Sokila had a little frown on her lips.
"...hmm..."
Her toes were wiggling with anxiety.
"...hmm..."
Her feet began kicking back and forth.
"...HMM..."
Finally, she leapt up, looking at him with a childish intensity.
"I want you to come play with me soon!"
The faint haze of blue began to brighten-
xxxx
/Friday: June 19, 2015/
/Courtyards, Hakone Academy/
Shinji Ikari had grabbed breakfast at a small cafe on the outskirts of the Academy; now, he found himself amongst the many streams of students making their way to the main academic complex.
As he walked along, he couldn't help but overhear a boy and a girl gossiping rather loudly in front of him.
"Ugh, I wish we had the entire week off during the new moon..."
"Let me guess, you're threatening to slack off again?"
"Can you blame me? Classes suck..."
"Maybe if you took up the tutoring sessions that some of the high-schoolers offer, you wouldn't be in your current mess."
"Ugh, don't remind me..."
"Come on, I keep trying to invite you! I'm trying to help."
"So I can watch you fangirl in person? No thanks."
"...well, come on, I can't help it! It's Narukami-senpai~"
"Aw, here we go again..."
Hmm...tutoring, huh? With everything he'd be involved with in terms of NERV and the Metaverse, he could use any advantage he'd get to help him stay ahead of the curve. Maybe I'll look into that later...
xxxx
/Class 2-A, Junior High Branch, Hakone Academy/
Third period rolled right along, as the science teacher - Koji Takao - elaborated on his lesson. "Man, strange stuff always happens during the new moon, it seems!" His bald head, pronounced black beard and goatee, and gruffly boisterous voice didn't give off the image of an astute scientists...nor did the old-fashioned ship captain's uniform he wore, fit for something out of the 19th century. "That giant cross of light was so incredibly red...I can only imagine the type of material that could have made it that color! Given that we've just finished talking about how light is both a photon and a wave, maybe we should give a little baby intro to spectroscopy!" He scanned the classroom. "Hey, Ikari-kun!"
"Yes sir?!" exclaimed Shinji.
"Why do you think that big ol' cross was such a vibrant red color?"
"...um..." Come on, I JUST read about this last night!
"Going once, going twice..."
"Um...! It's...because it absorbs all other light except red...?"
Takao-sensei grinned widely. "Good answer! Yes: although the physics are way too complicated for this grade, the long and short of it is that depending on the material - and the light source itself, of course - different colors will reflect off of it in the visible spectrum of light!"
Shinji resisted the urge to slump in his seat. Whew...
"Makes me wonder about where that light came from...maybe it was something with a bunch of strontrium. Or rhodochrosite! Or, you know, blood, but that's a boring and stereotypical answer." Takao-sensei huffed. "But speaking of something that's not boring..."
And so classes continued.
xxxx
"...did I do something wrong to Suzuhara-san...?"
Shinji's question prompted Kensuke Aida to stop sipping his miso soup. The ambience of chattering students was omnipresent, but subtle enough for them to speak quietly and still be heard. "...whaddya mean?"
He briefly glanced at the other side of the classroom; Suzuhara was calmly eating among a small group of more athletic students, not really participating in whatever their animated conversation was about. "It's just...I know that he's been sore with me because of everything with Tomochika..." Wow, way to talk so casually about someone who's dead, he vehemently thought to himself.
"You know, I've kinda been trying to catalogue your facial expressions-"
"Wait, what? Why?"
Kensuke continued on as though he hadn't been interrupted. "-and I've noticed there are points where you look irritated with yourself. You're doing that right now."
"...sorry...?"
"Not sure what you're apologizing for, but go on!"
"...um...well...even after that...he seems to be looking at me differently now." He wasn't quite sure how to describe it. He almost wanted to say fear...but why would Suzuhara be afraid of him? Then again, there was the whole monstrosity of soul and mind that was Evangelion...was that it? Was that really it? "...I didn't want it to get like this..."
Kensuke eyed him keenly. "Well, being the resident expert on Toji Suzuhara, I honestly think he needs to get over himself. But just telling him that will tick him off, you'll get apologetic, that'll only make him more annoyed...truly, a vicious cycle."
"...you don't have to make it sound like that-"
"However, I think I have an idea of how to get him to stop giving you the cold shoulder!" Heartily gulping down the last of his soup, Kensuke promptly stared him straight into the eyes. Like, uncomfortably so. "Tell me, Ikari: have you joined an athletic club yet?"
Shinji blinked, having not expected that answer. "...was I supposed to?"
"Just answer the question!"
"No...?"
