From the author: We spent the last few chapters getting in a more and more somber mood. How about a break?

don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion and Akira

Neon Genesis Evangelion belongs to Studio GAINAX and Hideaki Anno

Akira belongs to Kōdansha and Katsuhiro Ōtomo

"this" is speech

'this' is thought

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION HIGHWAY STAR: THE BALLAD OF SHINJI IKARI

Chapter 47: short break


"THAT'S IT COME ON!"-Shinji exclaimed as he sat on top of his Namerikawa ZX10-R and was currently passing through the Start/Finish straight. Showing a peace sign to the pit box before riding off to do another lap. Asuka only sighed, pressing the button on top of a stopwatch

"1:06,23. one second of his prior lap record, what time have you gotten?"-Asuka asked turning towards Shinji's pit crew who showed her the board

"The same, although it's not that bad. He is a number two rider after all."-One of them said as Asuka was visibly livid by that comment. Her boyfriend was a future MotoGP champion after all. If they manage to stop the coming apocalypse but that for now was not important for two teenagers, what mattered currently was making results and that Shinji would keep his butt in the saddle. So she once again sighed before again turning to Shinji's pit crew

"Bring him in."-she said as the two people holding the board shared a look

"Are you sure? It doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the bike?"-one of them asked as Asuka shot at them "Do what i say or i swear to god i don't know what will happen" look. The two young men only sighed and wrote something on the board. And in a few seconds the message was received. 'Box? For what? I didn't report any damage?'-Shinji thought as he slowed down on his last lap. As he was reaching the start/finish straight he saw his teammate Saku Tayama passing him at full speed. And so he reached the pits as the bike was quickly turned off and prepared for refueling to the level Shinji required. He then took off his helmet and turned towards Sadao

"Why did you bring me in?"-Shinji asked, taking a sip of his water bottle that resided on the nearby desk. Sadao only sighed before pointing towards Asuka that was writing some data on a laptop

"She asked, or rather demanded it. Apparently she knows the problem. Why are you so off-pace today, even though you came back after a break."-Sadao explained as Shinji sighed and walked up towards Asuka. Who suddenly turned towards him

"Oh look who's finally here."-Asuka said as Shinji raised his eyebrow

"Asuka, might i know why you told MY PIT CREW to bring me in for an UNNEEDED pit stop?"-Shinji asked as Asuka showed him the laptop filled with Shinji's lap times from the last few runs and the runs before that

"You continue to slack off, losing hundreds of a second after hundreds of a second"-Asuka explained as Shinji continue to have his eyebrow risen

"And why do you show me this even though it should be obvious that I need some time to get used to the bike again?"-Shinji asked as Asuka hit him in the back of his head

"OW! Son of a- what was that for?!"-Shinji exclaimed bringing the attention of the pit crew of the bike number 28 to them

"We need to talk."-Asuka said yanking his hand and taking him out of the pits just as Saku stopped for his routine pit stop

"What's going on between them?"-Saku asked taking off his helmet just as his engineer walked up to him

"Who knows? Teen love."-he replied as meanwhile Shinji and Asuka reached the back of the Ebisu circuit. The redhead took only a deep breath before lashing out on her boyfriend

"Don't try to lie to me! We both know that its not getting used to the bike! You are a genius and could probably break the 1:04 mark! So tell me what's going on? What's on your head right now then just racing and putting your first steps towards MotoGP and your championship? So tell me… And I will continue to bring you here to tell me until I rip off your right hand."-Asuka said as Shinji before looking down to the ground in shame

"It's Rei, and all the stuff regarding that damn witch. I thought coming to the track would allow me to forget about it for at least a brief second. And so I try to focus all I can on racing, though it doesn't allow me and I can't break my own records."-Shinji said as Asuka sighed before putting her hand on her boyfriend's shoulder

