sick to my stomach and horrified by the fact that you so easily forgot that it was you who keeps causing trouble! You damn idiot! But for the sake of shutting you up, go ahead, what is your question?" Shinji nods in a sage like manner to Asuka's rant before finally asking the question. "Which do you think is more awkward? Eating ice cream with a spoon or a fork?" Asuka droops in the depths of her despair. Clearly no longer having the energy left to fight. "A fork." She mutters dimly. "I thought you'd say that." Shinji answered, "but consider the fact that the spoon is commonly used for soups in far eastern countries. Meaning that eating ice cream with a spoon must be an American habit and Americans are always awkward. So a spoon must be more awkward to eat ice cream with." Asuka entire body seemed to be suspended by a tiny thread. Growing pail, she forces out her next sentence. "It's ice cream. Just eat it like a normal person, you stupid, weird, alien freak."
Shinji nods again and says "a fork it is then." He then picks the fork back up and begins to eat the ice cream. Which is made very difficult by the fact that the ice cream has now fully melted.
Misato entered the room to spot a completely defeated Asuka, lying flat on the floor and Shinji, who is locked in his eternal struggle to eat a bowl of ice cream. Misato took a beer out of the fridge and sat down in the chair opposite to Shinji. She watches him for a while, but decides not to say anything. Being his guardian, Misato had seen him in this current mood before. That mood being a relaxed state of mind. Bemusingly, Shinji would always act childishly whenever he was relaxed. 'Glad somebody's in a good mood at least.' Misato thought to herself and opened her first beer of the day taking a mighty swig from the can. Shinji stopped eating and went back to reading his book: Catcher in the rye. The book itself, whilst looking fairly new when Shinji first received it, now looked middle-aged and a little worn out. This had been achieved through several re-reads in only two days. "You planning to learn that book off by heart, Shinji?" Misato asked in a sarcastic tone. Shinji closed his book and slipped it back into his back pocket, then stood up, bowed and left the apartment. Asuka slumped into her own chair and asked Misato "what makes him so special? Thinking he can always do whatever the hell he wants?" Misato just simply shrugged to his and said "you'll have to ask him.
The day had started out quietly for Nerv and everybody was in a relaxed mood, except for Maya. It had been a week since her date with Shinji, which she had intended not to go on. But sure enough, Shinji had managed to win her over. This wasn't a bad thing and Shigeru had put it down to the simple fact that Shinji had planned every note of the date perfectly. But a lot of questions still remained about Shinji. 'First of all' Maya thought to herself. 'How did Shinji afford the date in the first place? Second, even if the car he took was stolen from Misato, how did he drive it so well? Third, in his fight against the fifth angel, he had knocked Ayanami unconscious. But as a monitor, I should have known this as soon as her Eva didn't activate. But the computer said that she had activated it. The Commander and Dr. Akagi have decided that Shinji was just lucky there was a bug in the system, but it all seems overly coincidental.' Maya continued to list off the question in her head until she interrupted by a cheerful "hello" from behind her. Maya jumped when she got out of her chair to see Shinji with a half-baked smile. "Shinji! Why are you here? You're a student, you should go to school more instead of coming down here. You-"
"Would you like to go on a second date sometime?" Shinji asked, interrupting Maya's protests. "No, that- I'm sorry but that can't happen. I'm not only out of your age range, but I'm also your co-worker in a top secret military organization. It just can't happen." Maya finished her case and expected that to be enough to deter Shinji, but he wasn't having any of it. "Tonight seems like a good night, if you're free of course." Maya shook her head in disagreement. But before she could open her mouth a voice calmly spoke out. "You should go." It said. Shinji and Maya turned to see that it was Shigeru who had said this, as he sat down at his terminal. Shinji beamed at Shigeru's declaration and finished off the quick conversation. "We've got approval, so why should those problems you mentioned even be so much as a bother?" He nodded cheerfully and continued "I won't be bringing a car this time, because I've already made plans for the date." Shinji then bowed quietly and waved goodbye, seeing himself off.
Maya turned to face Shigeru as he worked in silence. "Why did you go giving him the wrong idea?" Maya asked him. Shigeru leaned back and put his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner. "I didn't." He answered. "I wholly believe that you should go with him again." Shigeru then leaned forward and turned to face Maya before continuing "and here's why. First of all, the kid has it rough. He's fighting the most nightmarish creatures to ever have been seen by man on a weekly basis and the simple act of protecting people like Rei Ayanami from his hardships; puts him in direct confrontation with the commander. Who is still in a foul mood with Shinji for knocking Ayanami unconscious and just hasn't been able to get at him because Misato's been protecting him. So, with all this in mind, doesn't he deserve to enjoy life a little? Also, it goes without saying that you're very much cooped up in here with me and Makoto a lot of the time. So you deserve to have some fun too." Maya moulded over the case that Shigeru made before asking "Why else do you want me to keep dating Shinji? Shinji's clever, he doesn't need me to hang around with him."
