What's better than one normal-sized temperamental redhead that calls you an idiot? How about an uncountable number of tiny temperamental redheads that communicate only by calling you an idiot and have tiny lances created by an ancient precursor civilization? What do you mean that's not better?
NGE: Rise of the Minisukas
- Thread starter Blackunknown
- Start date
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 60
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 5
-
Statistics (5 threadmarks, 14k words)
User Total Blackunknown 5
Sachiel Vs The Germentide
- Location
- United States
There were quite a few things Shinji Ikari was having trouble with today. Such things include moving to a new city, meeting with his estranged father for the first time in three years, and being told by said father to pilot a giant robot to fight a giant alien monster. But currently at the forefront of his mind (in more ways than one) was the searing hot pain piercing through his temple like a railroad spike through his skull. Said pain was delivered via a strange energy lance wielded by the previously mentioned giant alien monster.
A final blast of searing pain shoots through his head and Shinji feels a brief moment of weightlessness before he feels his(the Eva's?) back crash against something, momentum jerking him forwards briefly and making his head feel worse. The pain starts to overcome him as he idly notes that he can't hear Misato, or anyone else for that matter, over the communicator. Consciousness begins to leave him, taking in the sight of the monster looming over the city, mocking him for his failure.
"Is this how I die?" He wonders aloud, unsure if anyone could hear him. "I'm sorry, for failing everyone."
"Anta Baka?"
Near instantly the tendrils of unconsciousness receded as the unknown voice cut through his thought process like a hot knife through butter. That voice sounded close like it was in the entry plug with him. As his eyes refocused on his immediate environment, he found the origin of the voice. Of all the things he expected to see, two eight-inch tall red-headed girls in skintight red suits was not one of them. They were nearly identical, the only thing differentiating the two was that one had an eyepatch and a hat with roundels pinned into it. The one without the hat and eyepatch crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Anta Baka?" She repeated, her tone conveying that she expects an answer. Shinji blinks and contemplates his answer for a short moment before giving his answer.
"Yes?" He didn't mean to phrase it as a question, but between the headache and confusion regarding this situation, he really wasn't working at full mental capacity.
"Anta Baka." The eyepatched girl speaks for the first time, her voice morose compared to the other girl's tone of confidence. Her sapphire blue eye stares at him, her attention focused on his neck he notes, before turning to face the other girl. They then begin to rapidly make gestures and pantomimes at each other, baffling Shinji even further.
"I must be hallucinating or dreaming." He speaks aloud, drawing the attention of the two red-headed tiny girls floating in LCL. "I mean, why else would I be seeing two beautiful girls calling me an idiot after nearly dying to a giant alien." He doesn't notice the two girls blush intensely at being called beautiful. Shinji chuckles a bit at the absurdity of it all. "That's right, I'm going to wake up and none of this will be real, just a crazy dream where-OW!" His rambling was cut off as the uneyepatched girl torpedoed towards him and gave him a fierce kick to his cheekbone. Okay, that pain felt real, perhaps it wasn't a dream.
"Baka!" She screamed at him as the eyepatched girl seemed to be fiddling with something in the console. "Anta Baka!?" She continued as she glared at him while pointing at the screen that displayed the slowly approaching monster, an Angel he now recalled after his mind was (mostly) free of the searing pain.
"I don't understand…." Her eyes narrowed as her glare intensified. "You want me to get back up and fight it?" He tried and was met with a smile and a nod. "B-But I can't, I'll just get beaten up again, or worse…." That was obviously not what she wanted to hear, as her face twisted into a snarl, and she looked ready to go into a tirade before the eyepatched girl swam back and put a hand on her counterpart's shoulder. They stare into each other's eyes, seemingly holding a wordless conversation before both sighed and swam up to take a seat on his shoulders.
"Wh-" He tries to question before a pat on his left cheek brings his attention to the eyepatched girl, who makes a shushing motion and points over to the girl on his right shoulder, who now wielded something that looked like a pointy red tuning fork with a spiral handle. She looked at the screen holding the visage of the Angel, and he noted some text that said 'External Speakers on' before a sonorous war cry erupted from his right shoulder.
"ANTA BAKAAAAAAAAA!"
Misato Katsuragi started at the motionless form of Unit-01, a creeping dread filled her as she wondered if she sent out a young boy out to die. Seconds felt like hours as Unit-01 continued to remain inert, the various techs in the command center screaming out updates around her.
"Cranial plating damaged!"
"Unit-01's communications are down!"
"Pilot's synch ratio is dropping!"
Everything is going wrong, would they really lose the war against the Angels during their first battle? Would mankind fall before it could truly put up a fight? Would she be unable to get the revenge she craved?
"Unit-01's external speakers just came online!" That got her attention.
"What? Did he manage to figure out the activation procedure?" Ritsuko questioned in mild surprise.
"We can figure that out later, I want audio from that area, Shinji might be trying to tell us something we could use!" Misato was hoping Shinji managed to figure out some kind of weakness they could use to fight the Angel, however much a longshot it would be. The audio for the area was brought up, and they waited for something, anything to be spoken by the Third Child. The command center was engulfed by anticipatory silence, only broken by the footsteps of the Third Angel as it drew closer to the inert Unit-01. Finally, Unit-01's speakers emitted a voice, but not the one anyone was expecting.
"ANTA BAKAAAAAAAAA!" A shout coming from a much more feminine voice than what belonged to the Third Child emerged. The silence returned, though it was more stunned than anticipatory. Nobody was quite sure how to react, but odd rumbling served to refocus everyone.
"Is that an earthquake?"
"No, seismic sensors don't detect anything out of the ordinary."
"Oh Gods what is that?!" Attention was redoubled towards the screen as a mysterious red mass was converging towards the battle zone, surrounding the Third Angel.
"Zoom in, I was a close-up of whatever that is," Ritsuko ordered, already preparing a subroutine for the MAGI to analyze this new variable. Patching into feeds of the nearby undamaged street cameras revealed the mysterious new interloper: uncountable scores of small red-headed girls in bright crimson plug-suits wielding two-pronged spears.
"Asuka?" Misato breathed out, recognizing the visage of the Second Child from her time watching over Asuka years prior.
"The Second Child? But that's impossible! And that spear?!" Ritsuko was trying to make sense of what she was seeing and failing miserably, her tablet frozen as well. Apparently, the MAGI were also confused by this sudden development.
The sea of crimson was encroaching upon the Third Angel, who shared in the confusion of this strange situation. Unfortunately for Sachiel, showing a weakness like confusion is just an invitation for an Asuka, no matter how small, to pounce upon you. In but a single moment, the countless mini Asukas converged upon the Third Angel, striking it with their lances while screaming out a discordant warcry of "ANTA BAKA!" Sachiel, now fully aware of the threat these small creatures posed, began striking out against the red tide, it's hand lances striking against the seemingly endless horde.
The NERV command center was once again stunned, this bizarre David and Goliath type fight leaving them at a loss for what to do.
"ANTA BAKA!" A victorious cry was let out as Sachiel was brought to it's knees, it's strikes against the crimson sea failing to do any lasting damage. Soon enough it fell to it's stomach as the Asukas began to engulf it. It feebly reached out towards Unit-01, as if looking for a savior, but no help came, as soon after the Third Angel, Sachiel was drowned beneath the Germentide and was defeated. With their foe defeated, the Asukas began dispersing leaving behind a bloody stain and a very confused NERV command staff.
Shinji Ikari, who had a front-row seat to this show, slowly blinked as he was left in the aftermath of this spectacle. His headache then returned full force, with his body deciding enough was enough and promptly sending him into unconsciousness, leaving behind two concerned and irate Asukas.
At the top of the NERV command center, Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki stared silently at the ensuing pandemonium following the battle against the Third Angel. Their silence continued until Fuyutsuki decided to break it.
"I don't think this bodes well for the Scenario." Gendo could only grumble in return.
A final blast of searing pain shoots through his head and Shinji feels a brief moment of weightlessness before he feels his(the Eva's?) back crash against something, momentum jerking him forwards briefly and making his head feel worse. The pain starts to overcome him as he idly notes that he can't hear Misato, or anyone else for that matter, over the communicator. Consciousness begins to leave him, taking in the sight of the monster looming over the city, mocking him for his failure.
"Is this how I die?" He wonders aloud, unsure if anyone could hear him. "I'm sorry, for failing everyone."
"Anta Baka?"
Near instantly the tendrils of unconsciousness receded as the unknown voice cut through his thought process like a hot knife through butter. That voice sounded close like it was in the entry plug with him. As his eyes refocused on his immediate environment, he found the origin of the voice. Of all the things he expected to see, two eight-inch tall red-headed girls in skintight red suits was not one of them. They were nearly identical, the only thing differentiating the two was that one had an eyepatch and a hat with roundels pinned into it. The one without the hat and eyepatch crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Anta Baka?" She repeated, her tone conveying that she expects an answer. Shinji blinks and contemplates his answer for a short moment before giving his answer.
"Yes?" He didn't mean to phrase it as a question, but between the headache and confusion regarding this situation, he really wasn't working at full mental capacity.
"Anta Baka." The eyepatched girl speaks for the first time, her voice morose compared to the other girl's tone of confidence. Her sapphire blue eye stares at him, her attention focused on his neck he notes, before turning to face the other girl. They then begin to rapidly make gestures and pantomimes at each other, baffling Shinji even further.
"I must be hallucinating or dreaming." He speaks aloud, drawing the attention of the two red-headed tiny girls floating in LCL. "I mean, why else would I be seeing two beautiful girls calling me an idiot after nearly dying to a giant alien." He doesn't notice the two girls blush intensely at being called beautiful. Shinji chuckles a bit at the absurdity of it all. "That's right, I'm going to wake up and none of this will be real, just a crazy dream where-OW!" His rambling was cut off as the uneyepatched girl torpedoed towards him and gave him a fierce kick to his cheekbone. Okay, that pain felt real, perhaps it wasn't a dream.
"Baka!" She screamed at him as the eyepatched girl seemed to be fiddling with something in the console. "Anta Baka!?" She continued as she glared at him while pointing at the screen that displayed the slowly approaching monster, an Angel he now recalled after his mind was (mostly) free of the searing pain.
"I don't understand…." Her eyes narrowed as her glare intensified. "You want me to get back up and fight it?" He tried and was met with a smile and a nod. "B-But I can't, I'll just get beaten up again, or worse…." That was obviously not what she wanted to hear, as her face twisted into a snarl, and she looked ready to go into a tirade before the eyepatched girl swam back and put a hand on her counterpart's shoulder. They stare into each other's eyes, seemingly holding a wordless conversation before both sighed and swam up to take a seat on his shoulders.
"Wh-" He tries to question before a pat on his left cheek brings his attention to the eyepatched girl, who makes a shushing motion and points over to the girl on his right shoulder, who now wielded something that looked like a pointy red tuning fork with a spiral handle. She looked at the screen holding the visage of the Angel, and he noted some text that said 'External Speakers on' before a sonorous war cry erupted from his right shoulder.
"ANTA BAKAAAAAAAAA!"
Misato Katsuragi started at the motionless form of Unit-01, a creeping dread filled her as she wondered if she sent out a young boy out to die. Seconds felt like hours as Unit-01 continued to remain inert, the various techs in the command center screaming out updates around her.
"Cranial plating damaged!"
"Unit-01's communications are down!"
"Pilot's synch ratio is dropping!"
Everything is going wrong, would they really lose the war against the Angels during their first battle? Would mankind fall before it could truly put up a fight? Would she be unable to get the revenge she craved?
"Unit-01's external speakers just came online!" That got her attention.
"What? Did he manage to figure out the activation procedure?" Ritsuko questioned in mild surprise.
"We can figure that out later, I want audio from that area, Shinji might be trying to tell us something we could use!" Misato was hoping Shinji managed to figure out some kind of weakness they could use to fight the Angel, however much a longshot it would be. The audio for the area was brought up, and they waited for something, anything to be spoken by the Third Child. The command center was engulfed by anticipatory silence, only broken by the footsteps of the Third Angel as it drew closer to the inert Unit-01. Finally, Unit-01's speakers emitted a voice, but not the one anyone was expecting.