"Shinji…There will be time for everything, for confronting Rei and for saving the planet. But right now it's preparing for the future. Our future, and the future we will fight for and we will receive. How does the saying go? "Nobody will ride in front of me?"."-Asuka asked as Shinji then looked at her

"It was "Nobody will drive in front of me" from "F", and you don't want to quote that manga if you want something to happen to you. And you know what? You're right, let's take a break from saving the world. And allow ourselves to be focused on winning, hell lets do something after we come back to Tokyo 3."-Shinji said as then Asuka turned towards him confused

"Like what?"-She asked as Shinji turned to her smirking

"Want go to the movies?"-Shinji asked as Asuka blushed before turning towards the track

"First go out there and get a lap record!"-Asuka said as Shinji sighed before giving his girlfriend a kiss before going back to the pits with Asuka behind him. Just as they walked in they saw the crew preparing Shinji's number 28 bike for another track run

"Sadao, fire it up!"-Shinji said as Sadao turned towards the mechanics and nodded. And after brief seconds the ZX10-R roared back to life. Shinji put on his helmet before showing a thumbs up for Asuka and riding off from the pits. 'Come on Ikari, focus! just like Asuka said!'-he thought as he reached the first corner, allowing himself to break a little bit later. First corner, second corner, long stretch, third and fourth corner. And so he continued, doing anything to keep his speed. Taking corners much faster as he was slowly losing himself in the madness and the only thing he could think about was what resided in front of his visor. And so he finally reached the start/finish straight as Asuka reached out her hand with the stopwatch. After passing like a rocket she clicked the top button, and smiled before turning towards the board crew

"What time have you gotten?"-Asuka asked as the two men looked at the board visibly surprised

"1:05,53."-One of them said as Asuka only continued to look at the track just as Saku Tayama flew next to them

"Still not fast enough, be on the watch. That was only a morning jog."-Asuka said as she watched the stopwatch and was waiting for Shinji to once again pass them. And so he did after another shorter minute. Asuka clicked the stop watch as her grin continued to grow seeing the "1:05,32" on the small screen. And the timer continued to shrink. from "1:05,32" to "1:05,27" to "1:05,23" to "1:05,19" to "1:05,13" to "1:05,09" to "1:05,04" to finally reaching something that even Shinji thought was impossible. Asuka clicked the button on the stop watch as she then turned towards the board crew

"You also got that?"-Asuka asked giving one of the men her stopwatch as the crew compared it with theirs before giving it back to Asuka

"Yes…1:04,56."-one of them said as meanwhile Shinji saw messages on his dashboard. "Fuel Low" and "Box" he sighed and quickly made his way throughout the track, reaching the pit road and parking the bike. As he stopped his crew immediately runned up towards him with a barrage of fuel as the bike was quickly being refueled before being put back to the garage. Shinji managed to take off his helmet and gloves, revealing his face covered in sweat. Taking long deep breaths paused by a sip of water from his bottle. As he remained in that state he completely didn't notice Asuka who suddenly came to him from behind. Grabbing his shoulders and bending towards him

"1:04,56. That's a new record."-Asuka said as her hand reached towards the zipper of his suit allowing his chest to be exposed. Shinji on the other hand while aroused by the sudden flirtatious tone also felt relief from the cold air

"Yeah, new record… Sadao! What time did Tayama get?"-Shinji asked tying his suit around his waist as Sadao checked with the other pit crew

"1:05,3. And with the regular ZX10-R."-Sadao explained as Shinji quickly sighed before reaching towards the bag that laid under the table, taking out a pack of Gitanes and a lighter

"How much time do we have until I have to get back in the saddle?"-Shinji asked as Sadao asked something from the crew before turning to Shinji

"They say that they need around 15 minutes or so to analyze it. Until then you have free time."-Sadao explained as Shinji and Asuka shared a look before they walked out of the pit

"We'll come back in 15 minutes."-Shinji said leaving the puzzled crew alone


"That's a nice view"-Shinji said, smoking a cigarette and looking at Asuka using his shoulder as a pillow and watching the Ebisu circuit and the sound of Kawasaki's R4 echoing throughout the circuit. Asuka then turned towards Shinji who threw the Gitanes out of his mouth.

