As the cicadas chirped in the air and the cars roared with exhaust. Shigen Tei, a transfer student, recently moved to Tokyo-3, A city known for its mysterious and frequent attacks by beings known as "the angels".
"Is that incident back home serious enough that I have to move to a country where I can only read a few Japanese characters?" With all of these wonders and concerns, Shigen headed towards his new apartment which was near the center of the city.
The apartment door creaked as it opened, smells violating Shigen's nostrils. Since there was nothing he was planning to do, he sprung himself onto the bed after an exhausting plane ride from Taiwan and dozed off, wondering about his new school life.
—-
Loud chatting of judgemental peers hovered over him. Sayings such as "What's this guy doing here?" "I can't believe someone from China transferred here, I wonder if his first taste of freedom of speech is treating him well." Illusions of shadowed students got taller and taller as they felt a sense of superiority over Shigen. He felt his body go completely numb and his heart sink into the depths of his chest, choking the pulse out of his heart. Shigen curled up into a ball repeatedly moving back and forth with one plea in his mind.
"Cut that shit out, cut that shit out, CUT. THAT. SHIT. OUT!"
Beep Beep!
The alarm clock blared. It was not a noise of annoyance, but a noise of escape from that dreadful illusion. The morning has just begun.
The lobby felt vacant as Shigen entered his new school, "Municipal Junior High." Very few students noticed him because they were focused on each other, chatting about whatever gossip that was amongst themselves.
Thank god my homeroom is on the first floor.
His gut felt like it was being strangled as he slowly approached the classroom and began to open the door. When he sat down, next to him was a timidly figured boy. The boy was in his own mind listening to some music on his S-DAT Walkman that was bulging out of his pocket.
He looked up at Shigen and took out an earbud. "Hello….."
"Hi… uh what's your name?"
"Shinji...ikari…"
An awkward silence fell between the two while a couple of gazes stared at them.
"Hey, Toji! Have you heard about those transfers?" A geeky-looking blonde boy whispered to his friend.
"What about it?"
"Apparently, both of them came here after the angel attack earlier this month happened? This can't be a coincidence."
"I don't know man…" Toji hesitated
"Though whoever was involved is gonna pay!"
The bell rang as the feeble teacher walked to the main desk. A cordial, pigtailed brunette, who's clearly the class representative, put her hands on her hips and started shouting at the rest of the class to settle down. "All right everyone! Sit down and get ready for class!" She shouted. Students were still chatting and screaming about the latest trends and gossip. Boys were chasing each other around the room while girls were squealing about which guys they liked or just laughing for no reason. "Make me, ms. perfect!" A boy in the back shouted as he threw a paper plane that struck her on the forehead.
"Ouch!"
"CLASS!" the teacher screamed as he threw his fist onto his desk. Everyone went quiet and the class began.
—
"What conspired on that day in Antarctica is known as the Second Impact. An event that led to the sea levels rising. Leading to the eradication of the southern hemisphere…."
Shinji was gazing at the window until his laptop that was in front of him got a notification. He glanced at the text.
"Are you the pilot of the robot?"
He slowly typed:
"Yes."
"EEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The whole class screamed at once and started cornering Shinji at his desk. Two students from the corner of the room glanced. Toji with eyes of rage with the addition of clenched fists. The blonde geek with a suspicious gaze. Both knew.
What or who even is an Eva? Shigen wondered.
Outside of the school, Toji, a blonde boy, and Shinji were standing in the middle of the two school buildings. One for classes, and the other one for other school facilities. Toji's face was rigid like a stone. Eyes squinted, breathing excessively to the point of panting. His fists started to clench so hard that it hurt. Meanwhile, The blonde boy was standing awkwardly. He came out of curiosity about how the fight would ensue.
Toji was ready like a batter. He pulled his arm and struck Shinji with all his pent-up frustration. Shinji fell to the ground with a bruise on his left cheek, not even bothering to get up.
—
Shigen didn't have a fancy meal at lunchtime. It was just an Onigiri with a ham and cheese sandwich from the local convenience store. He was sitting alone under the shade of a tree, overhearing a semi-loud smack and crashing sound around the building. He peered his neck over and noticed Shinji presumably being taunted by a boy in a tracksuit with the addition of a nerdy-looking kid with a similar outfit as Shinji but with a red undershirt and light blue pants.
He ran over and almost tripped on the ground but stopped by only the tips of his toes.
He looked down at Shinji and said with genuine concern:
"Are you good?"
Shinji silently nodded.
"Stay out of this!" Toji angrily responded.
He aggressively picked Shinji up by his collar and punched him once more, plopping him into the ground like he was taking out the garbage.
"Sorry about that. His sister got seriously injured during that Angel attack. That's why he's so riled up" The geek commented.
"You didn't need to say that Kensuke…." Toji grumbled as he stomped on the ground, sand turning into dust.
Toji and Kensuke both walked back inside.
Shinji patted down his pants to get the dirt and grime off from being dropped onto the ground. Another moment of awkward silence commences between Shinji and Shigen.
"... Why did you... intervene?" The timid Shinji mumbled, making Shigen listen intently.
"That's because I don't like seeing anyone get hurt. Even if I don't know them."
The foreign boy reached out his hand with a reassuring smile on his face. Shinji sheepishly accepted the gesture as Shigen helped him up.
Who is this guy? Why did he want to talk to me? Why help me? Shinji questioned internally.
As he was in his thoughts, Shigen interrupted: "I think the bell rang a while ago… Shit! We're late. Come on, let's not be late for the first day."
Shigen gestured to Shinji with his right hand to come with him. Though a quaint angelic voice rang in his ears. He looked behind him and saw a girl in her school uniform with a shaggy haircut and dyed blue hair as light as the sky above them. She also had bandages on one of her eyes and a bandage that heavily wrapped her right arm as if it got completely obliterated by an external force.