"ANTA BAKAAAAAAAAA!" A shout coming from a much more feminine voice than what belonged to the Third Child emerged. The silence returned, though it was more stunned than anticipatory. Nobody was quite sure how to react, but odd rumbling served to refocus everyone.
"Is that an earthquake?"
"No, seismic sensors don't detect anything out of the ordinary."
"Oh Gods what is that?!" Attention was redoubled towards the screen as a mysterious red mass was converging towards the battle zone, surrounding the Third Angel.
"Zoom in, I was a close-up of whatever that is," Ritsuko ordered, already preparing a subroutine for the MAGI to analyze this new variable. Patching into feeds of the nearby undamaged street cameras revealed the mysterious new interloper: uncountable scores of small red-headed girls in bright crimson plug-suits wielding two-pronged spears.
"Asuka?" Misato breathed out, recognizing the visage of the Second Child from her time watching over Asuka years prior.
"The Second Child? But that's impossible! And that spear?!" Ritsuko was trying to make sense of what she was seeing and failing miserably, her tablet frozen as well. Apparently, the MAGI were also confused by this sudden development.
The sea of crimson was encroaching upon the Third Angel, who shared in the confusion of this strange situation. Unfortunately for Sachiel, showing a weakness like confusion is just an invitation for an Asuka, no matter how small, to pounce upon you. In but a single moment, the countless mini Asukas converged upon the Third Angel, striking it with their lances while screaming out a discordant warcry of "ANTA BAKA!" Sachiel, now fully aware of the threat these small creatures posed, began striking out against the red tide, it's hand lances striking against the seemingly endless horde.
The NERV command center was once again stunned, this bizarre David and Goliath type fight leaving them at a loss for what to do.
"ANTA BAKA!" A victorious cry was let out as Sachiel was brought to it's knees, it's strikes against the crimson sea failing to do any lasting damage. Soon enough it fell to it's stomach as the Asukas began to engulf it. It feebly reached out towards Unit-01, as if looking for a savior, but no help came, as soon after the Third Angel, Sachiel was drowned beneath the Germentide and was defeated. With their foe defeated, the Asukas began dispersing leaving behind a bloody stain and a very confused NERV command staff.
Shinji Ikari, who had a front-row seat to this show, slowly blinked as he was left in the aftermath of this spectacle. His headache then returned full force, with his body deciding enough was enough and promptly sending him into unconsciousness, leaving behind two concerned and irate Asukas.
At the top of the NERV command center, Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki stared silently at the ensuing pandemonium following the battle against the Third Angel. Their silence continued until Fuyutsuki decided to break it.
"I don't think this bodes well for the Scenario." Gendo could only grumble in return.
Home is Where the Vengeance is
- Location
- United States
The fading sunset illuminates the moving train car with a dull orange glow, the shadow in the corner encroaching further and further as the sun sinks under the horizon. The SDAT in Shinji's hand turns over to the next track, filling his mind with a somber orchestral track he has heard countless times before. He stares out the window at the Tokyo-3 skyline being engulfed by the approaching night and wonders, not for the first time in recent memory, is this a dream? Did he really receive a summons from his father after three years of zero contact, only to be told to pilot an Evangelion to fight a deadly alien monster? Did a duo of tiny redheads really appear out of nowhere after he had gotten brought low by the Angel, only to summon an army to annihilate said Angel? Would he wake up and find himself back in his room at Sensei's, where he would continue to merely exist without a grander purpose?
His musings were interrupted as a flash of lightning cracked across the twilight sky, despite there being a lack of storm clouds, and revealed he wasn't alone in the train car. In the shadowy corner there was a figure, human in shape but unnaturally featureless, it's body a deep black that melded with the shadows surrounding it. Shinji continued to stare at the entity, unsure of how to act and wondering if he should flee from it. Suddenly it's form shifted, revealing two glowing purple orbs where eyes would be and a wide, malicious grin shaped like the crescent moon. Their staredown continued for what felt like an eternity before the sound of the track changing on his SDAT once more broke his attention for a moment, a chance the being took to lunge at him with blinding speed.
His eyes shot open, revealing a sterile white ceiling. His other senses began relaying more information to his brain like the smell of antiseptic, the rhythmic beep of a machine to his side, and the weight and movement(?) of something on his stomach. His brain still rebooting from the odd dream decided to vocalize a recent observation.
"An unfamiliar ceiling." The movement on his stomach stopped, causing him to lift his head to take stock of his surroundings. What he found was the sight of two familiar small redheads staring at him, with a bevy of assorted office goods surrounding them and scattered about the bed he was in. "Huh, so I wasn't imagining you two."
"BAKA-SHINJI!" Twin shouts echoed in what he could now identify as a hospital room, followed by the both of them launching at him and giving either side of his head a fierce but ultimately ineffectual pummeling. As the tiny beatdown on his skull continued he sat up to better take stock of his surroundings, noticing nothing out of the ordinary for a hospital room, save for a security camera that was skewered with a familiar small lance. The minuscule assault upon him abated, and the two girls descended from his head and made their way to the foot of the bed, grabbing some of the office supplies that scattered during his rising and turning to look at him with their arms crossed.
"So…." He spoke up after an uncomfortably long silence. "I realized I never got either of your names?" He hoped they had names, mentally referring to them as 'the normal one' and 'the eyepatched one' would be awkward. Thankfully this seemed to light a spark in 'the normal one', breaking the air of awkwardness, as she grabbed a sheet of paper that had various doodles on it and handed it to 'the eyepatched one'. The paper was held aloft as 'the normal one' put her back to it, hands on her hips and a triumphant smirk on her face. She was surrounded by illustrations of fire and stars and bright, bold letters that dubbed her 'Leader'. Allowing a moment to bask in the glory of the situation, the newly christened Leader swiftly grabbed the paper, turned it around, and held it behind 'the eyepatched one'. On that side of the paper was just the name 'Shiki', with nothing else in the way of decoration.
"Anta Baka?" Leader intoned with confusion as if wondering where the decorations on Shiki's side went. Shiki just rolled her eye, giving a huff of annoyance. Leader took exception to that and began to berate Shiki. Well, Shinji thought it was berating, as all the spoken words were various intonations of 'Baka' and 'Anta Baka' accompanied by exaggerated pantomiming. Still, now that he had names to the faces he could ponder other things like what were these tiny redheads? Why were they hanging around him? Most importantly, why were there billions of them, and did they all have names he needed to memorize oh gods the gravity of the situation was beginning to dawn on him-
Thankfully he was brought out of his thoughts when Doctor Akagi entered the room, and he shelved his dread ponderings concerning the angry Germentide for a later time. "Oh good, you're awake." She spoke with the fake warmth of a telemarketer trying to sell extended car warranties and the tiredness of a student studying for midterms fueled by nothing but cheap coffee. Her eyes fell to the foot of the bed as she glared at Leader and Shiki. "And you have visitors as well. How. Nice." Her tone conveyed that she found it anything but nice. Leader and Shiki turned to look at her, raised a hand each, and proceeded to flip Doctor Akagi the bird, then they went back to their argument. Well, Leader went back to the argument, Shiki ignored her and instead stared at Shinji. Akagi's eye twitched erratically for a moment before turning her full attention to Shinji.
"So, Shinji." She began, trying and failing to suppress the annoyance in her voice. "You're physically fine, though you might experience some residual phantom pain in your head and arm, that should fade within a day. Lucky you." The last part was muttered under her breath. "You should be fine to leave as soon as you're ready."
"Oh. Great. Uh…. How long have I been out Doctor Akagi?"
"Eighteen hours, eighteen long hours." She sighed as she fished a cigarette out of her pocket, lit it, then took a long drag. Shinji considered asking whether it was alright to smoke in a hospital but he didn't want to bother the obviously stressed woman with his dumb questions.
"Alright, thank you, Doctor Akagi, I'll just-"
"Oh!" She exclaimed as if suddenly remembering something. "One more thing, it's not really important but I'd really like to know is where did they come from?!" She pointed to Leader and Shiki whose one-sided argument evolved into a grappling match when nobody was paying attention.
"Leader and Shiki? I-I'm not sure, they just sort of… appeared?"
"You named them?! And they can't have just appeared!" Shinji really did wish he could give her more, but that's all he knows! He tried to remember something he could give Doctor Akagi, but he had nothing. Thankfully a familiar figure entered the room to save him.
"Lay off him Rits, if he doesn't know, he doesn't know." Misato laid her hand on Ritsuko's shoulder and gave her a signature Katsuragi smile. "Perhaps you should get some sleep, unraveling the mystery of the Minisukas can wait until after you've gotten some rest."
Ritsuko turned to glare at her friend. "Stop calling them 'Minisukas'! It's dumb, and not going to catch on!"
"Pretty sure it already has, don't the MAGI refer to them like that now?"
"That's because one of the little gremlins hacked the MAGI and put it there to spite me! I'll find proof they did it, I swear!"
"Sure you will Rits." Misato began pushing Ritsuko out of the room. "But before that why don't you go home and feed your cat, then sleep off all that caffeine and nicotine?"
"They're plotting against me Misato! They look at me like that bitch Yuuko did back in college!"
"Mmmhhmmm, and we can discuss that when you haven't been awake for thirty hours." Misato turned to Shinji before she fully exited the room. "Grab your things and meet me in the parking lot, I'll give you a ride out of here when I've put Rits here to bed." The door closed, leaving Shinji alone with Leader and Shiki, who have since ceased their fight.
"…..Better get changed first." He muttered absentmindedly, realizing he was wearing a hospital gown. He grabbed the spare clothes that someone(he'd have to find out who and thank them later) provided and made to change into them before he realized he wasn't alone. Leader and Shiki were staring at him with rapt attention, causing his cheeks to flush. "Uhhh, c-could you not look? Please?" The two of them seem to realize what they were doing and turned around, their faces red enough to match their suits.
"B-baka!" Leader shouted out in embarrassment while Shiki just pulled her hat over her face to cover her blush. Shinji just sighed as he began to change, his times in Tokyo-3 were certainly going to be interesting at the very least.
Rei Ayanami did not dream as she slept, dreams were a foreign concept to her, only known to her from the whisperings of her classmates. She did, however, remember when she slept. Remember events both large and small, recent and distant, human and 'otherwise'. The 'otherwise' ones were what troubled her the most, she knew she had them, she knew what they concerned, but she could never remember them when she awoke. She once brought this to the attention of Commander Ikari, but he told her not to worry unless she could definitely remember them, in which case it would be brought to his attention post haste.
"…ka." A distant voice diverted her attention from her recollections, as well as the feeling of something on her skin. There was also the faint smell of….. something she was unfamiliar with. Slowly she returned to the waking world, her one uncovered eye slowly opening to reveal… a small Second Child drawing on her face with a marker. The small Second Child appeared to be done with whatever she was doing and stood back with a triumphant smirk….. before noticing Rei's open eye and letting out a yelp of surprise.
"Baka!" Was the word repeatedly thrown at Rei as the Second Child(small) scampered off the bed and towards the door, barreling past the feet of the nurse who was now entering, presumably to check on Rei's condition.
"Oh! Miss Ayanami." The nurse appeared to be having trouble holding back laughter for some reason. "That's certainly a unique look for you." Rei tried to decipher what the nurse meant, but her confusion must have been evident as the nurse produced a compact from her pocket and offered it to her. "Here, this will help." The nurse explained through small fits of light giggling.
Rei took the offered compact and opened it, she had seen how to operate these esoteric tools through observation of her classmates while they were having 'girl talk' with one another (Rei had yet to decipher what this 'girl talk' was about but that is a trial for another day). The mirror within reflected her bandaged visage, and new markings consisting of a long line above her upper lip and a triangle on her chin, both consisting of black ink. "Is this…. an attempt to imitate facial hair?" Rei's question caused the nurse to erupt into a full-blown laughing fit. This produced a new feeling in her, a pinching feeling between the bridge of her nose and her forehead. Annoyance, she surmised. Stronger than she had ever felt it before. Her mind came to the conclusion that this slight should not and would not go unanswered. She was unaware where such a previously bizarre thought came from, but that could be contemplated later.
So Rei Ayanami waited, planning, as her injuries healed. But she did not dream of revenge, for she did not dream, she would merely remember the taste of victory once she obtained vengeance for this slight.