"So, how does it feel? Putting away all the negative thoughts?"-Asuka asked as Shinji then turned towards her

"All the negative thoughts are still there. They're just neatly hidden in, so…what movie you want to see?"-Shinji asked, reaching out for his phone and looking for the best Tokyo 3 cinema repertoire, before giving it to Asuka who looked through movies. She then grinned as she gave the phone back to Shinji. Who sighed before raising his eyebrow at Asuka

"Really? A second impact documentary? Asuka last time we talked about this we were trying to take a break and forget about the whole "The world is gonna end" thing?"-Shinji asked as Asuka chuckled

"Oh no no no no no! We're not going to watch it as a documentary! We're going to watch it as a comedy! Seeing how everything is set up in the history books it will be like watching a mockument. Our helicopter arrives in one and half hours I think… You'll have time to take a shower and change clothes. The last showing is around 21:30 so we should be able to make it."-Asuka asked as Shinji processed this for a minute before smiling at his girlfriend

"That could be fun."-Shinji said as the alarm clock echoed from his phone. He sighed as he got up from the ground

"15 minutes, it's time for more laps."-Shinji said as Asuka nodded before taking out her stopwatch

"And I'll be right there."-Asuka said as Shinji went in for a kiss

"And i love you for it."-Shinji said as they made their way back to the pits as he put back his racing suit on


"We're home"-Shinji announced as he and Asuka walked inside the apartment to see Misato and Rei eat dinner

"Oh! Welcome home! How was it?"-Misato asked as Shinji only walked up to his and Asuka's room in order to leave the bag as Asuka grabbed them two cans of soda from the fridge

"Great, but we're only here to drop our stuff. We're going to the movies!"-Asuka announced as Misato then turned towards them

"What?! When will you two be back?"-Misato asked as Shinji loaded his 21A before putting it to its inner holster in the jacket

"Around midnight, but don't worry! Nothing will happen to us. And a bullet will be standing between Asuka and someone who'll try to put a finger on her."-Shinji exclaimed as he and Asuka closed the door, Misato and Rei only shared a confused look before both of them returned to their food


Shinji and Asuka quickly settled in their seats as they alongside a few other people that somehow found themselves in the same place. And so they took out their drinks and popcorn, beginning to watch the movie as the logo appeared on the screen


SECOND IMPACT: A TRUE STORY


It did cause a snicker from the duo as Asuka snuggled into Shinji's arm. Taking out popcorn before the movie truly began. At first they were surprised by the quality of "authentic" videos showing the supposed meteorite striking down in the antarctica. And so the movie continued, of course people and "experts" were talking about how much the "meteorite" affected the environment of the planet and showed some graphs how much the basic structure of Earth's Atmosphere had shifted from already bad to worse, even though they knew what was the real reason and how SELLE had screwed up when they tried to take the first angel for themselves. That was until they saw an interview with a supposed scientist that was "working" in Antarctica during the second impact. 'Bullshit' both of them thought as even those who worked at NERV knew that Misato was the only survivor. And so they continued to silently laugh and snicker throughout the "sad" scenes and interviews. After the movie ended both of them left the cinema laughing as Shinji threw away the empty popcorn cup

"And those crying scientists? Mein Gott where did they got such terrible actors?"-Asuka asked as she and Shinji walked up towards the HS Finale

"I'm not surprised, however i'm surprised that people even believe in what they get. I mean look at it! on a normal functioning planet it would be seen as some kind of an expensive joke."-Shinji said as both of them boarded the bike

"Don't blame them, if most young people and survivors are being told that it was a meteorite, they'll believe it's a meteorite."-Asuka said as Shinji started up the HS Finale before both of them rode off towards the apartment