"Ikari. We got an emergency call from NERV."
Shinji looked at the girl and ran with her
"Where are you going!" Shigen yelled as Shinji faded from his peripheral vision.
"I can't tell you! It's classified information!" He shouted back.
Shigen ran inside the school building even though he was a couple of minutes late to class.
After being judged by the teacher about how he should've been on time and responsible, he sat down next to Kensuke.
"Do you know a girl with blue hair?"
"Oh. Rei Ayanami. She came here a couple of months before you and the other boy transferred."
"What's she like?"
"I don't know. She doesn't typically talk to the other girls let alone us guys." Kensuke could sense someone's glare behind them. "Snap out of it you two! You're disturbing your education by talking in the middle of class!" The class rep aggressively whispered.
"Geez, can you just let some guys talk?!" Kensuke clapped back. The lecture paused. "Ahem!" The teacher grunted. His eyes stared intensely at Kensuke and Shigen and then turned back to face the board, spouting more information.
"Rei Ayanami… Shinji Ikari… I wonder if they're nice?" Shigen pondered internally as he looked out the window.
—
A sudden alarm blared throughout the whole city as all the students panicked and ran out the door. The old frail teacher slowly followed them, surprisingly not getting trampled in the process.
"Everybody single file line!" Hikari shouted but was drowned out by both the screaming of students and the alarm.
Shigen quickly followed suit.
We're gonna die….
—-—
The shelter was jam-packed with not just students, but adults, elders, and small children filled the giant space up as well. Unlike any fire drill, people were genuinely freaking out.
Shigen huddled himself in a curled position, crammed against a corner. The room was filled with a depressing atmosphere as two stooges, Toji and Kensuke suddenly stood up and walked off.
Shigen turned his head and noticed that the class rep was eating her leftovers next to him.
"Umm…Ms. Class rep, does this… angel thing... happen often?"
She looked up towards him, smiling. "Call me Hikari, but to answer your question, I don't know the answer to that….. sorry.."
"No no no it's totally fine." Shigen smiled back awkwardly
This is FAR from fine! We're being attacked by some unknown thing I don't know shit about!
A loud boom thundered throughout the ground! Screams and sirens intensified as loud gunshots that were larger than life echoed throughout Tokyo-3. Shigen shouted in fear as people started tripping over him.
Out of any after-school activity… this has gotta be the worst one in history….
—-—
After a quick trip to the restroom, Toji and Kensuke walked far from the school campus and entered a green hill near the facility.
"Come on! We don't want to miss out on an Angel battle! It's just like in Gundam!"
Toji rolled his eyes, giving him a jab on the arm. "Dude! My sister is in the hospital because of this robot stuff. How can you be making references right now?"
"But we might see an up-close fight once in our lives! Who knows when the snarky rep will snatch us back to the school!" Kensuke replied.
"If we both get injured I'm blaming all of this on you okay?"
"Sure."
A hovering sound was heard in the distance as the red-looking Angel approached Tokyo-3. Then, a large building-looking contraption shot up from the ground. A humanoid, metallic figure emerged from the contraption. Its eyes glowing yellow, and skin shining purple, getting into a stance, ready for the fight.
Kensuke's grin widened.
"Oooooh boy! We got two contestants in the greatest death battle in history! In the red corner… is the Pokemon crab-looking Angel!"
Toji sarcastically clapped.
"And in the blue corner… is Evangelion Unit-01! The robotic defender of Tokyo-3 designed to eliminate the Angels!"
"Do you think that scrawny guy can pull it off?" Toji asked.
"Let's find out!"
"IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLE!"
The laughs the two stooges produced were enough to hide their fear.
The red-looking being looked straight down at Unit-01. Its neon pink arms flailed around, preparing to strike. Stress flooded all over Shinji's body as he continuously shot with his EVA rifle in hand. Smoke created by the numerous gunshots didn't stop the Angel from continuing its ambush.
"Wow! I guess you don't bring a gun to a robot fight."
Unit-01 immediately got slammed to the ground and thrown into the exact green hill the stooges were hiding in.
Their facial expressions, once joyful, immediately dropped down to expressions of horrific shock. The humanoid machine was only a couple of feet away from them.
A long tube shot out of the back of Unit-01.
"I guess today's my lucky day…. Heh..heh." Kensuke still tried to be positive, his laughter masking the intense stress of the scenario.
It felt like time was stopping as Kensuke was the first one to touch Unit-01's armor, climbing up to the tube object. His heart raced as he prepared to do what he always wanted to do: to go inside a giant robot…. though at what costs?
Once Kensuke and Toji dropped into the hole of the tube, orange goopy liquid soaked their clothes as they fell into the cockpit where Shiniji was. The battle immediately continued.
A couple of seconds went by as Shinji lunged forward with the controls in his hand. The EVA holding a small knife slid down the hill and lunged into the Angel, stabbing its core. Regardless of how far Shinji drove the knife into the angel, it just wouldn't die. Only five seconds remained before the EVA would lose power. Shinji felt useless, wanting to give up.
Thoughts rushed through Shinji's head but one of them stood out.
I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't…..
However, something replaced that mantra with another one. The influence of a boy he met earlier today.
I don't like seeing anyone getting hurt. Even if I don't know them…"
Looking back at the cockpit, that memory was all he needed to finish the job: To save others from being hurt by this angel. With one last hurrah, Shinji roared at the top of his lungs as he made one final stab into the Angel, shifting the knife up and up until at last, the Angel's core was cut in half, causing a brilliant red explosion. The terror had met its end.
Thus, the day was won.