"So….." Shinji started as another turn was performed in ways he was certain were outlawed by international driving law, causing Leader and Shiki to tighten their grip on his neck as they held on for dear life. "Where am I staying exactly?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you? Must've slipped my mind while I was making sure Rits didn't perform a repeat of when she wrote her college thesis." Multiple stop signs were sped past, and a few police cars looked like they started to give chase before seemingly realizing who the car belonged to, and promptly abandoned the idea. "You'll be rooming with me! Neat, huh?"
"Is it normal for that to happen?" He asked, genuinely curious. He thought he heard a muffled "Anta Baka?" screamed into his neck but he wasn't entirely sure.
"Funny story actually, you were supposed to have a room down in the Geofront, but some order got mixed up somewhere during the chaos and you were assigned to live with me." Unseen by the other two occupants of the car, Leader and Shiki exchanged a fist bump before continuing to hold on to Shinji's neck so they wouldn't be sent flying. "They said they could reverse it, but I said don't bother, a bit of company never hurt anyone." A swerve knocked Leader off his neck and caused her to dangle by his shirt collar, he swiftly went to grab her before she could fall, catching her and then placing her in his shirt pocket for safety. He offered to do the same for Shiki, but she seemed content to stay attached to his neck. Leader muttered a thankful(?) "Baka" before hunkering down.
Shinji's attention returned to Misato, who had a knowing smirk plastered onto her face. "Well, it looks like you wouldn't have been alone anyway. You're pretty lucky Shinji, most guys would kill to have two pretty girls crawl all over them~"
"M-Misato!"
"Don't worry Shinji, if you're this good at handling the small one, then the full-sized version should be easy~"
"Wait, what do you mean full-"
"And here we are!" She interrupted as the car pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex. "Grab your things and let's get you set up in your new room!" She got out of the car, leaving behind a dazed trio. Shinji decided that it would be better to just do as she says, grabbed his bag, and began to follow Misato. Shiki was still clinging to his neck like a sailor to a piece of driftwood while Leader was hanging limply from his pocket. There was an unspoken agreement between the three, they would never again get into a car with Misato behind the wheel unless it was absolutely necessary.
Once Shinji regained his balance he followed Misato up to her apartment and was eagerly welcomed inside, he took off his shoes and beheld…. devastation. It was like a hurricane tore through the place, leaving only garbage in its wake, just to taunt his inner neat freak.
"Sorry, it's a little messy-" A little? "-didn't have a chance to clean up." She paused. "Or stock up on food for that matter. Looks like we're getting takeout tonight, any preferences Shinji?"
"Not really…."
"Alright, how do you feel about Vietnamese food?"
"I-uh don't think I've had it before?"
"Perfect time to try it then! There's this place not too far away that has some Pho soup that is to die for. I'll go out and grab some. I shouldn't be too long, so make yourself at home!" She gave him a wide grin and left out the door before he could get a word in edgewise.
He turned to look at the devastation before him and decided exactly what he was going to do. A quick look at Leader and Shiki revealed they thought the same, as they had produced tiny aprons and cleaning equipment from somewhere when he wasn't looking. They nodded at him, he nodded back. They would slay this beast, together, and free this apartment from it's prison of trash. Leader and Shiki began to work as he went to find normal-sized cleaning equipment, and as he searched a single word echoed through his head that brought a small smile to his face.
Home.
His musings were interrupted as a flash of lightning cracked across the twilight sky, despite there being a lack of storm clouds, and revealed he wasn't alone in the train car. In the shadowy corner there was a figure, human in shape but unnaturally featureless, it's body a deep black that melded with the shadows surrounding it. Shinji continued to stare at the entity, unsure of how to act and wondering if he should flee from it. Suddenly it's form shifted, revealing two glowing purple orbs where eyes would be and a wide, malicious grin shaped like the crescent moon. Their staredown continued for what felt like an eternity before the sound of the track changing on his SDAT once more broke his attention for a moment, a chance the being took to lunge at him with blinding speed.
His eyes shot open, revealing a sterile white ceiling. His other senses began relaying more information to his brain like the smell of antiseptic, the rhythmic beep of a machine to his side, and the weight and movement(?) of something on his stomach. His brain still rebooting from the odd dream decided to vocalize a recent observation.
"An unfamiliar ceiling." The movement on his stomach stopped, causing him to lift his head to take stock of his surroundings. What he found was the sight of two familiar small redheads staring at him, with a bevy of assorted office goods surrounding them and scattered about the bed he was in. "Huh, so I wasn't imagining you two."
"BAKA-SHINJI!" Twin shouts echoed in what he could now identify as a hospital room, followed by the both of them launching at him and giving either side of his head a fierce but ultimately ineffectual pummeling. As the tiny beatdown on his skull continued he sat up to better take stock of his surroundings, noticing nothing out of the ordinary for a hospital room, save for a security camera that was skewered with a familiar small lance. The minuscule assault upon him abated, and the two girls descended from his head and made their way to the foot of the bed, grabbing some of the office supplies that scattered during his rising and turning to look at him with their arms crossed.
"So…." He spoke up after an uncomfortably long silence. "I realized I never got either of your names?" He hoped they had names, mentally referring to them as 'the normal one' and 'the eyepatched one' would be awkward. Thankfully this seemed to light a spark in 'the normal one', breaking the air of awkwardness, as she grabbed a sheet of paper that had various doodles on it and handed it to 'the eyepatched one'. The paper was held aloft as 'the normal one' put her back to it, hands on her hips and a triumphant smirk on her face. She was surrounded by illustrations of fire and stars and bright, bold letters that dubbed her 'Leader'. Allowing a moment to bask in the glory of the situation, the newly christened Leader swiftly grabbed the paper, turned it around, and held it behind 'the eyepatched one'. On that side of the paper was just the name 'Shiki', with nothing else in the way of decoration.
"Anta Baka?" Leader intoned with confusion as if wondering where the decorations on Shiki's side went. Shiki just rolled her eye, giving a huff of annoyance. Leader took exception to that and began to berate Shiki. Well, Shinji thought it was berating, as all the spoken words were various intonations of 'Baka' and 'Anta Baka' accompanied by exaggerated pantomiming. Still, now that he had names to the faces he could ponder other things like what were these tiny redheads? Why were they hanging around him? Most importantly, why were there billions of them, and did they all have names he needed to memorize oh gods the gravity of the situation was beginning to dawn on him-
Thankfully he was brought out of his thoughts when Doctor Akagi entered the room, and he shelved his dread ponderings concerning the angry Germentide for a later time. "Oh good, you're awake." She spoke with the fake warmth of a telemarketer trying to sell extended car warranties and the tiredness of a student studying for midterms fueled by nothing but cheap coffee. Her eyes fell to the foot of the bed as she glared at Leader and Shiki. "And you have visitors as well. How. Nice." Her tone conveyed that she found it anything but nice. Leader and Shiki turned to look at her, raised a hand each, and proceeded to flip Doctor Akagi the bird, then they went back to their argument. Well, Leader went back to the argument, Shiki ignored her and instead stared at Shinji. Akagi's eye twitched erratically for a moment before turning her full attention to Shinji.
"So, Shinji." She began, trying and failing to suppress the annoyance in her voice. "You're physically fine, though you might experience some residual phantom pain in your head and arm, that should fade within a day. Lucky you." The last part was muttered under her breath. "You should be fine to leave as soon as you're ready."
"Oh. Great. Uh…. How long have I been out Doctor Akagi?"
"Eighteen hours, eighteen long hours." She sighed as she fished a cigarette out of her pocket, lit it, then took a long drag. Shinji considered asking whether it was alright to smoke in a hospital but he didn't want to bother the obviously stressed woman with his dumb questions.
"Alright, thank you, Doctor Akagi, I'll just-"
"Oh!" She exclaimed as if suddenly remembering something. "One more thing, it's not really important but I'd really like to know is where did they come from?!" She pointed to Leader and Shiki whose one-sided argument evolved into a grappling match when nobody was paying attention.
"Leader and Shiki? I-I'm not sure, they just sort of… appeared?"
"You named them?! And they can't have just appeared!" Shinji really did wish he could give her more, but that's all he knows! He tried to remember something he could give Doctor Akagi, but he had nothing. Thankfully a familiar figure entered the room to save him.
"Lay off him Rits, if he doesn't know, he doesn't know." Misato laid her hand on Ritsuko's shoulder and gave her a signature Katsuragi smile. "Perhaps you should get some sleep, unraveling the mystery of the Minisukas can wait until after you've gotten some rest."
Ritsuko turned to glare at her friend. "Stop calling them 'Minisukas'! It's dumb, and not going to catch on!"
"Pretty sure it already has, don't the MAGI refer to them like that now?"
"That's because one of the little gremlins hacked the MAGI and put it there to spite me! I'll find proof they did it, I swear!"
"Sure you will Rits." Misato began pushing Ritsuko out of the room. "But before that why don't you go home and feed your cat, then sleep off all that caffeine and nicotine?"
"They're plotting against me Misato! They look at me like that bitch Yuuko did back in college!"
"Mmmhhmmm, and we can discuss that when you haven't been awake for thirty hours." Misato turned to Shinji before she fully exited the room. "Grab your things and meet me in the parking lot, I'll give you a ride out of here when I've put Rits here to bed." The door closed, leaving Shinji alone with Leader and Shiki, who have since ceased their fight.
"…..Better get changed first." He muttered absentmindedly, realizing he was wearing a hospital gown. He grabbed the spare clothes that someone(he'd have to find out who and thank them later) provided and made to change into them before he realized he wasn't alone. Leader and Shiki were staring at him with rapt attention, causing his cheeks to flush. "Uhhh, c-could you not look? Please?" The two of them seem to realize what they were doing and turned around, their faces red enough to match their suits.
"B-baka!" Leader shouted out in embarrassment while Shiki just pulled her hat over her face to cover her blush. Shinji just sighed as he began to change, his times in Tokyo-3 were certainly going to be interesting at the very least.
Rei Ayanami did not dream as she slept, dreams were a foreign concept to her, only known to her from the whisperings of her classmates. She did, however, remember when she slept. Remember events both large and small, recent and distant, human and 'otherwise'. The 'otherwise' ones were what troubled her the most, she knew she had them, she knew what they concerned, but she could never remember them when she awoke. She once brought this to the attention of Commander Ikari, but he told her not to worry unless she could definitely remember them, in which case it would be brought to his attention post haste.
"…ka." A distant voice diverted her attention from her recollections, as well as the feeling of something on her skin. There was also the faint smell of….. something she was unfamiliar with. Slowly she returned to the waking world, her one uncovered eye slowly opening to reveal… a small Second Child drawing on her face with a marker. The small Second Child appeared to be done with whatever she was doing and stood back with a triumphant smirk….. before noticing Rei's open eye and letting out a yelp of surprise.
"Baka!" Was the word repeatedly thrown at Rei as the Second Child(small) scampered off the bed and towards the door, barreling past the feet of the nurse who was now entering, presumably to check on Rei's condition.
"Oh! Miss Ayanami." The nurse appeared to be having trouble holding back laughter for some reason. "That's certainly a unique look for you." Rei tried to decipher what the nurse meant, but her confusion must have been evident as the nurse produced a compact from her pocket and offered it to her. "Here, this will help." The nurse explained through small fits of light giggling.
Rei took the offered compact and opened it, she had seen how to operate these esoteric tools through observation of her classmates while they were having 'girl talk' with one another (Rei had yet to decipher what this 'girl talk' was about but that is a trial for another day). The mirror within reflected her bandaged visage, and new markings consisting of a long line above her upper lip and a triangle on her chin, both consisting of black ink. "Is this…. an attempt to imitate facial hair?" Rei's question caused the nurse to erupt into a full-blown laughing fit. This produced a new feeling in her, a pinching feeling between the bridge of her nose and her forehead. Annoyance, she surmised. Stronger than she had ever felt it before. Her mind came to the conclusion that this slight should not and would not go unanswered. She was unaware where such a previously bizarre thought came from, but that could be contemplated later.
So Rei Ayanami waited, planning, as her injuries healed. But she did not dream of revenge, for she did not dream, she would merely remember the taste of victory once she obtained vengeance for this slight.
