This time, Sokila wasn't there.
"I have been watching her dutifully, Master."
Instead, it was a tall man with silver hair slicked back, wearing black pants and a coat colored various shades of blue.
"...no, there is no sign that she recalls prior instances. It may be another one of those cycles."
The small hat atop his head was rather interesting; why did it bring to mind an attendant from an airplane or hotel?
"...yes, I am being objective, Master. I would much rather..."
The man trailed off, looking back over his shoulder with shockingly yellow eyes.
"Oh? Pardon my ignorance, but it's rather rude to eavesdrop."
The faint haze of blue began to brighten-
xxxx
/Monday: June 22, 2015/
/Courtyards, Hakone Academy/
Shinji Ikari yawned as he walked along, trying to shake off the fog of sleepiness still clinging to him.
That was probably why he didn't realize it as a female classmate walked up alongside him. "Good morning, Ikari-san."
"Oh, good morning, Yamagishi-san," he responded with a surprised blink. He hadn't even noticed her approach.
"How was your weekend?"
"...very busy."
"Ah, I see...did you have the chance to do any more reading?"
"...not really?"
"Oh...was it because of your...other work?"
"...kind of, yes."
"Ah..." She didn't have a follow-up question. As such, they walked in a kind of awkward silence for the rest of the length of the courtyard. "Well...see you at the Literature Club?"
Shinji pondered the Mission Board, and mentally grimaced at the time constraint he was now under. "...I can try?"
"Well, if you can't that's okay! I don't want you to feel pressured..."
"No no, you don't have to apologize!"
And so they departed for their respective homerooms in a piddling flicker of awkward energy.
xxxx
/Class 2-A, Junior High Branch, Hakone Academy/
As first period's lessons continued, Kōzō Fuyutsuki loosed a frustrated sigh. "While I'm on the topic of etiquette, I had dinner with a number of my younger colleagues last night. Even years later, it still boggles the mind as to how quickly tipping has become socially acceptable. Alas, it is ever the nature of culture to change, and sometimes overriding moral concerns can cause a shift in social norms..." He gestured toward the map of Japan sitting on the wall. "You may be too young to remember, but there was an exceptionally severe Angel Syndrome incident in 2004 that struck the city of Nagoya. Between the Acolytes and the subsequent Ghosts, over twenty thousand people lost their lives over the course of three days. With Japan still recovering from the ravages of Second Impact, the ability of the average citizen to contribute financially was severely reduced." He quickly jotted down the names of several restaurants on the board, none of which were local to Tokyo-3. "In the midst of the recovery, there was a particular event at a certain cafe: a young child, in their typically naive manner, left a large bag of coins after their family finished eating. The way eyewitnesses described it, the girl just wanted to do her part to help people out, providing her meager savings of not even one thousand yen. But in the eyes of some, it had been interpreted as a rather large tip...now why would this have been deemed problematic, Horaki-kun?"
"Sir! It would have been seen as a criticism of the service of the restaurant staff."
"Correct. Good service and good manners have always been deemed as the minimum expectations, so a tip could be seen as an insult to their quality of work, or even to their own employer's ability to provide. However, the restaurateur of that cafe - one Nozomi Suemitsu - identified it as a potential opportunity for good PR. He publicly lauded the child's generosity and charity, and praised the family for how well they had raised their child. A cute story, and one that might have been confined to Nagoya...were it not for Suemitsu's wife. Would anyone happen to know who that was? Kuwahara-kun?"
"That would be the superstar sensation Hana-Hana-Ko-Tani-Tani!" answered a peppy girl.
"...I believe that was her idol name, based off of her maiden name of Hanako Ohtani, but close enough. Suemitsu's wife used her influence to 'advise' young children to be generous whenever they went out to eat. Back then, some considered it a rather garish way to make her husband's PR tactics seem less crass, but one can't underestimate the influence of an idol amongst the youth. It spread like proverbial wildfire...and the government didn't have much to complain about, because it distracted people from far more depressing matters. Within a matter of years, tipping came to be seen not as an insult to the quality of service, at least within the food service industry, but rather an opportunity for patrons to show their gratitude and generosity. Nowadays, it can even be considered rude to reject a tip, because it can come across as being ungrateful for your customers' charity." The old teacher sighed, leaning against his desk. "It still seems somewhat bizarre to me, but it does provide an insight as to why Confucius considered etiquette to be so fundamental: the day-to-day interactions among people in society shape and form morals in far-reaching ways...which, to bring us back on topic..."