Kensuke smiled wickedly. "Good. So, here's what you'll do..."
After the boy finished his explanation, Shinji was justifiably skeptical. "...I don't know if that'll work..."
"Oh come on, it's foolproof! Have I ever steered you wrong?"
"..."
"...you don't have to answer that question."
xxxx
"...the hell are you doing here?" asked Toji Suzuhara, staring rather pointedly at what was surely a very unlikely sight: Shinji Ikari, in a track suit, where the track team was practicing outside.
There's no way this is going to work, thought Shinji, morose at what a waste of time this was turning out to be. Why do I keep listening to Aida-san?
Fortunately, the other boy besides him didn't seem to notice how sullen he was. "Oh come on Suzuhara, it ain't a bad thing for more people to join up!" exclaimed the boisterous head of the track team, slapping Shinji just a bit too hard along the upper back. "The little transfer student should be applauded! Having the guts to join the track team, knowing all the rumors?"
...wait, rumors?
"Hell," continued the brash boy, "if only more people had balls like that!"
"That's sexist, captain!" yelled a short-haired girl as she ran past them, amidst a gaggle of co-ed student-athletes as they did laps around the track.
"No it's not! I use it for everyone!" he yelled back.
Seriously, what rumors? "...um..."
"Don't think he knows what you're talking about, Cap'," muttered Toji, face scrunched up into a mulish expression.
"Aw, nonsense, everyone knows how grueling our practices are! There's no way anyone's that ignorant!"
...um. Shinji felt like correcting the head of the track team, because apparently he was that ignorant. Maybe I should pay attention to gossip more...? But then, everyone always complained about gossip, so why bother paying attention to it?! Argh...
"Anyhow, you seem like you know the kid. He in your class, Suzuhara?"
Toji huffed out of resignation. "He's actually one of my roommates at the dorm."
"Well that's fantastic! You've got the honor of putting the newbie through the paces. But don't you dare go easy on him!" With a flashy grin, the captain sprinted off towards the rest of the track team, eager to perform whatever drills he had in mind. At that point, Shinji and Toji were alone, staring each other down under the glow of a setting sun.
The awkwardness quickly reached unbearable levels. "...uh-"
"Did Ken put you up to this?"
"...yes."
Toji snorted. "Figured." He inhaled. Exhaled. Inhaled. Exhaled. Very, very loudly. "...look, I know you don't want to do this. If you wanna leave, then go. I'll make up an excuse for the Captain. You don't have to join the track team just because Ken tried to rope you into one of his harebrained schemes." The boy turned on his heel, showing him his back in a manner just slightly less evocative than yelling at him to get lost. "So get out of here."
"...but..." Shinji's right hand twitched.
xxxx
Another place. Another time. Familiar...in a sad and impotent sense.
A fist had driven him to the ground, born of anger.
He spoke back with words of frustration, but couldn't bear to look into the face of his attacker...or rather, he lacked the courage to do so; it was easy to say words, when you didn't have to look into the face of those who heard you.
With reborn irritation, he was pulled back up by the scruff of his shirt collar, only to be punched down once more...
xxxx
His right hand curled into a fist. "...but...I think I wanted to come here."
Toji glanced over his shoulder, an odd look on his face. "Eh?"
I...mustn't run away. "...I'm not going to run away..."
"...are you trying to pull my leg? You're at the track team. We're literally all about running!"
"...oh. Um..." Shinji so very dearly wished he could crawl into a convenient hole right now. "...it's...a figure...of speech?"
The taller boy looked entirely unconvinced. "...whatever. Just...if you're actually gonna stick around, then follow me." With those words said, Suzuhara took off jogging.
Blinking out of confusion, Shinji defaulted to following Suzuhara's 'order', and took off after him.
xxxx
As Toji Suzuhara kept a brisk pace, he resisted the urge to look back at the kid following him. He could hear his roommate's footsteps behind him, so it made his decision easier to justify.
Because, quite frankly...he didn't know what the hell to think.
Was it unfair of him to lump so much grief on Ikari for simply transferring in after Tomochika's death? To be honest...yeah. If he had to be upfront about it, he could admit that to himself. Probably not to anyone else, but himself? Sure.
But it had made it easier to deal with all the crap that had been churning inside of him.
Then there had been the most recent new moon.
(That morning, before classes had begun, Ken walked towards him with the most severe stink eye in the history of ever. "I'm still tired after being at NERV for two days...so I'll just say this." He lightly bonked him on the head. "What you did was stupid. And after my recent lapses of judgment, I've become a bit of an expert on what counts as stupid." He bonked him on the head again. "Don't do it again." And then Ken promptly sat down at his desk, leaving Toji to blink dumbly.)