"So….." Shinji started as another turn was performed in ways he was certain were outlawed by international driving law, causing Leader and Shiki to tighten their grip on his neck as they held on for dear life. "Where am I staying exactly?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you? Must've slipped my mind while I was making sure Rits didn't perform a repeat of when she wrote her college thesis." Multiple stop signs were sped past, and a few police cars looked like they started to give chase before seemingly realizing who the car belonged to, and promptly abandoned the idea. "You'll be rooming with me! Neat, huh?"
"Is it normal for that to happen?" He asked, genuinely curious. He thought he heard a muffled "Anta Baka?" screamed into his neck but he wasn't entirely sure.
"Funny story actually, you were supposed to have a room down in the Geofront, but some order got mixed up somewhere during the chaos and you were assigned to live with me." Unseen by the other two occupants of the car, Leader and Shiki exchanged a fist bump before continuing to hold on to Shinji's neck so they wouldn't be sent flying. "They said they could reverse it, but I said don't bother, a bit of company never hurt anyone." A swerve knocked Leader off his neck and caused her to dangle by his shirt collar, he swiftly went to grab her before she could fall, catching her and then placing her in his shirt pocket for safety. He offered to do the same for Shiki, but she seemed content to stay attached to his neck. Leader muttered a thankful(?) "Baka" before hunkering down.
Shinji's attention returned to Misato, who had a knowing smirk plastered onto her face. "Well, it looks like you wouldn't have been alone anyway. You're pretty lucky Shinji, most guys would kill to have two pretty girls crawl all over them~"
"M-Misato!"
"Don't worry Shinji, if you're this good at handling the small one, then the full-sized version should be easy~"
"Wait, what do you mean full-"
"And here we are!" She interrupted as the car pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex. "Grab your things and let's get you set up in your new room!" She got out of the car, leaving behind a dazed trio. Shinji decided that it would be better to just do as she says, grabbed his bag, and began to follow Misato. Shiki was still clinging to his neck like a sailor to a piece of driftwood while Leader was hanging limply from his pocket. There was an unspoken agreement between the three, they would never again get into a car with Misato behind the wheel unless it was absolutely necessary.
Once Shinji regained his balance he followed Misato up to her apartment and was eagerly welcomed inside, he took off his shoes and beheld…. devastation. It was like a hurricane tore through the place, leaving only garbage in its wake, just to taunt his inner neat freak.
"Sorry, it's a little messy-" A little? "-didn't have a chance to clean up." She paused. "Or stock up on food for that matter. Looks like we're getting takeout tonight, any preferences Shinji?"
"Not really…."
"Alright, how do you feel about Vietnamese food?"
"I-uh don't think I've had it before?"
"Perfect time to try it then! There's this place not too far away that has some Pho soup that is to die for. I'll go out and grab some. I shouldn't be too long, so make yourself at home!" She gave him a wide grin and left out the door before he could get a word in edgewise.
He turned to look at the devastation before him and decided exactly what he was going to do. A quick look at Leader and Shiki revealed they thought the same, as they had produced tiny aprons and cleaning equipment from somewhere when he wasn't looking. They nodded at him, he nodded back. They would slay this beast, together, and free this apartment from it's prison of trash. Leader and Shiki began to work as he went to find normal-sized cleaning equipment, and as he searched a single word echoed through his head that brought a small smile to his face.
Home.
Penguins and Decoy Balloons
- Location
- United States
Shinji wiped the sweat off his brow as he tied up the last trash bag. Despite how bad it looked it didn't take more than an hour to clean up all the errant trash around the apartment, mostly thanks to the help of Leader and Shiki. He considered tidying up Misato's room as well but he didn't want to intrude on her privacy, also a quick look at the room revealed it as a challenge he did not want to undertake without industrial-strength cleaning equipment. He idly wondered what was taking Misato so long, as she said the place she was heading to was 'not too far'. Perhaps she had a different interpretation of 'not too far' than he did, or maybe she hit a bad spot of traffic? Shinji shuddered as he immediately suppressed all thoughts of Misato and driving, not wanting to remember what happened earlier in the day.
Leader and Shiki had already shed their aprons(where those aprons went he had no idea) and began to make themselves comfortable. Leader claimed a chair and a remote and then proceeded to start flipping through channels on the television. Shiki meanwhile had reclaimed her place on his shoulder, laying down with her back to his neck and her hat pulled down over her eyes, giving the appearance of taking a nap. Shinji hoped his movements wouldn't rouse her while he went to unpack his travel bag into his new room. The rest of his belongings would hopefully be arriving soon, assuming they didn't get lost on the way to Tokyo-3.
His musings were interrupted when he heard Leader shout from the living room. Shiki let out an annoyed huff but made no other motion while Shinji went to investigate. He found Leader with her lance out menacing a- "Is that a penguin?" He blurted out in surprise, bringing the attention of the room's other occupants(except Shiki) to him. The penguin ignored Leader and waddled over to him, looking him up and down.
"Wark." It squawked out, raising a clawed(!?) flipper towards him. Years of training on social etiquette drilled into him by his Sensei took hold as Shinji shook the penguin's flipper as if he was meeting a new business partner.
"M-my name is Shinji Ikari, s-sorry to intrude." He bowed to the penguin before realizing his mistake in doing such. From her perch on his shoulder, Shiki started to slip off due to the sudden change in incline. Acting with a speed that surprised even him, he snatched Shiki before she could fall off completely. "Oh! Sorry Shiki, are you alright?" He was surprised when an old, bitter look flashed across her face before she regained her usual morose look.
"Baka." She muttered, before motioning to him to put her down. He obliged and she proceeded to storm off into the kitchen. He stared as she left, wondering what that was all about. He stared at the penguin, who had let go of his hand at this point, in confusion.
"Wark." It offered as he patted Shinji on the back and gave him a look of understanding, before going to grab a beer from the refrigerator and then seating himself in front of the television. Shinji looked to Leader for some clarity, but all she gave him was a shrug and a look that said 'It's not my problem, deal with it yourself' before returning her attention to the television. He could only stand there and think about how bizarre his life had become in such a short time.
Thirty minutes later Misato had returned with the food, though not from the restaurant she had talked about. It and every other restaurant within reasonable distance were closed on account of the recent Angel attack, and they had yet to reopen. Apparently, she was halfway out of Tokyo-3 before she found a Chinese place that was still open. Shinji didn't complain though, food was still food and he didn't mind Chinese takeout, not that he ever had much of it when he was living with his teacher.
"Honestly I'm glad they were open- '' Misato mentioned before taking a large bite of her lo mein. "-as the only other place open was KickDonalds, and I didn't want your victory feast to be crappy American fast food." He nodded idly, though he never actually has had any KickDonalds before so he couldn't judge if it was good or bad.
"Sorry, you had to go out of your way Misato, you didn't have to inconvenience yourself for my sake." Leader, currently in the middle of devouring a dumpling, gave him an annoyed look. Meanwhile, Shiki gave him a quick side-eye before going back to slowly eating a fortune cookie. She was still upset with him for some reason, so he made a mental note to apologize more to her later. Still, seeing two eight-inch tall girls eating comparatively oversized food was something that brought a small smile to his face, hopefully, they'll like his cooking.
"It's no trouble at all Shinji! You and the Minisukas saved Tokyo-3 and the world, the least I could do is get you some takeout."
"Well, I really didn't do anything aside from being hit by-" He paused, absorbing one particular part of what she just said. "Wait, 'Minisukas'?"
Misato nodded sagely. "Yeah, Mini Asukas. Like those two." She pointed to Leader and Shiki, who had seemed a bit embarrassed for some reason.
"Sorry, but who's Asuka?" The two Minisukas shot him an annoyed look but quickly went back to their food.
"She's the Second Child, pilot of Eva unit 02. The Minisukas look, and mostly act, exactly like she does."
"Oh, are they tiny clones of her or something like that?" Unseen by everyone else at the table, Shiki froze for a short moment and then returned to her cookie, but with her posture notably stiffer.
"Interesting theory Shinji, but I wouldn't bet on it. We don't actually know where the Minisukas came from, that's why Rits was asking you what you knew about that." Misato drummed her fingers against her beer can idly. "As far as we can tell, they first appeared in your entry plug. Which caused a lot of confusion, and they aren't exactly explaining where they came from."
"Anta Baka."
Misato nodded in understanding. "That's right. But as far as I'm concerned, as long as they keep up their excellent help in dealing with the Angels they could come from anywhere and I wouldn't have a problem." She punctuated this by downing the rest of her (mostly empty) beer.
Not knowing how to continue this particular thread of conversation, Shinji decided to inquire about the avian he saw previously. "So, uh, I saw a penguin earlier…"
"Oh, you met PenPen! He's our other roommate, so get along with him." She went to grab another beer while continuing. "He makes use of the bath sometimes, so check before you enter." He nodded in understanding, he wouldn't want to be rude to a new roommate by interrupting them. Shinji blinked in surprise at how quickly he accepted a penguin as his new roommate. A grumble from Shiki derailed his train of thought, she was glaring in annoyance at the bathroom before blushing and looking away.
Misato continued, not noticing Shiki's actions. "That reminds me, we'll be heading down to NERV for the next few days to get you ready for piloting like some sync tests, measuring you for a plug suit, getting you a proper ID, some fourth thing Rits mumbled out that I couldn't hear." Misato paused, deep in thought as she imbibed her beer like an alcoholic philosopher. "Oh, and I'll drive you around Tokyo-3 so you can get a feel for the place." Shinji, Leader, and Shiki froze when the word drive emerged from her mouth like the sound of trumpets on judgment day.
"Y-you don't have to trouble yourself to drive us Misato, I can just walk-"
"It's no trouble at all Shinji, after all, we both go to and from the same place, so it's convenient!" Damn her and her logic, how was he supposed to refute that!? Shinji looked to Leader and Shiki for help, but they seemed like they were trying to figure out a way to stop it themselves. He had to think quickly if he was going to get through this, there was no running away!
"C-could it be a slow drive?" He tried, hoping Misato would get the message. She tapped her chin in consideration before nodding.
"So you like to go slow and take everything in at a leisurely pace huh? I can respect that. Sure, a casual, slow drive around Tokyo-3 it is." Three sighs of relief were let out as the crisis was averted. He gathered his dishes and deposited them in the sink, feeling it best to turn in for the night before he had to defuse any more bombs.
"Good night Shinji!" Misato called out, seemingly sensing his intentions. He mumbled out a thanks as the energy seemed to drain from his body, sedately heading to his new room. He contemplated taking a bath but he didn't trust himself not to fall asleep, so that was out of the question. He unceremoniously plopped down on his futon and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling above him. He wondered if the coming days would be as hectic and unpredictable as the last two, hoping to have some quiet days ahead of him. As the tendrils of sleep began to overtake him a small part of him wished for some more excitement to color his lonely days. For the first time in a long while, a small smile made its way to Shinji's face as he entered the realm of dreams.
For once, Misato was right, sleep really did do wonders for her. Not that Ritsuko would tell her that, she really didn't want to hear the 'I told you so' from her friend's mouth, no matter how deserved. She also had other things to worry about right now, like the Commander and Sub-Commander in front of her currently waiting for a report on these…. 'Minisukas'.
"As far as we can tell there is nothing Angelic about them, and they seem to not be…. overtly hostile towards NERV staff."
"But they are hostile?" Fuyutsuki inquired.
She shrugged. "They only physically retaliate if they are approached with hostility, something Section 2 found out the hard way when trying to capture one. Otherwise, they just act as minor nuisances, pulling pranks, defacing public property, making obscene gestures, and stealing nonessential supplies."
Gendo had to suppress an annoyed huff at the memory of Rei trying to question him about 'enacting vengeance for the slight committed against her'. It was a bit much for just a marker mustache, but if it didn't affect his plans he would allow Rei this distraction.
"What kind of supplies did they steal?" Fuyutsuki inquired. Gendo didn't see the point in asking, but he supposed that he could use it as an excuse to request an increase in budget from the Old Men. He almost chuckled at the fact they were panicking at the arrival of the army of small Second Children, and the damage that would do to their Scenario.
"Mostly office supplies, spare parts, and the 1:1 Unit 01 inflatable decoy balloon." Gendo's surprised blink was hidden by his glasses, he didn't remember approving that. Fuyutsuki was also confused, but he voiced it.