Huh. Interesting, thought Shinji as he continued taking notes.
And so classes continued.
xxxx
As the end-of-day clean-up winded down in Class 2-A, Shinji Ikari found himself in a bit of a dilemma.
For one, he had until the end of the month to perform four more missions. The consequences of not doing so hadn't exactly been made clear, but he didn't want to chance anything.
However, there was the fact he had Literature Club today...and Track Club as well, judging by the impromptu text that had come his way during lunch.
TRACK TEAM: This is your reminder that the Track Club meets today after school.
It had honestly been surprising.
(Toji Suzuhara had looked up from his tray of food with an arched eyebrow. "Oh. That? Lots of clubs send out text reminders for the days they meet. The Cap probably got your number from the Faculty Office. Doesn't your...Book Club, or whatever, do the same?")
As a matter of fact, no they didn't. Hence his current dilemma. Do I do a mission...go to the Literature Club...or go to the Track Club...?
"You look like you're thinkin' real hard there, Ikari."
Shinji glanced over at Kensuke Aida, who had a wry smile on his face. "Aida-san?"
"The look of someone who's faced with a choice...truly, there are many who have been in your shoes! Fortunately, I have a solution for you." With aplomb, the bespectacled boy withdrew a ¥100 coin. "Flip a coin, and whatever side it lands on, you make your choice about what to do!"
Shinji blinked as he was handed the 100-yen coin; it wasn't exactly a method he had utilized before, but it at least seemed fair. Okay...if it shows the numbers, I'll do a mission. If it shows the sakura blossoms, I'll go to a Club. Then he'd flip again to choose between the two Clubs! I wonder why I didn't try this out sooner...? With simple confidence, he flipped the coin.
Instead of going straight up, it veered way left...out of a window that had been opened up to air the classroom out during Cleaning Time...and down below, beyond the view of the second floor window.
"..."
"..."
Distantly, there was a brief echo from an excited student. "Sweet, a hundred yen!"
Kensuke dryly stared at Shinji. "...so, what choice did that outcome entail?" he snarked.
Shinji looked back at his roommate with an apologetic expression.
xxxx
/New Mikasa, Outskirts of Hakone Academy/
"Seriously Ikari, it was just a hundred yen," remarked Kensuke, his chopsticks delving into a bowl of yakisoba. "You didn't have to foot the bill for dinner."
"I know, I know, but it was the only thing I could think of doing!"
"...let me guess, you having issues with Time Management?" Somehow, Kensuke managed to nail the emphasis on those last two words.
"...a little, yes."
"Man, your old school must have been laid back."
"Not really..." He had only had one club to deal with, back then! And the Farming Club had been relaxing! "It's two clubs, and everything with NERV..."
"...a fair point. Track Club on top of Literature Club is probably pretty hefty given everything you've got with NERV."
"...joining the track team was your idea," he pointedly reminded him.
"Hey, in my defense, I never expected you to actually go along with it."
"...then why did you suggest it-?"
"Hey, the past is the past! Eat up before your noodles get cold."
As they neared the end of their yakisoba, Kensuke asked "...so. How are you coping?"
"...coping?"
"With everything." Kensuke rubbed a hand through his sandy hair, a frustrated grimace on his face. "I mean, I feel like I'm getting overwhelmed with being a NERV intern. Here I am, thirteen years of age, stuck doing catch-up work for Dr. Akagi, getting trained by Ayanami-san..."
"...well...isn't this what you wanted?"
"...not exactly how I envisioned everything going down." Kensuke sighed, leaning back against the back of the booth. "It's cool I've got a Persona, don't get me wrong...but dealing with all of the baggage is a real downer."
"...why wouldn't it, though?" The Anti-Terror Task Force were treated as guardians by the world at large, and everything he had witnessed involving NERV just screamed 'important'; nothing like that would have come without baggage. Even the lone teenager he had encountered amongst the A.T. agents - Goro Akechi - had behaved with a maturity beyond that of a high school student. "I mean, it's not like we can just skip school to work with NERV full-time."
"I actually looked up the finer legal points of my contract, and researched the Cognitive Service Act and the Child Soldier Laws for comparison; as a registered Persona user, I'd officially be able to leave school and become employed full-time with NERV if I wanted to...but that would require legal permission or emancipation from my dad. And there's no way he'd be onboard with that." The bespectacled boy winced. "It was awkward enough having to talk with him about it the first time..."
