Hikari called after class had ended for the day, "Ikari, can I please see you before you leave?"

Shinji paused as he packed up to confirm Hikari was speaking to him. "Uh, sure." He uttered under his breath.

As the class filed out, Toji stopped by Shinji's desk. "What did you do, Ikari?" He asked.

Shinji shook his head as his eyes scanned the room. "I… I don't know…" Shinji's eyes found Asuka just as the girl was leaving the room. The redhead paused only briefly before exiting, though not looking back at Shinji at all. It made him feel a little crestfallen for some reason.

Once the room was vacated Hikari came to Shinji with the gradebook. "Okay," she said, "Shinji, when's the last time you looked at your grades?"

Shinji felt sheepish, "Um… well…. Not recently…" in truth Shinji had been flying more or less by autopilot; he completed his assignments but otherwise didn't really concern himself with doing well.

"Okay." Hikari said, then seated herself beside Shinji in the vacated desks. She took a breath before saying, "Shinji, you're in danger of failing the class."

"What? H-how?"

Hikari affected an apologetic tone. "Im sorry, but your latest essay assignment was incomplete. Before that, two of your tests were below passing also. I understand you're an Evangelion pilot, and that this…" she averted her eyes, "Really isn't important… but," she looked back at him, "We don't have any rules to give you special treatment. I'm sorry."

Shinji swallowed as he also wondered how Misato would respond to this. "Will…. Will I be expelled?"

Hikari smiled. "It's not that drastic… but…" she said, "It means certain privileges would be rescinded. You would need to meet with me every day for special assignments until your grades improved."

Shinji bobbed his head. That was a consequence he could live with. "Okay."

"Do you want help?" She asked him.

He turned to look at her. "W-what?"

"Do you want my help?" She repeated, "I'm more than happy to tutor you to help you bring your grades up."

Shinji considered her, but then looked away. "You don't have to do that." He knew she was only doing this out of obligation. At best, it was only for appearances.

"Well," Hikari replied, "What if… I want to? it would make me happy to help you." When Shinji's disbelieving gaze looked her way, she smiled and said, "Being class rep is a volunteer position, Shinji. And part of that responsibility is helping students succeed. I want to help you, if you'll let me!"

To be helped, Shinji thought. He had not considered himself worthy of that help in the past, a wretch like him? But… if it made her happy, could he really turn her down? Besides, he could use the help. "O-okay," he said, "What would I need to do?"

Smiling, Hikari said, "We will need to arrange some one-on-one time so I can help you with your assignments. We can stay here after class, you could come to my house, or I could go to yours. Whichever is easiest."

"Do we start…today?"

Hikari laughed, "No, not today, I need time to rearrange my schedule. I want to begin tomorrow, and we meet every Tuesday and thursday? We can stay after school here, or meet after at one of our houses. Whichever is easiest."

"Okay… which do you prefer?"

Hikari smiled. "Im pretty flexible right now Shinji, which is best for you?"

Shinji blinked as he was having a hard time answering her. He didn't know which he felt was best. He blinked again as he tried to consider the others in his household and that quickly decided for him; he didn't want Misato or Asuka to rib him over his inability to function in school. Worse would be if they found out he was going to a girl's house. "U-uhm… I think meeting here is probably best."

"Okay." Hikari nodded firmly. "Let's plan to stay back an hour to start focusing on your work."

"An hour? Does it really need to be that long?"

"I'm afraid so Shinji," Hikari said as she stood from the desk, "You should give yourself time to work. Too short and it won't sink in."

Shinji sighed. "Okay." He pushed himself out if the chair. "I'll see you after school? Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." Hikari replied as she finished packing, "Have a good day, Shinji."

Into the Brambles

Norsehound

Shinji thought about his situation as he made his way back home from school. Before this he had been only a mediocre student, because not much was expected of him. He was not particularly ambitious or driven to any goals, he just was. He fulfilled all that was asked of him but was otherwise left alone.

Here though, excellence was demanded of him. Be an excellent pilot, an excellent student…. An excellent man. If it wasn't for the sake of the people making these asks of him, he would have bulked at their expectations. Shinji wanted companionship though, as much as he would otherwise deny it. And now Hikari, the kind class rep, was one of these people pushing him to be better than he was.

Shinji finally passed through the door into his guardian's apartment. "I'm home!" He shouted. Some one answered, but it was too far away for Shinji to tell who it was. He left his shoes by the door and headed into the apartment.

Entering the kitchen he set his bag down and sighed before getting himself a glass of water. He nearly dropped it when Asuka asked from behind him, "So what did Hikari want?"

Taking a breath to calm himself down, Shinji half turned to answer her, "U-um… she wanted to talk to me about my grades."

"Your grades? Why, are you failing or something?"

Shinji looked back at the sink. "Actually, it looks like I am."

Asuka blinked with surprise. At first a look of concern was on her face, but another look of smug haughtiness replaced it. "Well, well, well," she out her hands on her hips, "I guess the prodigal Shinji-sama isn't so perfect after all, huh."

"I never said I was." Shinji uttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing." Shinji replied and finished his glass. "I'm going to my room now." He said as he grabbed his bag, suddenly unwilling to be her verbal punching bag today.

"You know," she said as he passed, "You could have asked me for help. I DO have a university degree."

And be teased every time you helped me? Shinji thought. "Ah… no, it's all right. I wouldn't want to trouble you."

Asuka scowled. "Hmf." She said and crossed her arms. "Suit yourself. See if I offer any favors for you in the future."

Sure. Shinji dismissed. He said nothing as he left the kitchen and went to his room to close the door. He did not catch Asuka's huff of irritation.

Hikari suppressed a shiver of nervousness as she worked on dinner alone. She had been somewhat shaky all afternoon, ever since the meeting with Shinji.

She was disgusting.

Not that she didn't want to help Shinji, what she said then was still true. But pushing to make sure these tutoring sessions would happen served her ulterior motive just as well as her altruistic one.

She wanted to get closer to Toji without being super obvious, since providing him with lunch from extra ingredients was going nowhere. Tutoring Shinji, she rationalized, would help her with this. She would be able to ask questions about Toji on the sly under the general guise of knowing how Shinji's day was going. She might be able to spend some time with Toji if she managed to get closer to Shinji, also.

Hikari had also focused on Shinji, rather than the questionable class performance of Kensuke, because Shinji was less likely to pick up on Hikari's real motivations. Kensuke was also more likely to tease for teasing's sake, and the last thing she needed was a spotlight on the one nefarious thing she had done in her life.

Hikari felt impure. Soiled. But when she tried to push against and deny what she was doing to Shinji she felt… she couldn't. Her selfish desire to find a way to be closer to Toji didn't want her to abandon this plan of action… no matter how uncomfortable she felt using Shinji, even if it benefited him too.

She resumed making dinner in silence. Her family, preoccupied with their own problems, overlooked how quiet she was that evening.

a/n: back at writing! ive been out of it since about February of '23 after getting Covid. it was hard to come back to writing, though i cant tell if its from nearly a year of eva writing or being exhausted from tbe virus.

Even before that though, it looked like '23 was going to be Hikari's year, with this and now two other drafts with her and Shinji.

Im hoping i can land this as a longer fic. I think apart from United we stand / divided we fall there are many decently written long hikashin stories on (or Ao3 honestly).