Part 5
Morning, Misato's Apartment
The sunlight poured in through the apartment's windows as Shinji stood in front of the bathroom door fumbling with his shirt buttons.
"Hey, Mari? Are you almost done in there? We're going to be late for school if we don't leave soon!"
The door opened revealing a Mari with her long brown hair tied back in twintails held in place with what looked to be a pair of A-10 clips and a pair of shiny red half-rimmed glasses replacing the plainer ones she had been wearing the previous day. What stood out more was her outfit.
"Why are you dressed like a Sailor Scout?"
Mari's head tilted in confusion and adjusted her neckerchief and smoothed her skirt.
"I thought that schoolgirls in Japan dressed up in sailor outfits?"
"Maybe in manga, b-but don't worry I'm sure we can get you a school uniform!"
"Wark."
The conversation was interrupted by Pen-Pen waddling his way out of the bathtub and between the two of them. He stopped for a moment to stare at Mari for a second, gave another wark, and made his way to the kitchen.
"That's Pen-Pen, he's Misato's pet penguin."
Mari's familiar smile lit up her face once more.
"Well it's good to know that he's real and that I'm not just seeing things again!"
Shinji just stared as his companion's face deflated.
"I was joking Puppy…although I guess it wasn't that funny."
"N-no, it's just unexpected?"
That seemed to be the right response and the smile returned to the girl's face.
"Yeah, that's me alright! Unexpected. Maybe that should be my middle name instead of Illustrious?"
"I guess so? Illustrious is a good name though."
"Aw, thanks. We better get going though, I don't want to be late on my first day!"
The walk over to the school was surprisingly uneventful and took less time than usual giving Mari's insistence on getting there as soon as they could. Once in the building, they were met by the stares of their classmates. Shinji didn't really like being noticed, but then again he wasn't wearing an outfit different from everyone else's. He wondered if Mari felt the same way, but given how she seemed to be so excitable about everything she saw maybe she just didn't care? He continued to ponder on the nature of his new companion until he felt a sharp tugging on his sleeve.
"Hey, Puppy. Is she the boss?"
Mari tilted her head in the direction of Hikari, the freckled girl was talking to another girl as people filtered into the classroom.
"Who? Hikari? She's the class rep so she makes sure everyone stands and bows to the teacher, makes sure people who are sick get their homework, and…wait are you afraid of her?"
The girl puffed out her cheeks and adjusted her glasses.
"No...it's just that class reps are kinda hardcore disciplinarians, right? I've got issues with authority sometimes, I just don't want to make a bad impression since this is my first time at school with other people and..oh shit."
Shinji turned his head and noticed Hikari walking over to them, making a quick appraisal of his companion's outfit in the process.
"Good morning Shinji, I see you brought someone with you."
She turned to face Mari.
"Hello, my name is Hikari Horaki I'm the class representative from Class 2-A."
Mari gave a short bow which seemed to confuse Hikari and mumbled out a reply.
"I'm Mari. Mari Illustrious Makinami, I'm not signed up or anything and I don't have a proper uniform and I'm sure NERV will take care of everything, but I'm really looking forward to being here thank you."
A familiar look of verbal overload crossed over Hikari's face while she processed everything Mari had just told her.
"Oh, okay you're a new pilot. Well, that's wonderful, I'm sure that everything will be taken care of. Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"
"I guess…I mean that sounds good. Thanks?"
"Hi, I'm Mari Illustrious Makinami and I'm looking forward to getting along with most of you!"
Shinji heard a gulp coming from Kensuke's desk.
"Did you see that she was looking right at us when she said that. We're in deep trouble man!"
Touji shrugged.
"Hey, it's your fault for making fun of her giant robot. Maybe you should beg her forgiveness so she doesn't drive it through your house or bodyslam an Angel into it the next time one shows up."
Ken's voice became more panicked and high-pitched.
"S-she wouldn't do that right? I mean there are rules against that sort of thing. R-right Shinji?"
Given what Mari had said last night he couldn't give a definitive answer. Mari seemed friendly enough but he couldn't tell if that was because she was just being nice or if it was out of some sense of obligation since she felt bad about nearly getting him killed by the skeleton Angel. He also had to admit that after Touji had punched him while Kensuke just watched he'd thought of doing the same thing with Unit-01, but decided that it wouldn't be worth having everyone hate him forever because of it...and Ken just seemed to continue fretting about what Mari was going to do to him with disregard for whatever his response was. Glancing around the classroom he'd noticed that Mari had decided to seat herself next to Rei, who as usual had her nose buried in a book despite the bespectacled girl's attempts to get her attention.