"It?"
"You know...ending up in the Metaverse, becoming an intern with NERV without telling him...stuff like that."
"...wait, how did-?"
"Well, it was either agree to become an intern for NERV so my past experiments would retroactively become legal, or deal with the possibility of fines and jail time if I broke the NDA they would have put on everything. Given that you're my roommate, and given...well...me...I don't think I would have been able to deal with it. Would've ended up breaking the NDA sooner or later," he admitted in a self-deprecating manner. "Not like I actually thought much about it before agreeing."
"...wouldn't your father have been able to stop you?"
"If it was before Second Impact, sure. But given the laws passed since then, parental consent isn't always required for a legal contract in certain lines of business if the kid in question meets certain qualifiers. And you're lookin' at one of em'." Kensuke grinned, even if there was a strange - painful? - tinge to it. "Dad wasn't pleased, to put it lightly."
"...want to talk about it?"
"Eh, not really. It's not exactly the topic of polite conversation, you know?"
"...I guess so." After all, it's not like he would've been able to talk about his interactions with Gendo Ikari to...well, anyone. "...you're not in trouble, are you?"
"You mean, more trouble than I've already gotten into?"
"...yes, I guess?" It's not like he had been hoping for Aida to get in trouble to begin with...
Kensuke chuckled. "Eh, don't worry about me Ikari. I'm managing to make do." With a satisfied sigh, he ate the last of his noodles in a big bite. "Ya never answered my question, you know?"
"I didn't?"
"About how you're coping."
"...I'm...managing." That was about as honest he could be about it. "...it'd be harder, if it was just me. So...even if it's tough...I'm glad that you and Ayanami-san are able to fight alongside me." Gah, that sounds so selfish. "I'm sorry if that sounds selfish..."
"Eh, it's no big deal. It's not like I can complain about being selfish to anyone, least of all you." The boy sighed wistfully, a distant look in his eyes. "...wonder how mom handled it..."
"...do you want to talk about it?"
"...maybe another time." Kensuke clapped his hands together, a grateful grin on his face. "Thanks for the meal, Ikari."
"You're welcome," replied Shinji with a small smile.
"...even if it was kind of overboard for just a hundred-yen coin."
Shinji sweatdropped.
xxxx
/Room 23, 2nd Floor, Izanagi Dorms, Hakone Academy/
Shinji and Kensuke returned to the sight of Toji and Kaworu at their desks, studying away. "Ha, I knew I got to ya!" crowed the bespectacled boy, pointing dramatically in Suzuhara's direction.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up," groused Toji. "Have fun struggling through Aoba-sensei's fine arts recap like normal people...feh, why do we need to know what makes a good 'composition'?" he loudly muttered.
"Art is an important part of human culture," remarked Kaworu, flipping through a thick textbook with his left hand while squeezing a stress ball in his right. "And in these dark days, humanity has a vested interest in promoting a culture that they can aspire to. After all, a dull world would be a very difficult one to live for, hm?"
"...the hell does any of that have to do with a painting's composition?!"
Kensuke huffed with amusement as he shuffled on over to his own desk. "Eh, Aoba-sensei's not that bad. Mogami-sensei, however...she's probably gonna throw some riddles into our word problems." With that said, he promptly pulled out a dictionary and began reading. "You won't foil me this time..."
"...I guess I'll study too," said Shinji, quietly moving over to his corner of the room and gazing at the various books sitting upon it. I wonder what I should focus on first...maybe history? Reaching for the textbook assigned by Hyuga-sensei, he opened up towards a bookmarked section, in the midst of a the chapters dedicated to the Sengoku period. Should make sure I at least know the basics before the class gets too far through Tokugawa Shogunate..."
And so the four boys continued to study into the night.
xxxx
/The Metaverse/
Rei Ayanami was engaged in a far different manner of study.
"Life Drain," intoned her Persona Lilith; streams of white light emerged from the hulking Acolyte's Shadow, reducing its movements even further. With a swift movement, Ayanami leapt towards the monstrous humanoid, whipping one of her iron chains across its masked face. With a furious hiss, the corrupted Shadow began to fade away. No doubt that its origin would promptly suffer a mental shutdown within the real world, followed shortly by death. "Thus ends another," solemnly spoke her Persona.