"We have a Unit 01 decoy balloon?"
"Yes. It's more of a proof of concept than anything, in case we needed a decoy."
"This is irrelevant, return to the topic of the small Second Children army. Particularly their lances." Gendo intoned. Akagi blinked before resuming.
"Of course. While we haven't retrieved a sample for study, the MAGI predicts the smaller lances are roughly seventy to eighty percent similar to their larger counterpart based on latent energy readings. Though we would need an actual sample for study to confirm it."
"Leave it, we best not invoke their ire for the time being. An opportunity will present itself if we are patient, the Scenario moves unimpeded for the time being." Gendo paused for a moment to let his words sink in. "What of the Third Child?"
'Do you actually care?' Akagi thought dryly but didn't voice. "No lasting damage from the fight with the Angel and he is coming in later for a preliminary sync test. Though two of the…. small Second Children seemed to have attached themselves to him."
"A sort of honor guard? Considering they appeared to protect him from the Third Angel this might indicate he may be some sort of a VIP to them?" Fuyutsuki pondered aloud, his old academic mindset shaking off the cobwebs.
"If so, he could be used to control them and ensure that they don't act against us." Gendo surmised, already altering, discarding, and creating new facets to his Scenario to account for this new possibility. "Have the MAGI keep track of any they find, and what actions they take. They will be codenamed 'Ishim', except the ones that appear to have a higher ranking like the ones that are attached to the Third Child, they will be codenamed 'Cherubim'." That should provide enough of a smokescreen to fool the casual observer.
"Understood Commander, shall I attempt to develop countermeasures for the Ishim?" A good idea to consider, but they had other priorities to focus on at the time.
"It's a low priority right now, you may attempt to create measures against them but only when things of a higher importance do not need to be dealt with." Akagi looked like she wanted to argue but held her tongue.
"Of course Commander, is there anything else?"
"No. Return to your work." She nodded and left the office to the two men. The silence remained for a while longer before the Sub-Commander broke it.
"This is certainly a departure from what was foreseen in the Dead Sea Scrolls, isn't it Ikari?"
"The Dead Sea Scrolls should not be taken literally. Despite their accuracy, parts of them have been lost and faded beyond legibility with age, they should be seen as a guideline, nothing more."
"But will the old men see it that way? They have never been fond of… unforeseen variables."
"They will flounder about for a while, attempting to realign their Scenario, giving us time to cement ours while their attention is divided."
"And what of Kyoko's daughter? Wouldn't the old men target her due to her likeness to the Ishim?"
"I doubt the old men would be foolish enough to attack her merely based on the similarities in appearance. Even if they are, I have contingencies in place to prevent her from coming to harm until I can assuage their baseless concerns during our next meeting."
Fuyutsuki raised an eyebrow at that. "Ensuring another's safety? Who are you and what have you done with Ikari?"
"The Second Child is one of the few Evangelion pilots, she may not be fully necessary for the Scenario but she is a useful tool in eliminating the Angels, and I would be foolish if I did not use her skills to the fullest." Gendo pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Besides, Yui always liked Kyoko and her daughter, she would be irate if I did not at least make a token effort to protect them."
Fuyutsuki chuckled. "That I'll believe."
Leader and Shiki had already shed their aprons(where those aprons went he had no idea) and began to make themselves comfortable. Leader claimed a chair and a remote and then proceeded to start flipping through channels on the television. Shiki meanwhile had reclaimed her place on his shoulder, laying down with her back to his neck and her hat pulled down over her eyes, giving the appearance of taking a nap. Shinji hoped his movements wouldn't rouse her while he went to unpack his travel bag into his new room. The rest of his belongings would hopefully be arriving soon, assuming they didn't get lost on the way to Tokyo-3.
His musings were interrupted when he heard Leader shout from the living room. Shiki let out an annoyed huff but made no other motion while Shinji went to investigate. He found Leader with her lance out menacing a- "Is that a penguin?" He blurted out in surprise, bringing the attention of the room's other occupants(except Shiki) to him. The penguin ignored Leader and waddled over to him, looking him up and down.
"Wark." It squawked out, raising a clawed(!?) flipper towards him. Years of training on social etiquette drilled into him by his Sensei took hold as Shinji shook the penguin's flipper as if he was meeting a new business partner.
"M-my name is Shinji Ikari, s-sorry to intrude." He bowed to the penguin before realizing his mistake in doing such. From her perch on his shoulder, Shiki started to slip off due to the sudden change in incline. Acting with a speed that surprised even him, he snatched Shiki before she could fall off completely. "Oh! Sorry Shiki, are you alright?" He was surprised when an old, bitter look flashed across her face before she regained her usual morose look.
"Baka." She muttered, before motioning to him to put her down. He obliged and she proceeded to storm off into the kitchen. He stared as she left, wondering what that was all about. He stared at the penguin, who had let go of his hand at this point, in confusion.
"Wark." It offered as he patted Shinji on the back and gave him a look of understanding, before going to grab a beer from the refrigerator and then seating himself in front of the television. Shinji looked to Leader for some clarity, but all she gave him was a shrug and a look that said 'It's not my problem, deal with it yourself' before returning her attention to the television. He could only stand there and think about how bizarre his life had become in such a short time.
Thirty minutes later Misato had returned with the food, though not from the restaurant she had talked about. It and every other restaurant within reasonable distance were closed on account of the recent Angel attack, and they had yet to reopen. Apparently, she was halfway out of Tokyo-3 before she found a Chinese place that was still open. Shinji didn't complain though, food was still food and he didn't mind Chinese takeout, not that he ever had much of it when he was living with his teacher.
"Honestly I'm glad they were open- '' Misato mentioned before taking a large bite of her lo mein. "-as the only other place open was KickDonalds, and I didn't want your victory feast to be crappy American fast food." He nodded idly, though he never actually has had any KickDonalds before so he couldn't judge if it was good or bad.
"Sorry, you had to go out of your way Misato, you didn't have to inconvenience yourself for my sake." Leader, currently in the middle of devouring a dumpling, gave him an annoyed look. Meanwhile, Shiki gave him a quick side-eye before going back to slowly eating a fortune cookie. She was still upset with him for some reason, so he made a mental note to apologize more to her later. Still, seeing two eight-inch tall girls eating comparatively oversized food was something that brought a small smile to his face, hopefully, they'll like his cooking.
"It's no trouble at all Shinji! You and the Minisukas saved Tokyo-3 and the world, the least I could do is get you some takeout."
"Well, I really didn't do anything aside from being hit by-" He paused, absorbing one particular part of what she just said. "Wait, 'Minisukas'?"
Misato nodded sagely. "Yeah, Mini Asukas. Like those two." She pointed to Leader and Shiki, who had seemed a bit embarrassed for some reason.
"Sorry, but who's Asuka?" The two Minisukas shot him an annoyed look but quickly went back to their food.
"She's the Second Child, pilot of Eva unit 02. The Minisukas look, and mostly act, exactly like she does."
"Oh, are they tiny clones of her or something like that?" Unseen by everyone else at the table, Shiki froze for a short moment and then returned to her cookie, but with her posture notably stiffer.
"Interesting theory Shinji, but I wouldn't bet on it. We don't actually know where the Minisukas came from, that's why Rits was asking you what you knew about that." Misato drummed her fingers against her beer can idly. "As far as we can tell, they first appeared in your entry plug. Which caused a lot of confusion, and they aren't exactly explaining where they came from."
"Anta Baka."
Misato nodded in understanding. "That's right. But as far as I'm concerned, as long as they keep up their excellent help in dealing with the Angels they could come from anywhere and I wouldn't have a problem." She punctuated this by downing the rest of her (mostly empty) beer.
Not knowing how to continue this particular thread of conversation, Shinji decided to inquire about the avian he saw previously. "So, uh, I saw a penguin earlier…"
"Oh, you met PenPen! He's our other roommate, so get along with him." She went to grab another beer while continuing. "He makes use of the bath sometimes, so check before you enter." He nodded in understanding, he wouldn't want to be rude to a new roommate by interrupting them. Shinji blinked in surprise at how quickly he accepted a penguin as his new roommate. A grumble from Shiki derailed his train of thought, she was glaring in annoyance at the bathroom before blushing and looking away.
Misato continued, not noticing Shiki's actions. "That reminds me, we'll be heading down to NERV for the next few days to get you ready for piloting like some sync tests, measuring you for a plug suit, getting you a proper ID, some fourth thing Rits mumbled out that I couldn't hear." Misato paused, deep in thought as she imbibed her beer like an alcoholic philosopher. "Oh, and I'll drive you around Tokyo-3 so you can get a feel for the place." Shinji, Leader, and Shiki froze when the word drive emerged from her mouth like the sound of trumpets on judgment day.
"Y-you don't have to trouble yourself to drive us Misato, I can just walk-"
"It's no trouble at all Shinji, after all, we both go to and from the same place, so it's convenient!" Damn her and her logic, how was he supposed to refute that!? Shinji looked to Leader and Shiki for help, but they seemed like they were trying to figure out a way to stop it themselves. He had to think quickly if he was going to get through this, there was no running away!
"C-could it be a slow drive?" He tried, hoping Misato would get the message. She tapped her chin in consideration before nodding.
"So you like to go slow and take everything in at a leisurely pace huh? I can respect that. Sure, a casual, slow drive around Tokyo-3 it is." Three sighs of relief were let out as the crisis was averted. He gathered his dishes and deposited them in the sink, feeling it best to turn in for the night before he had to defuse any more bombs.
"Good night Shinji!" Misato called out, seemingly sensing his intentions. He mumbled out a thanks as the energy seemed to drain from his body, sedately heading to his new room. He contemplated taking a bath but he didn't trust himself not to fall asleep, so that was out of the question. He unceremoniously plopped down on his futon and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling above him. He wondered if the coming days would be as hectic and unpredictable as the last two, hoping to have some quiet days ahead of him. As the tendrils of sleep began to overtake him a small part of him wished for some more excitement to color his lonely days. For the first time in a long while, a small smile made its way to Shinji's face as he entered the realm of dreams.
For once, Misato was right, sleep really did do wonders for her. Not that Ritsuko would tell her that, she really didn't want to hear the 'I told you so' from her friend's mouth, no matter how deserved. She also had other things to worry about right now, like the Commander and Sub-Commander in front of her currently waiting for a report on these…. 'Minisukas'.
"As far as we can tell there is nothing Angelic about them, and they seem to not be…. overtly hostile towards NERV staff."
"But they are hostile?" Fuyutsuki inquired.
She shrugged. "They only physically retaliate if they are approached with hostility, something Section 2 found out the hard way when trying to capture one. Otherwise, they just act as minor nuisances, pulling pranks, defacing public property, making obscene gestures, and stealing nonessential supplies."
Gendo had to suppress an annoyed huff at the memory of Rei trying to question him about 'enacting vengeance for the slight committed against her'. It was a bit much for just a marker mustache, but if it didn't affect his plans he would allow Rei this distraction.
"What kind of supplies did they steal?" Fuyutsuki inquired. Gendo didn't see the point in asking, but he supposed that he could use it as an excuse to request an increase in budget from the Old Men. He almost chuckled at the fact they were panicking at the arrival of the army of small Second Children, and the damage that would do to their Scenario.
"Mostly office supplies, spare parts, and the 1:1 Unit 01 inflatable decoy balloon." Gendo's surprised blink was hidden by his glasses, he didn't remember approving that. Fuyutsuki was also confused, but he voiced it.
"We have a Unit 01 decoy balloon?"
"Yes. It's more of a proof of concept than anything, in case we needed a decoy."
"This is irrelevant, return to the topic of the small Second Children army. Particularly their lances." Gendo intoned. Akagi blinked before resuming.
"Of course. While we haven't retrieved a sample for study, the MAGI predicts the smaller lances are roughly seventy to eighty percent similar to their larger counterpart based on latent energy readings. Though we would need an actual sample for study to confirm it."
"Leave it, we best not invoke their ire for the time being. An opportunity will present itself if we are patient, the Scenario moves unimpeded for the time being." Gendo paused for a moment to let his words sink in. "What of the Third Child?"