"Hi there! My name's Mari, we met the other day but I didn't really have a chance to introduce myself."
Rei flipped the page of her book and spoke in her usual monotone voice.
"I am Rei Ayanami."
"Hi Rei!, We should be friends!"
The blue-haired girl put down her book and stared at the new girl sitting next to her.
"Why?"
Mari tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"Do people need to have a reason to be friends?"
"That would be a matter of philosophy."
"I...guess so? Well, we're both Eva pilots...and you call Shinji 'Ikari-kun' so you guys must be friends and I gave him a nickname and went into battle with him so I guess we're at least battle buddies which kinda makes us friends. Oh! We're also desk neighbors so that makes us kinda makes us friends by relation?"
Rei stared at Mari for a moment and turned her attention back to her book causing the other girl to let out a noise that sounded like a deflating balloon. A short while after that she took her seat and waited eagerly for the teacher to arrive. Hours later after sitting through a lecture about what life working at a ramen stand was like prior to Second Impact she came to the realization that public education might not be as exciting as books and movies made it out to be. The bell was a welcome relief and as the class started to file out of the room she turned to a rather bored-looking Shinji.
"Please tell me it's not like this every day."
The boy shrugged.
"At least it's Saturday, classes during the week go most of the day. But at least weekend classes mean that we at least have some free time after synch tests."
Mari's shoulders sagged.
"Oh. Goody."
"We'd better hurry because if we miss the train it's a long trip to the GeoFront and Dr. Akagi gets angry if we're late."
"Perhaps I might be of assistance."
The deep, slightly unsettling voice came from a bald, bearded man dressed in a dark uniform that looked similar to the one Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki wore, and perched on his nose was a pair of half-rimmed glasses. He leaned against an idling van emblazoned with the NERV insignia on its doors. Mari let out a happy shout and ran over to hug him.
"Doctor Heck!"
"Hello Mari, would you and your friend like a ride?"
The sunlight poured in through the apartment's windows as Shinji stood in front of the bathroom door fumbling with his shirt buttons.
"Hey, Mari? Are you almost done in there? We're going to be late for school if we don't leave soon!"
The door opened revealing a Mari with her long brown hair tied back in twintails held in place with what looked to be a pair of A-10 clips and a pair of shiny red half-rimmed glasses replacing the plainer ones she had been wearing the previous day. What stood out more was her outfit.
"Why are you dressed like a Sailor Scout?"
Mari's head tilted in confusion and adjusted her neckerchief and smoothed her skirt.
"I thought that schoolgirls in Japan dressed up in sailor outfits?"
"Maybe in manga, b-but don't worry I'm sure we can get you a school uniform!"
"Wark."
The conversation was interrupted by Pen-Pen waddling his way out of the bathtub and between the two of them. He stopped for a moment to stare at Mari for a second, gave another wark, and made his way to the kitchen.
"That's Pen-Pen, he's Misato's pet penguin."
Mari's familiar smile lit up her face once more.
"Well it's good to know that he's real and that I'm not just seeing things again!"
Shinji just stared as his companion's face deflated.
"I was joking Puppy…although I guess it wasn't that funny."
"N-no, it's just unexpected?"
That seemed to be the right response and the smile returned to the girl's face.
"Yeah, that's me alright! Unexpected. Maybe that should be my middle name instead of Illustrious?"
"I guess so? Illustrious is a good name though."
"Aw, thanks. We better get going though, I don't want to be late on my first day!"
The walk over to the school was surprisingly uneventful and took less time than usual giving Mari's insistence on getting there as soon as they could. Once in the building, they were met by the stares of their classmates. Shinji didn't really like being noticed, but then again he wasn't wearing an outfit different from everyone else's. He wondered if Mari felt the same way, but given how she seemed to be so excitable about everything she saw maybe she just didn't care? He continued to ponder on the nature of his new companion until he felt a sharp tugging on his sleeve.
"Hey, Puppy. Is she the boss?"
Mari tilted her head in the direction of Hikari, the freckled girl was talking to another girl as people filtered into the classroom.