Rei nodded wordlessly, looking around in silence; she had deployed to a remote region of China, in a rather rural area which served very little in the way of strategic or tactical importance to the world at large. Alas, the chief priest of a rather large Buddhist temple in the province had requested an emergency mission regarding potential Acolyte activity here, simply because he had relatives within the village. Given its isolation, she had really been the only one who could arrive within the allotted time frame, thanks to her...gifts. A world where the countryside between villages and towns is perceived with desolation, she pondered, gazing at the nightmarish formations of rocks and flora that twisted about cracked roads of dirt and gravel, rife with lonely yet ghastly Archetypes; far in the distance, she could perceive a large plateau upon which a peaceful atmosphere clung to an idyllic village. She wondered just what level of social conformity was necessary to render such harmony and tranquility on an entire village of nearly ten thousand people. Such is one of the many ways mankind has elected to survive...
"Survival is not enough, if they cannot live."
"...I am aware," murmured Rei, looking soberly at her other self. "We should..." she trailed off, eyes narrowing with suspicion at a tangle of cognitive bushes. "...depart..." There had been a flash of color. "Come on out."
Out of the bushes emerged a scarred fox, ears twitching every so often. His orange fur clashed dramatically with the apron hung around his neck, which was colored a vibrant red with pink P2 characters adorning it in a repetitive pattern. "Yip!" barked the canine.
"...you were watching me."
"Yip."
"Some would consider that rude."
With a flourish, the fox flicked his tail, producing a green leaf as if from nowhere; the frond glowed with vibrant light. "Yip."
"...your gift is appreciated," she admitted, taking hold of the glowing leaf; crushing it within her hand, it dissolved into a healing aura that restored some of her vitality. "In return...please deliver this message to your 'keeper'."
"Yip?"
She chose her words carefully. "Although his intentions are good, and his anxiousness is understandable...he has been acting recklessly. We still have time for prudence. Perhaps he will take that warning more seriously from you than from me."
The fox tilted his head, brushy tail wagging back and forth in a languid way.
"...but in the meantime, please act with discretion."
"Yip!" With those parting words, the vulpine creature darted away gracefully, moving about the shadowy crevices of the cognitive world with practiced ease...doubtlessly off to perform whatever tasks his master had in mind.
Mister P...if I have been so patient for so long...then so can you. Rei glanced back at her Persona. "Let us return to Japan." With those words, both girl and Persona phased out of the Metaverse, into the threshold between realms.
xxxx
END OF 6/22/2015
xxxx
Author's Note: Shinji's Magician Social Link is now at Rank 2!
Fun fact: that whole lesson about tipping from Fuyutsuki (besides being a way to namedrop a P3 character and a P4 character, wink wink nudge nudge) was spawned from Misato's throwaway line to Pen-Pen last chapter about tipping (that's what I get for writing banter at late hours). To elaborate from user Endfall on the SpaceBattles forums: "Japan is a country where tipping is considered to be rather impolite in most if not all scenarios (there seems to be a small exception for tour guiding, probably because the tour companies that service foreigners are just... resigned to that particular issue with their client's well-intentioned ignorance. They probably have training seminars about it.). Meal delivery is not an exception. It is taken not as a "Well, I think you did so well I want to give you something for your time - thanks a lot for going the extra mile," but as a insult directed at their wages and job title. It is received kind of as if you had - in your own country - snidely said, "Man, your job is so useless they can't even be bothered to pay you, huh? Here, have some pity." And then sneered, and flung the coins in their face with some force. Kind of. It's not as extreme as the example, but the example is the general message conveyed."
Now, I could have simply changed the line...but this method of explaining the change was more fun.
Now, note that the issue of wages was not the impetus for tipping's spread as described by Fuyutsuki; rather, it was a single child's generosity after a tragic event that was leveraged by a cafe's owner for the sake of publicity, which was then glamorised and promoted by his idol superstar wife to make it seem more genuine and less 'crude'.
Although this resulted in the increase of tipping's social acceptability, I doubt this would have resulted in restaurants beginning to short-change their staff in wages, because notwithstanding government action on the defrauding of laborers, that would be a very easy way to lose face. In other words, the cultural shift was away from tipping being seen as an insult to the ability and quality of the restaurant and towards an expression of the patrons' gratitude and generosity (and I'm sure there are numerous little social niceties that have emerged on how to politely tip by now, but that's beside the point). In other words: although tipping is not mandated or expected, its status as a social no-no is significantly reduced.