Which...well, for however many times Ken could get on his nerves, he had had a point.
But at the time, the utter need to grieve had dominated everything else...including his sense of self-preservation.
Which led to why he was currently trying his damnedest to stay away from Ikari, because the kid had popped out of the friggin' sky without warning! And...the look in his eye...
(Resignation had given way to fear, as Ikari had landed between him and the Ghosts. Then, he had spawned some strange purple demon...and then that look of piercing yellow. "Get out of here," growled the beast wearing the skin of a young boy.)
...yeah, not exactly something he had fond memories of. Ikari had looked...well, terrifying.
And why the hell had the other footsteps stopped? "Hm?" Slowing to a controlled stop, Toji looked back over his shoulder, only to blink dumbly: the newbie had collapsed into a boneless heap along the side of the track. "...you serious?" And now there was this! How the hell was he supposed to square such a monstrous figure with a kid so lacking in cardiovascular stamina?! "...you are serious." It didn't make any sense.
"...I've...never...really...sprinted...before..." gasped Ikari, his hair already slick with sweat.
"Clearly," grumbled Toji, lacking any heat in his voice. Even if it didn't make any sense...it made him seem lesser. Smaller. More...human. "...you're kind of supposed to pace yourself."
"...I'll...do...that..." Slowly rising to his feet, Shinji Ikari trying to look determined. The unsteady legs put the lie to that.
"...whatever. Let's keep going." Trepidation and unease had given way to morbid curiosity. What the hell are you trying to prove?
xxxx
Not even an hour later, Toji had a frustrated grimace on his face. "Seriously, what the hell were you trying to prove?" he growled, carrying Shinji Ikari in a fireman's carry across his shoulders.
"...s'ry," murmured an embarrassed Shinji.
"Bad enough you pulled a total rookie move of running so long you literally can't move your legs, but the fact I now have to friggin' carry you back to the dorm?!"
"...sorry."
This was only going to start more rumors. He just knew it. Well...in for a yen. "You didn't answer my question. Why follow whatever scheme Ken cooked up?"
"...had...to...try...couldn't...run...away..."
"...you don't make any sense." The kid could pull a freaking monster out of himself. If he wanted to, he could probably kill him without even thinking about it. So why bother with something as basic as the track team? "Why?"
"...zzz..."
"...and of course he falls to sleep." Typical. His legs are gonna feel like hell tomorrow. "...I really don't get you at all," he said aloud to himself.
Ikari was still sleeping by the time he got back to Room 23 of the Izanagi Dorms.
Kensuke raised a panicked eyebrow. "Did you two get into a fight?!"
"No, there was no fighting at all."
Kaworu Nagisa happily clasped his hands together. "I'm so happy for you two!"
"Damn it, it ain't like that either!" With a grumpy grunt, he slowly dropped Ikari onto his bunk; such was his exhaustion that the boy didn't even budge. "He just tuckered himself out running."
"...wait, he actually joined the Track Club?" exclaimed Kensuke, looking honestly perplexed.
"Well yeah, the way he talked, it was your idea."
"I thought he would waffle and turn it down at the last second! I mean, it's not like I haven't given him more than enough reasons to question my ideas!"
"Then why the hell would you suggest it?!"
"I don't know, I was just tired of the two of you being mopey and crap!"
"And your idea was to have him join the track team? This ain't a sports anime, you idiot!"
"Come on Toji, I honestly didn't think he would take me up on the offer, I had like five better plans in the wings!"
"Well too bad, because now the Cap's not going to let a track newbie out of his clutches, especially one with stamina as crappy as his."
"...you know, I would make a joke about 'who needs stamina when you can fight like an A.T. Agent,' but his stamina could use some work if only one practice reduced him to this."
Toji snorted. "Nah, that was just him being an idiot and literally running himself into the ground. Besides, it's not like you've ever tried out for the track team, so who the hell are you to judge?"
Kensuke cheekily grinned. "An intern with NERV, that's who!"
The back-and-forth elicited a cheerful smile from Nagisa. "Ah, it feels so wondrous to have this level of energy in the dorm again~"
And all the while, Shinji snored away, blissfully ignorant of everything.
xxxx
END OF 6/19/2020
xxxx
/so Shinji's knowledge has grown to Rank 2 (from So-So to Studied)
/and he has reached one of the best parts of any Persona game
/the part where the Protagonist has free reign to pursue his social activities
/until the Plot inevitably rears its head again
/which gives the added benefit of some short Slice of Life chapters for a while