'Do you actually care?' Akagi thought dryly but didn't voice. "No lasting damage from the fight with the Angel and he is coming in later for a preliminary sync test. Though two of the…. small Second Children seemed to have attached themselves to him."
"A sort of honor guard? Considering they appeared to protect him from the Third Angel this might indicate he may be some sort of a VIP to them?" Fuyutsuki pondered aloud, his old academic mindset shaking off the cobwebs.
"If so, he could be used to control them and ensure that they don't act against us." Gendo surmised, already altering, discarding, and creating new facets to his Scenario to account for this new possibility. "Have the MAGI keep track of any they find, and what actions they take. They will be codenamed 'Ishim', except the ones that appear to have a higher ranking like the ones that are attached to the Third Child, they will be codenamed 'Cherubim'." That should provide enough of a smokescreen to fool the casual observer.
"Understood Commander, shall I attempt to develop countermeasures for the Ishim?" A good idea to consider, but they had other priorities to focus on at the time.
"It's a low priority right now, you may attempt to create measures against them but only when things of a higher importance do not need to be dealt with." Akagi looked like she wanted to argue but held her tongue.
"Of course Commander, is there anything else?"
"No. Return to your work." She nodded and left the office to the two men. The silence remained for a while longer before the Sub-Commander broke it.
"This is certainly a departure from what was foreseen in the Dead Sea Scrolls, isn't it Ikari?"
"The Dead Sea Scrolls should not be taken literally. Despite their accuracy, parts of them have been lost and faded beyond legibility with age, they should be seen as a guideline, nothing more."
"But will the old men see it that way? They have never been fond of… unforeseen variables."
"They will flounder about for a while, attempting to realign their Scenario, giving us time to cement ours while their attention is divided."
"And what of Kyoko's daughter? Wouldn't the old men target her due to her likeness to the Ishim?"
"I doubt the old men would be foolish enough to attack her merely based on the similarities in appearance. Even if they are, I have contingencies in place to prevent her from coming to harm until I can assuage their baseless concerns during our next meeting."
Fuyutsuki raised an eyebrow at that. "Ensuring another's safety? Who are you and what have you done with Ikari?"
"The Second Child is one of the few Evangelion pilots, she may not be fully necessary for the Scenario but she is a useful tool in eliminating the Angels, and I would be foolish if I did not use her skills to the fullest." Gendo pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Besides, Yui always liked Kyoko and her daughter, she would be irate if I did not at least make a token effort to protect them."
Fuyutsuki chuckled. "That I'll believe."
Visions of Elevator Conversations
- Location
- United States
The next day was quite eventful for Shinji, for starters he woke up from a good night's sleep to see Shiki sitting down at the edge of his futon, staring at him, unblinkingly. Like she'd been there the entire night. Was this some way of getting back at him for whatever slight he committed against her yesterday? Leader had commandeered a pillow and dragged it to the corner of his room, proceeding to sleep upon it like a restless feline. Determining it was too early to question anything, he decided to drag himself to the kitchen and make breakfast for everyone. Taking stock of his available ingredients (half a dozen eggs, a slightly wilted bundle of scallions, a quarter jug of spoiled milk, some stale cheese, half a dozen different kinds of instant meals, and way too much beer) he decided on a simple breakfast of omelettes with scallions would do. Also, he'd have to get more groceries if he wanted a variety of food besides instant meals.
Shiki followed in after him and began to help with the preparation. Though all he needed was the scallions cut while he mixed the eggs, so the wasn't much he needed help with. Not that that stopped her from brandishing a large kitchen knife and going to town on the scallions. Points for the enthusiasm he noted internally. Soon enough Leader and Misato emerged from their rooms, engaging in an intense staredown before both rushed for the bathroom, intent on getting it first. Unfortunately for Leader, being larger meant Misato could cover more distance in a shorter amount of time, beating Leader to the bathroom in record time. Leader huffed in annoyance, now having to patiently wait her turn to use the bathroom. There was no way she was plotting revenge by replacing all Misato's beer with non-alcoholic variants. That would be petty and beneath her, which absolved her of any guilt should such a thing happen later.
Shortly after everyone was showered and fed, and morning beer drunk with an energizing shout. Misato proceeded to tease her new charge about bringing in two girls to his new bedroom, much to the three's embarrassment.
They all left soon after, and fortunately, Misato kept her promise of driving slower. Of course, to her, that meant normal levels of dangerous speed instead of action movie levels. Leader and Shiki wisely decided to hunker down in his shirt pocket from the get-go this time. It was honestly much better than yesterday's vehicular maelstrom of speed. Misato even stopped at red lights most of the time, causing one bicycle-riding police officer to stare at the Alpine Renault in fear muttering something about 'the blue horseman of conquest' before fainting. All in all, everyone got out of Misato's car in far better condition than after yesterday's wild ride.
Of course, he didn't catch a break while at NERV, as there was a lot of work to do in order to get him squared away as a pilot. Getting an ID was easy enough, he merely had to get his picture taken and wait for it to get printed. However, the part that wasn't easy was when Leader hijacked the camera from the NERV employee and spent an hour trying to get the picture just how she wanted it. Also, Shiki wouldn't leave his shoulder while the picture was being taken, which was a bit awkward. Thankfully they didn't try to interfere with his plugsuit measuring, mostly because it involved him needing to be without clothing. They quickly vacated once that was explained. After that was done (not without some light teasing from Misato) he got to the sync test. He put on his newly produced plugsuit (how NERV produced it so fast surprised him) and met with a new hurdle.
"Shinji-" Doctor Akagi started, annoyance edging into her voice. "We are already behind schedule, please have your guests wait outside the entry plug."
"Anta Baka." Leader hissed out to the Doctor, venom dripping from her voice like the fangs of a snake. This was the current issue, Leader and Shiki did not want him going into the entry plug without them. He wasn't sure why, but he got the feeling they were concerned about something. Perhaps they thought he would get hurt like when he fought the Angel, but this was a safe, controlled environment without danger. Besides, there's no way an Angel would be anywhere near the Geofront now, right?
Thousands of meters beneath Shinji's current location in the Geofront, Lilith the Second Angel twitched in annoyance. This gave Rei an irritating itch on the arm covered by a cast. This only increased her desire for vengeance.
"Look here you little ginger gremlins-" Doctor Akagi matched Leader's venom. "- I have had it up to here with your tomfoolery! I need to get a baseline psychograph and sync ratio for the Third Child and I will not have you causing sync interference by getting in there with him!"
Shinji, wanting to prevent the argument before it began, knelt down to be closer to Leader and Shiki. "Leader, Shiki, I'll be fine." He begins to assuage them. "It's just a routine test, right? I'll get this done quickly then we can head back home, and I'll cook up something. Okay?" He's found that promising food often prevented his Sensei from getting into arguments with the neighbors, hopefully, it works for others as well.
"Oh, gods. Misato, you haven't cooked anything for him have you!? If I have to call a biohazard team because of your cooking poisoned somebody again I will not be happy."
"Come on Rits, it's only been five times!"
"The fact that you think five times is okay is concerning!" Shinji began to tune them out (and also made a mental note to never let Misato cook) as Leader and Shiki huddled and began to discuss something, occasionally looking back at him when they paused for a moment. Eventually, they broke their huddle and stared at him.
"Baka Shinji, Anta Baka." Leader intoned, giving him a thumbs-up gesture. Shiki didn't look happy, but she nodded all the same.
"Thanks. I'll be done soon."
"The test will take around two hours." Doctor Akagi added, with a tinge of malice in her voice towards the Minisukas.
He didn't respond to that, he didn't want to create a conflict when he just ended one. He sighed and got into the entry plug, Leader and Shiki watching him intently. He took his seat as LCL began to fill up the plug, the coppery taste of blood filling his lungs as the LCL suffused his very being once again.
The startup sequence engaged as the technicians began listing the activation processes as that booted up, Shinji once more felt the Evangelion activate as-
[{ravenouswhitevulturescirclingoverheaddisplayingtheravagedcarcassofadeadgodthechoker'sfinalactivationcommencesdetonatingtheheadoftheonlypersonyoumayhaveeverloved}]
Shinji's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he nearly bites through his tongue trying to stifle the deafening scream building in his diaphragm. He forces down the rising tide of bile threatening to reintroduce his breakfast to the world.
"-borderline reached, let's take a look at….. SHINJI!" Doctor Akagi shouted though it was nearly deafened by the sound of his rapidly beating heart. "Your heart rate has spiked to dangerous levels, and your psychograph isn't much better! What happened?!" She demands though her voice is tinged with an undercurrent of genuine concern.
"T-t-the Angel." He lies without thinking, already the memories of the grotesque visions [{thesoulrendingscreamofdespairasthelookonhisfaceforeveretchedinyourmind}] of whatever that was are fading, leaving nothing behind save for the feeling they left him. Despair, anguish, regret. "I-I-it felt like it was crashing against my skull again, like when I fought it." There's silence for a moment before Doctor Akagi speaks again.
"Dammit, the biosynapses connected to the damaged cranial plating weren't fully disconnected due to the damage caused by the Angel, leading to a psychosomatic feedback reaction." He doubts he would've understood that even if his brain was not preoccupied with [{thewhitevulture'smaliciousgrinsunit-08engagingmark.09}] the fading visions. "I've forcibly disconnected the afflicted area, how do you feel?"
"I….." The last of the visions fade into nothingness, leaving behind a bitter aftertaste. "I feel sick." He pauses, feeling something odd, something he can't place. The headache then comes, filling him with a new pain. "And I have a headache."
Doctor Akagi snorts. "I can imagine you do. Try to relax for a bit, we'll get the readings when you've calmed down. We'll also get some ibuprofen ready for you when we're done with the test."
"Thanks, Doctor Akagi." The noise of the technicians fades away as his mind wanders. He hopes Leader and Shiki aren't too worried, he wouldn't want to trouble them after he said he'd be alright. He'd have to put in a bit of extra effort in his cooking tonight for worrying them.
The rest of the sync test went without issue, aside from an irate Leader and Shiki kicking his shins repeatedly for worrying them. A quick shower to clean off the errant LCL and some promised ibuprofen later, they were off to head back home. Well, after a quick tour of the city as promised by Misato, but if a 'quick' car ride with Misato was the worst thing to happen to him today, then he'd be fine. Nothing, bar an Angel attack, would make this day worse.
Shinji immediately learned of the follies of tempting fate when the elevator that would take them to the garage opened to reveal his father. Time appeared to stop, Shinji staring wide-eyed at his father, his father staring impassively, almost disdainfully at him. Shinji swallowed the lump in his throat, whispered "I mustn't run away" to himself, and boarded the elevator. Misato blinked and quickly joined him before the elevator could close. Leader and Shiki were tense on his shoulders, glaring at his father. His father remained a silent stone pillar of stoicism, uncaring of the atmosphere in the elevator. His body language screamed out 'There is no situation I cannot handle'.
Gendo Ikari could not handle this situation. He hoped his impassive yet disdainful stare would dissuade his son from joining him on the elevator. But his predictions based on years of secret observations of his son's behavior were shattered in a moment, forcing him to pick up the pieces and rebuild. A side glance confirmed that, yes, the Cherubim attached to his son were making threatening gestures at him while glaring at him with the heat to rival the surface of the sun. The eyepatched one was cracking her knuckles with malicious intent, the other brandished her mini Lance of Longinus in a way that was always pointed towards him. He needed to salvage the situation, and ensure his son was on the right part for his part in the Scenario.
"Shinji." He began, surprising the other occupants. "Are you getting settled in?" A good icebreaker, seeing if his living arrangements were sufficient.
"Y-yes father." The silence continued after that, Gendo remembering that his son was shy and introverted. He would need to continue pressing.
"I see you have obtained companionship with the miniature variants of the Second Child, please ensure they do not get into too much trouble." There, some small chastisement would grease the wheels. Hopefully, his son would recognize the opening for a parlay he was just given.
"Y-yes father." His son seemed to shrink back, defeated. The cherubim glared harder at him. Dammit! How did Yui make parenting look so easy?! One of her many virtues. He needed something to get his son to communicate, what do parents usually talk to boys his age about?