"Who? Hikari? She's the class rep so she makes sure everyone stands and bows to the teacher, makes sure people who are sick get their homework, and…wait are you afraid of her?"
The girl puffed out her cheeks and adjusted her glasses.
"No...it's just that class reps are kinda hardcore disciplinarians, right? I've got issues with authority sometimes, I just don't want to make a bad impression since this is my first time at school with other people and..oh shit."
Shinji turned his head and noticed Hikari walking over to them, making a quick appraisal of his companion's outfit in the process.
"Good morning Shinji, I see you brought someone with you."
She turned to face Mari.
"Hello, my name is Hikari Horaki I'm the class representative from Class 2-A."
Mari gave a short bow which seemed to confuse Hikari and mumbled out a reply.
"I'm Mari. Mari Illustrious Makinami, I'm not signed up or anything and I don't have a proper uniform and I'm sure NERV will take care of everything, but I'm really looking forward to being here thank you."
A familiar look of verbal overload crossed over Hikari's face while she processed everything Mari had just told her.
"Oh, okay you're a new pilot. Well, that's wonderful, I'm sure that everything will be taken care of. Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"
"I guess…I mean that sounds good. Thanks?"
"Hi, I'm Mari Illustrious Makinami and I'm looking forward to getting along with most of you!"
Shinji heard a gulp coming from Kensuke's desk.
"Did you see that she was looking right at us when she said that. We're in deep trouble man!"
Touji shrugged.
"Hey, it's your fault for making fun of her giant robot. Maybe you should beg her forgiveness so she doesn't drive it through your house or bodyslam an Angel into it the next time one shows up."
Ken's voice became more panicked and high-pitched.
"S-she wouldn't do that right? I mean there are rules against that sort of thing. R-right Shinji?"
Given what Mari had said last night he couldn't give a definitive answer. Mari seemed friendly enough but he couldn't tell if that was because she was just being nice or if it was out of some sense of obligation since she felt bad about nearly getting him killed by the skeleton Angel. He also had to admit that after Touji had punched him while Kensuke just watched he'd thought of doing the same thing with Unit-01, but decided that it wouldn't be worth having everyone hate him forever because of it...and Ken just seemed to continue fretting about what Mari was going to do to him with disregard for whatever his response was. Glancing around the classroom he'd noticed that Mari had decided to seat herself next to Rei, who as usual had her nose buried in a book despite the bespectacled girl's attempts to get her attention.
"Hi there! My name's Mari, we met the other day but I didn't really have a chance to introduce myself."
Rei flipped the page of her book and spoke in her usual monotone voice.
"I am Rei Ayanami."
"Hi Rei!, We should be friends!"
The blue-haired girl put down her book and stared at the new girl sitting next to her.
"Why?"
Mari tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"Do people need to have a reason to be friends?"
"That would be a matter of philosophy."
"I...guess so? Well, we're both Eva pilots...and you call Shinji 'Ikari-kun' so you guys must be friends and I gave him a nickname and went into battle with him so I guess we're at least battle buddies which kinda makes us friends. Oh! We're also desk neighbors so that makes us kinda makes us friends by relation?"
Rei stared at Mari for a moment and turned her attention back to her book causing the other girl to let out a noise that sounded like a deflating balloon. A short while after that she took her seat and waited eagerly for the teacher to arrive. Hours later after sitting through a lecture about what life working at a ramen stand was like prior to Second Impact she came to the realization that public education might not be as exciting as books and movies made it out to be. The bell was a welcome relief and as the class started to file out of the room she turned to a rather bored-looking Shinji.
"Please tell me it's not like this every day."
The boy shrugged.
"At least it's Saturday, classes during the week go most of the day. But at least weekend classes mean that we at least have some free time after synch tests."
Mari's shoulders sagged.
"Oh. Goody."
"We'd better hurry because if we miss the train it's a long trip to the GeoFront and Dr. Akagi gets angry if we're late."
"Perhaps I might be of assistance."
The deep, slightly unsettling voice came from a bald, bearded man dressed in a dark uniform that looked similar to the one Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki wore, and perched on his nose was a pair of half-rimmed glasses. He leaned against an idling van emblazoned with the NERV insignia on its doors. Mari let out a happy shout and ran over to hug him.
"Doctor Heck!"
"Hello Mari, would you and your friend like a ride?"