"For starters, he doesn't need you. But as a fifteen year old, he probably wants somebody to need. But you're right Maya, there's one more reason why I think you should date Shinji and it's a big favour that I'm asking."
"Shoot." Maya said dryly, readying herself for whatever this 'big favour' may be.
"As you've no doubt noticed, Shinji is anything but predictable and average. His fight against any of the angels so far has been proof of that. But when he fought the fifth angel, the monitors said that Ayanami's Eva was active at the time. Even though Miss Ayanami was nowhere near the Eva itself. So I'm asking you to find out if he had anything to do with that incident." Maya nodded at Shigeru's request, his own mind deep in thought before she answered. "Okay, I will do that. Since I have questions of my own that I want him to answer." Shigeru nodded and went back to working at his terminal as Makoto entered, signalling that the day had truly begun.
The taste of coffee is always bitter. But for Ritsuko, that bitterness felt on par with her acquired taste. Besides that, it was really the stimulant in coffee that made her drink several in one day. Ritsuko licked her lips in one clean circling motion and set the coffee down at her desk. Much to Ritsuko's dismay, a pair of arms wrapped around her in an embrace. "You've lost some weight." The voice of Kaji declared.
"Is that so?" Ritsuko answered back, not even making an attempt to push the womanizer away. "You must be enduring an unrequited love." Kaji stated, softly but in an accusing manner. "How do you know?" Ritsuko asked, playing out this short little drama. Kaji traced his finger over Ritsuko's cheek and said "Because, a woman with a mole in the pathway of her tears is destined to a life full of them." After this was said, vomiting sounds suddenly appeared in the back ground. Kaji let go of Ritsuko and they both turned around to see Shinji, hanging from a vent with one hand and using the other to mimic vomiting violently. "That's quite an entrance young Shinji." Kaji said with his usual brash arrogance. "Hey Ritsuko, I wouldn't go near this guy's lips; because they probably taste of chicken shit." Shinji stated this as if stating any other helpful fact and then drop down onto his feet. Ritsuko decided to label Kaji and Shinji as background noise as she continued to work. "Such a vulgar brat. Didn't Misato teach you any manners since we first parted?"
Shinji grinned mocking and pointed at the room window. "Ask her that yourself" he said. Ritsuko looked up to see Misato standing on the opposite side of the window, looking puzzled. There were marks on her side of the glass panel, from where she had been pressing her face. But Shinji's entrance seemed to have given her pause for thought. But sure enough, she made her entrance and as she did Shinji left unbeknownst to Ritsuko, Misato and Kaji.
Shinji slipped out of another vent, not too far away from Ritsuko's room. With a quick glance he saw that the corridor was empty. So he leaned back against a wall and fell into a sitting position. He had decided that if there was anything important going on, somebody would wake him up and tell him to get up. But Shinji wasn't so lucky, because the Angel alarm startled him before he could even close his eyes. With one hand on one knee, Shinji pushed himself up off the floor and made his way towards the pilot changing room.
When he reached the room, Misato's voice called out. "Shinji." Shinji turned around to face Misato's officer of the day mode. "Misato?" Shinji asked, wondering why she would stop him before entering. "Commander Ikari's orders, you are not to fight this angel. You are considered to be to volatile and dangerous, Ayanami and Langley will handle this." Misato stared at Shinji, waiting to swat any signs off fuss. But Shinji stood there emotionlessly for half a minute until he slowly nodded and spoke. "Agreed, Ayanami and Langley need combat experience and with them both together, I don't see them in any immediate danger." Shinji's approval to keep himself out of the fight caught Misato of guard. But his logic made sense. "Very well, in the meantime. Wait here until you are told to report to Commander Ikari." Shinji's grasped his knuckles tightly. Clearly, Shinji still had his boundless hate for his own father. "Oh and Shinji." Misato said before leaving. "If I were you, I'd prepare a good reason for why you attacked Rei Ayanami and ended up potentially endangering the mission. I've protected you so far, but you have to face up to the consequences of your actions." Misato then left Shinji. Who stood quietly and kept a stoneface. His only movement was the visible shaking of his fists.