"So. How is….." School? No, he hasn't gotten back to school yet. Friends? No, his son had no friends. Girlfriend? No, he absolutely didn't have a girlfriend. The Ishim? No, he just reprimanded him about them. Dammit, he already started asking. He needed to finish with something, anything! "…..Puberty?" Gendo you absolute fucking idiot, anything but that! The silence that enveloped the elevator was deafening, the errant breaths of its occupants sounding like gunshots comparatively. Every other occupant in the elevator stared at Gendo like he had grown two extra heads. The ding of the elevator reaching the garage floor brought relief to everyone, his son nearly sprinting out of the elevator with Captain Katsuragi following close behind.
The doors closed once more, taking him upwards. There he and Fuyutsuki would be meeting with a cult of powerful old men that held control of the world in their hands and used that power towards reaching their own personal godhood via Complementation of the human race. He would duel them with half-truths and double meanings in order to hijack their plan so he could reunite with his wife.
Why was that easier than talking to his son?
Barely illuminated by faint light, Gendo Ikari was surrounded by the twelve imposing monoliths that each represented a member of SEELE. Each man here had the power and sway to effectively control a country, direct the United Nations for their own goals, and, together, lead the whole of humanity to ruin. They were locked in a silent stalemate, waiting for someone to shatter the silence that had fallen.
"Ikari what the legitimate fuck is going on." SEELE-7 broke the silence with the force of a sledgehammer smashing through a window. And with that, the gate opened along with a torrent of questions and accusations. Gendo remained silent, waiting for the deluge of drivel to end. Fortunately, he did not have to wait long.
"SILENCE!" Keel Lorenz, SEELE-1, shouted, immediately bringing about order to the meeting. "Ikari, if you would please begin your report?"
"Certainly. As I figure most of you have already read the report I will cut out the needless details and go over the main focus of the incident. Around forty hours prior Eva Unit-01 did battle with the Third Angel as the Dead Sea Scrolls predicted. However in the midst of the battle, a large army of small entities bearing a likeness to the Second Child wielding tiny replicas of the Lance of Longinus emerged to decimate the Third Angel, the army then dispersed." He paused to let them digest this information. "Those are the major details of the report, any questions?" The fact that the first appearance of these entities happened in Unit-01 entry plug was left out, of course, no need for the test type to come under unwarranted suspicion after all.
"I see." Lorenz was the first to speak up, meaning the others would hold their tongues for now. "What can you tell us about these….." Lorenz paused, unsure of what to call the Second Child lookalikes.
"I have dubbed them Ishim in the reports I am currently compiling." Gendo provided. He would offer them this puzzle piece, hoping it would prevent them from spotting others in his reports. They did not need to know about the Cherubim, for now at least.
"The Ishim? Yes, good. What can you tell us about them?"
"Little as of now. They appear to only communicate in pantomimes and calling people idiots, leaving little in the way of obtaining information via normal methods. They are also responsible for many acts of minor anarchy."
"Any lasting damage?" SEELE-6 inquired.
"Nothing major, just a need for a minor increase in our office supply and cleaning budgets. The request for those will be addressed later."
"Their Lances, can they be used for the Scenario?" SEELE-11 derailed the budgetary talks at the get-go, smart bastard.
"We have yet to obtain a sample, but passive data suggests a high, but imperfect match to ours. I would personally not take the chance to try to use one of the Ishim's lances."
"Noted." Lorenz stated. "But I feel the most important question is, can they be controlled? Should we even bother sending the Second Child from Germany?" That was the real meat of the matter, it all boiled down to 'Are they a threat to the Scenario?'
"It is my opinion that while we do not have any known way to control them yet-" That you know of at least. "-they can be used effectively even if we cannot fully control them. The Ishim may provide a way to simplify and expedite killing the Angels." He paused yet again to allow them to contemplate his reasoning. "As for bringing the Second Child here. I believe having a slightly ineffective tool that we know how to control is better than having to rely on an unpredictable tool we do not know we can control. Wouldn't you agree?" The monoliths were silent after that, no doubt having a private conference to discuss their next action.
"You make a decent point, Ikari." SEELE-3 begrudgingly admitted.
SEELE-9 seemed to have his own take, however. "Still, perhaps we should just eliminate the Second Child, having the Fourth Child to pilot Unit-02 would be better than dealing with-"
"ENOUGH." Lorenz bellowed, quashing SEELE-9's suggestion immediately. "Having the Marduk Institution unveil the Fourth Child so soon after the Third would bring too much attention. Ikari, we have much to deliberate on regarding the Ishimi and their place in the Scenario. Keep us apprised of their actions, and be prepared to cull them if required. The Second Child will arrive on schedule, is there anything else?"
"No, good day gentlemen." The monoliths flickered out of existence, leaving Gendo and Fuyutsuki alone once more.
"Well Ikari, seems like we've avoided the worst. Hopefully, they see fit to keep us around despite our job being taken over by an army of tiny prepubescent redheads."
"We'll be fine Professor, we just need to play our cards right." He paused. "Still, I get the feeling that I'm missing a piece of this new puzzle the Ishim have brought to our doorstep. A piece I should be aware of, but am not."
"Are you sure the feeling isn't a backlash from letting out your amazing parental conversational skill out of their cages?" His head whipped to Fuyutsuki at lightning speeds.
"How do you know?"
"You realize the elevators have cameras, right? And as Sub-Commander I have security access to most cameras in the Geofront."
"Delete it, now."
"No, I'm saving it for when Yui returns. I'm sure she'll get a kick out of it." Fuyutsuki knew he would get hell for this, but he didn't care. The opportunity was too good, so he would accept the punishment. It was worth it.
They all stood on the overlook, still silent from the awkward situation they had escaped from. Unfortunately, somebody had to break the silence, so Shinji decided to bite the bullet.
"So Misato, why are we-"
"Shhhh, give it a minute." She pointed out at the city…..
Just in time to see the buildings rise from underneath the ground, the evening sun illuminating them with a brilliant orange glow. Shinji, Leader, and Shiki could only stare in awe at the wondrous sight before them.
"That-" She began. "Is the city you three saved. Take pride in it, because they'll be teaching it… in….the…." She trailed off, her face brightening with remembrance. "Oh right! That was the fourth thing! Shinji, you're starting school tomorrow!"
"What!?" His head whipped around, nearly throwing Leader and Shiki from his shoulders.
"Don't worry, you'll do great! Make some friends, maybe even get a girlfriend~ Then you can tell your dad how your puberty is going~"
"MISATO!" His scream was met with Misato's laughter, Shiki's groan, and Leader's snickering.
Shiki followed in after him and began to help with the preparation. Though all he needed was the scallions cut while he mixed the eggs, so the wasn't much he needed help with. Not that that stopped her from brandishing a large kitchen knife and going to town on the scallions. Points for the enthusiasm he noted internally. Soon enough Leader and Misato emerged from their rooms, engaging in an intense staredown before both rushed for the bathroom, intent on getting it first. Unfortunately for Leader, being larger meant Misato could cover more distance in a shorter amount of time, beating Leader to the bathroom in record time. Leader huffed in annoyance, now having to patiently wait her turn to use the bathroom. There was no way she was plotting revenge by replacing all Misato's beer with non-alcoholic variants. That would be petty and beneath her, which absolved her of any guilt should such a thing happen later.
Shortly after everyone was showered and fed, and morning beer drunk with an energizing shout. Misato proceeded to tease her new charge about bringing in two girls to his new bedroom, much to the three's embarrassment.
They all left soon after, and fortunately, Misato kept her promise of driving slower. Of course, to her, that meant normal levels of dangerous speed instead of action movie levels. Leader and Shiki wisely decided to hunker down in his shirt pocket from the get-go this time. It was honestly much better than yesterday's vehicular maelstrom of speed. Misato even stopped at red lights most of the time, causing one bicycle-riding police officer to stare at the Alpine Renault in fear muttering something about 'the blue horseman of conquest' before fainting. All in all, everyone got out of Misato's car in far better condition than after yesterday's wild ride.
Of course, he didn't catch a break while at NERV, as there was a lot of work to do in order to get him squared away as a pilot. Getting an ID was easy enough, he merely had to get his picture taken and wait for it to get printed. However, the part that wasn't easy was when Leader hijacked the camera from the NERV employee and spent an hour trying to get the picture just how she wanted it. Also, Shiki wouldn't leave his shoulder while the picture was being taken, which was a bit awkward. Thankfully they didn't try to interfere with his plugsuit measuring, mostly because it involved him needing to be without clothing. They quickly vacated once that was explained. After that was done (not without some light teasing from Misato) he got to the sync test. He put on his newly produced plugsuit (how NERV produced it so fast surprised him) and met with a new hurdle.
"Shinji-" Doctor Akagi started, annoyance edging into her voice. "We are already behind schedule, please have your guests wait outside the entry plug."
"Anta Baka." Leader hissed out to the Doctor, venom dripping from her voice like the fangs of a snake. This was the current issue, Leader and Shiki did not want him going into the entry plug without them. He wasn't sure why, but he got the feeling they were concerned about something. Perhaps they thought he would get hurt like when he fought the Angel, but this was a safe, controlled environment without danger. Besides, there's no way an Angel would be anywhere near the Geofront now, right?
Thousands of meters beneath Shinji's current location in the Geofront, Lilith the Second Angel twitched in annoyance. This gave Rei an irritating itch on the arm covered by a cast. This only increased her desire for vengeance.
"Look here you little ginger gremlins-" Doctor Akagi matched Leader's venom. "- I have had it up to here with your tomfoolery! I need to get a baseline psychograph and sync ratio for the Third Child and I will not have you causing sync interference by getting in there with him!"
Shinji, wanting to prevent the argument before it began, knelt down to be closer to Leader and Shiki. "Leader, Shiki, I'll be fine." He begins to assuage them. "It's just a routine test, right? I'll get this done quickly then we can head back home, and I'll cook up something. Okay?" He's found that promising food often prevented his Sensei from getting into arguments with the neighbors, hopefully, it works for others as well.
"Oh, gods. Misato, you haven't cooked anything for him have you!? If I have to call a biohazard team because of your cooking poisoned somebody again I will not be happy."
"Come on Rits, it's only been five times!"
"The fact that you think five times is okay is concerning!" Shinji began to tune them out (and also made a mental note to never let Misato cook) as Leader and Shiki huddled and began to discuss something, occasionally looking back at him when they paused for a moment. Eventually, they broke their huddle and stared at him.
"Baka Shinji, Anta Baka." Leader intoned, giving him a thumbs-up gesture. Shiki didn't look happy, but she nodded all the same.
"Thanks. I'll be done soon."
"The test will take around two hours." Doctor Akagi added, with a tinge of malice in her voice towards the Minisukas.
He didn't respond to that, he didn't want to create a conflict when he just ended one. He sighed and got into the entry plug, Leader and Shiki watching him intently. He took his seat as LCL began to fill up the plug, the coppery taste of blood filling his lungs as the LCL suffused his very being once again.
The startup sequence engaged as the technicians began listing the activation processes as that booted up, Shinji once more felt the Evangelion activate as-
[{ravenouswhitevulturescirclingoverheaddisplayingtheravagedcarcassofadeadgodthechoker'sfinalactivationcommencesdetonatingtheheadoftheonlypersonyoumayhaveeverloved}]
Shinji's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he nearly bites through his tongue trying to stifle the deafening scream building in his diaphragm. He forces down the rising tide of bile threatening to reintroduce his breakfast to the world.
"-borderline reached, let's take a look at….. SHINJI!" Doctor Akagi shouted though it was nearly deafened by the sound of his rapidly beating heart. "Your heart rate has spiked to dangerous levels, and your psychograph isn't much better! What happened?!" She demands though her voice is tinged with an undercurrent of genuine concern.
"T-t-the Angel." He lies without thinking, already the memories of the grotesque visions [{thesoulrendingscreamofdespairasthelookonhisfaceforeveretchedinyourmind}] of whatever that was are fading, leaving nothing behind save for the feeling they left him. Despair, anguish, regret. "I-I-it felt like it was crashing against my skull again, like when I fought it." There's silence for a moment before Doctor Akagi speaks again.
"Dammit, the biosynapses connected to the damaged cranial plating weren't fully disconnected due to the damage caused by the Angel, leading to a psychosomatic feedback reaction." He doubts he would've understood that even if his brain was not preoccupied with [{thewhitevulture'smaliciousgrinsunit-08engagingmark.09}] the fading visions. "I've forcibly disconnected the afflicted area, how do you feel?"