'Well, that was a long night.'-Shinji thought as he woke up and saw naked Asuka laying on top of him with a childish smile on her face. He quickly got up as silently as he could so that he wouldn't wake her up. He grabbed a fresh set of clothes and underwear before making his way towards the bathroom, as the door closed Asuka finally woke up and immediately frowned seeing that Shinji left before her. Who meanwhile was finally done with morning toiletries, humming to himself he opened the door and was a bit frightened what he saw

"Ah! Rei!"-Shinji jumped up almost letting go of the pile of clothes, seeing Rei wearing only a plain white T-Shirt

"Hello brother."-Rei said in her monotone voice as Shinji let her through. As she closed the door Shinji let out a sigh, there was also the planned confrontation. Of course he considered his mother a witch. But even though he was a man who was pretty sure that his hate towards someone was always 100 percent, even he could admit that his mother wouldn't be lying in that situation. His train of thought was then suddenly cut as he saw Asuka standing in front of him with a raised eyebrow

"Oh, good morning."-Shinji said as Asuka only walked up to him before kissing him on the cheek

"Morning, so what's for breakfast?"-Asuka asked as Shinji turned towards the kitchen and then towards the door of Misato's bedroom

"All will be answered in 3,2 and 1."-Shinji said as the door to the bedroom opened to reveal Misato wearing her home clothes

"Mornin…"-Misato said letting out a yawn as Shinji pointed at the kitchen

"So, what do you want for breakfast?"-Shinji asked as Misato's still barely active brain came up with an answer and stuttered out in a way that Shinji only understood

"Toasts…and eggs?"-Shinji asked as Misato nodded

"And lemme guess…Fetch you a beer?"-Shinji asked as Misato nodded rapidly, he then made his way to the kitchen and began his work. After 25 minutes or so all the inhabitants of the Katsuragi apartment had sat down for breakfast

"Well, how was the movie yesterday?"-Misato asked as Shinji gathered water in his mouth, 'well shit'-he thought as then Asuka spoke up

"Pretty good comedy, had a lot of laughs."-Asuka quickly averted the disaster as Shinji let out a sigh of relief

"Good for you, I don't have much time for going to cinemas anyways. Only tv for this gal!"-Misato said pointing at herself as then she thought of another question

"And how was the track yesterday? Since you came back so late I didn't have an occasion to ask?"-Misato asked as Shinji finally had something he could speak about

"Well nothing much, just broke my personal record. 1:04,56. It may not be a lot but according to Miyuki-san it would be enough to take the pole in the last year's race"-Shinji said as Misato then turned towards him

"Well that's good, at least you'll have a higher chance of breaking through if you manage to snatch a pole in your first race. And if you managed to turn those poles into wins it could be a ticket to racing in Europe for some mid-field team. Since your contract is flexible enough. That's until FIM will ban cigarette branding and you won't bring any money."-Misato said as Shinji spat out water from his mouth

"Come on Misato, don't make me afraid! Besides there is little to no chance the FIM will actually ban cigarette branding! Do you know how much money companies like Phillip Morris or British American Tobacco bring to Motorsport?"-Shinji asked as Misato chuckled

"Don't worry, I'm sure that even if they do ban them you'll manage to secure a sponsor in one way or another. That is until you lose one by getting in a fight."-Misato said as Shinji sighed

"Mayumi is a great agent, she teaches me how to be "Polite" with important people."-Shinji said as Misato and Asuka chuckled. And so they continued to eat, chit-chatting about anything that came to their minds. Weather, anime, school, even food. And seeing this Shinji couldn't help but smile. 'Well then, that feels like a nice break.'-he thought as he washed the dishes before taking his backpack and leaving for school. Awaiting another day and what challenges it would bring


A/N: Another chapter done! This time we focused a bit more on Shinji's upbringing as a professional rider rather than just a street racer. Henceforth we took a little turn away from the main story. However, the next chapter will not only return its focus onto SELLE but also set up Bardiel and the arrival of Unit 05 to the story. But until then see ya!