"I….." The last of the visions fade into nothingness, leaving behind a bitter aftertaste. "I feel sick." He pauses, feeling something odd, something he can't place. The headache then comes, filling him with a new pain. "And I have a headache."
Doctor Akagi snorts. "I can imagine you do. Try to relax for a bit, we'll get the readings when you've calmed down. We'll also get some ibuprofen ready for you when we're done with the test."
"Thanks, Doctor Akagi." The noise of the technicians fades away as his mind wanders. He hopes Leader and Shiki aren't too worried, he wouldn't want to trouble them after he said he'd be alright. He'd have to put in a bit of extra effort in his cooking tonight for worrying them.
The rest of the sync test went without issue, aside from an irate Leader and Shiki kicking his shins repeatedly for worrying them. A quick shower to clean off the errant LCL and some promised ibuprofen later, they were off to head back home. Well, after a quick tour of the city as promised by Misato, but if a 'quick' car ride with Misato was the worst thing to happen to him today, then he'd be fine. Nothing, bar an Angel attack, would make this day worse.
Shinji immediately learned of the follies of tempting fate when the elevator that would take them to the garage opened to reveal his father. Time appeared to stop, Shinji staring wide-eyed at his father, his father staring impassively, almost disdainfully at him. Shinji swallowed the lump in his throat, whispered "I mustn't run away" to himself, and boarded the elevator. Misato blinked and quickly joined him before the elevator could close. Leader and Shiki were tense on his shoulders, glaring at his father. His father remained a silent stone pillar of stoicism, uncaring of the atmosphere in the elevator. His body language screamed out 'There is no situation I cannot handle'.
Gendo Ikari could not handle this situation. He hoped his impassive yet disdainful stare would dissuade his son from joining him on the elevator. But his predictions based on years of secret observations of his son's behavior were shattered in a moment, forcing him to pick up the pieces and rebuild. A side glance confirmed that, yes, the Cherubim attached to his son were making threatening gestures at him while glaring at him with the heat to rival the surface of the sun. The eyepatched one was cracking her knuckles with malicious intent, the other brandished her mini Lance of Longinus in a way that was always pointed towards him. He needed to salvage the situation, and ensure his son was on the right part for his part in the Scenario.
"Shinji." He began, surprising the other occupants. "Are you getting settled in?" A good icebreaker, seeing if his living arrangements were sufficient.
"Y-yes father." The silence continued after that, Gendo remembering that his son was shy and introverted. He would need to continue pressing.
"I see you have obtained companionship with the miniature variants of the Second Child, please ensure they do not get into too much trouble." There, some small chastisement would grease the wheels. Hopefully, his son would recognize the opening for a parlay he was just given.
"Y-yes father." His son seemed to shrink back, defeated. The cherubim glared harder at him. Dammit! How did Yui make parenting look so easy?! One of her many virtues. He needed something to get his son to communicate, what do parents usually talk to boys his age about?
"So. How is….." School? No, he hasn't gotten back to school yet. Friends? No, his son had no friends. Girlfriend? No, he absolutely didn't have a girlfriend. The Ishim? No, he just reprimanded him about them. Dammit, he already started asking. He needed to finish with something, anything! "…..Puberty?" Gendo you absolute fucking idiot, anything but that! The silence that enveloped the elevator was deafening, the errant breaths of its occupants sounding like gunshots comparatively. Every other occupant in the elevator stared at Gendo like he had grown two extra heads. The ding of the elevator reaching the garage floor brought relief to everyone, his son nearly sprinting out of the elevator with Captain Katsuragi following close behind.
The doors closed once more, taking him upwards. There he and Fuyutsuki would be meeting with a cult of powerful old men that held control of the world in their hands and used that power towards reaching their own personal godhood via Complementation of the human race. He would duel them with half-truths and double meanings in order to hijack their plan so he could reunite with his wife.
Why was that easier than talking to his son?
Barely illuminated by faint light, Gendo Ikari was surrounded by the twelve imposing monoliths that each represented a member of SEELE. Each man here had the power and sway to effectively control a country, direct the United Nations for their own goals, and, together, lead the whole of humanity to ruin. They were locked in a silent stalemate, waiting for someone to shatter the silence that had fallen.
"Ikari what the legitimate fuck is going on." SEELE-7 broke the silence with the force of a sledgehammer smashing through a window. And with that, the gate opened along with a torrent of questions and accusations. Gendo remained silent, waiting for the deluge of drivel to end. Fortunately, he did not have to wait long.
"SILENCE!" Keel Lorenz, SEELE-1, shouted, immediately bringing about order to the meeting. "Ikari, if you would please begin your report?"
"Certainly. As I figure most of you have already read the report I will cut out the needless details and go over the main focus of the incident. Around forty hours prior Eva Unit-01 did battle with the Third Angel as the Dead Sea Scrolls predicted. However in the midst of the battle, a large army of small entities bearing a likeness to the Second Child wielding tiny replicas of the Lance of Longinus emerged to decimate the Third Angel, the army then dispersed." He paused to let them digest this information. "Those are the major details of the report, any questions?" The fact that the first appearance of these entities happened in Unit-01 entry plug was left out, of course, no need for the test type to come under unwarranted suspicion after all.
"I see." Lorenz was the first to speak up, meaning the others would hold their tongues for now. "What can you tell us about these….." Lorenz paused, unsure of what to call the Second Child lookalikes.
"I have dubbed them Ishim in the reports I am currently compiling." Gendo provided. He would offer them this puzzle piece, hoping it would prevent them from spotting others in his reports. They did not need to know about the Cherubim, for now at least.
"The Ishim? Yes, good. What can you tell us about them?"
"Little as of now. They appear to only communicate in pantomimes and calling people idiots, leaving little in the way of obtaining information via normal methods. They are also responsible for many acts of minor anarchy."
"Any lasting damage?" SEELE-6 inquired.
"Nothing major, just a need for a minor increase in our office supply and cleaning budgets. The request for those will be addressed later."
"Their Lances, can they be used for the Scenario?" SEELE-11 derailed the budgetary talks at the get-go, smart bastard.
"We have yet to obtain a sample, but passive data suggests a high, but imperfect match to ours. I would personally not take the chance to try to use one of the Ishim's lances."
"Noted." Lorenz stated. "But I feel the most important question is, can they be controlled? Should we even bother sending the Second Child from Germany?" That was the real meat of the matter, it all boiled down to 'Are they a threat to the Scenario?'
"It is my opinion that while we do not have any known way to control them yet-" That you know of at least. "-they can be used effectively even if we cannot fully control them. The Ishim may provide a way to simplify and expedite killing the Angels." He paused yet again to allow them to contemplate his reasoning. "As for bringing the Second Child here. I believe having a slightly ineffective tool that we know how to control is better than having to rely on an unpredictable tool we do not know we can control. Wouldn't you agree?" The monoliths were silent after that, no doubt having a private conference to discuss their next action.
"You make a decent point, Ikari." SEELE-3 begrudgingly admitted.
SEELE-9 seemed to have his own take, however. "Still, perhaps we should just eliminate the Second Child, having the Fourth Child to pilot Unit-02 would be better than dealing with-"
"ENOUGH." Lorenz bellowed, quashing SEELE-9's suggestion immediately. "Having the Marduk Institution unveil the Fourth Child so soon after the Third would bring too much attention. Ikari, we have much to deliberate on regarding the Ishimi and their place in the Scenario. Keep us apprised of their actions, and be prepared to cull them if required. The Second Child will arrive on schedule, is there anything else?"
"No, good day gentlemen." The monoliths flickered out of existence, leaving Gendo and Fuyutsuki alone once more.
"Well Ikari, seems like we've avoided the worst. Hopefully, they see fit to keep us around despite our job being taken over by an army of tiny prepubescent redheads."
"We'll be fine Professor, we just need to play our cards right." He paused. "Still, I get the feeling that I'm missing a piece of this new puzzle the Ishim have brought to our doorstep. A piece I should be aware of, but am not."
"Are you sure the feeling isn't a backlash from letting out your amazing parental conversational skill out of their cages?" His head whipped to Fuyutsuki at lightning speeds.
"How do you know?"
"You realize the elevators have cameras, right? And as Sub-Commander I have security access to most cameras in the Geofront."
"Delete it, now."
"No, I'm saving it for when Yui returns. I'm sure she'll get a kick out of it." Fuyutsuki knew he would get hell for this, but he didn't care. The opportunity was too good, so he would accept the punishment. It was worth it.
They all stood on the overlook, still silent from the awkward situation they had escaped from. Unfortunately, somebody had to break the silence, so Shinji decided to bite the bullet.
"So Misato, why are we-"
"Shhhh, give it a minute." She pointed out at the city…..
Just in time to see the buildings rise from underneath the ground, the evening sun illuminating them with a brilliant orange glow. Shinji, Leader, and Shiki could only stare in awe at the wondrous sight before them.
"That-" She began. "Is the city you three saved. Take pride in it, because they'll be teaching it… in….the…." She trailed off, her face brightening with remembrance. "Oh right! That was the fourth thing! Shinji, you're starting school tomorrow!"
"What!?" His head whipped around, nearly throwing Leader and Shiki from his shoulders.
"Don't worry, you'll do great! Make some friends, maybe even get a girlfriend~ Then you can tell your dad how your puberty is going~"
"MISATO!" His scream was met with Misato's laughter, Shiki's groan, and Leader's snickering.
School of Mild Knocks
- Location
- United States
The train's vibrations filled him with a sense of ease, of normalcy. This was, however, countered by the multitude of stares he was receiving caused by his curious companions. Prior to that, Shinji's morning was relatively normal, he woke up to Shiki staring at him unblinking like a tiny red-headed gargoyle, he walked into the kitchen to find Pen-Pen warking on the phone with a stock broker regarding the increase in South-American fruit prices affecting the relevant sector (also something about haircuts? He wasn't sure, he couldn't understand Pen-Pen's half of the conversation ), and Leader losing another race for the bathroom to Misato. His sudden start at Tokyo-3 First Municipal Junior High School was jarring, but nothing he couldn't handle by using his years of practice fading into the background so nobody would notice him. So he prepared an extra-large bento to share with Leader and Shiki using some newly acquired fresh ingredients.
Politely denying Misato's offer for a ride to school on the basis of wanting to get a better lay of the land, he quickly walked to the train. The car he got in wasn't too crowded, mostly containing other students and a few errant businessmen. He quickly grabbed a seat and tried to make himself invisible despite the two Minisukas on his shoulders, a challenge, but not undoable. His long practiced social invisibility techniques, however, were never meant to account for a horde of Minisukas bursting into the train car before it left and surrounding him, drawing the attention of everyone to him and him alone.
"Baka!" "Anta Baka?" "Baka Shinji." The cacophonous half-shouts of the new horde of Minisukas conveyed nothing to him about what was going on. He wondered if he caused some kind of territorial dispute by entering the train, as Leader was threatening the horde with her lance, acting as a mighty lioness protecting her cub from a pack of hyenas. Angry red-headed hyenas. Shiki, to her credit, ignored the whole thing and climbed into his front pocket and proceeded to use it as a hammock, drifting off into a light nap.
"Woah, how'd you tame them?!" A new voice broke his attention away from the horde, revealing a bespectacled teenage boy with sandy blonde hair. "Cause the only other person I've seen the Red Demons interact with cordially is the Class Rep, and she won't tell me anything!" All the Minisukas, even Shiki, turned to look at the boy with varying levels of annoyance. Except for Shiki, she just stared at him, blinked, then went back to ignoring everyone in favor of napping.
"Uhhh…."
"Oh right, I'm Kensuke Aida, night to meetcha!" The newly identified Kensuke began appraising Shinji with an analytical eye. "Haven't seen you around before, did you just transfer in?"
"Y-yes, I'm Shinji Ikari. Nice to meet you, Aida." Shinji bowed lightly, in order to not disturb Shiki like last time.
"Ikari huh?" Kensuke muttered aloud. The Minisukas had since gone back to their territorial dispute, though a few kept a wary eye on Kensuke, in particular, the camera dangling from his neck. Why he had a camera, Shinji didn't know. Perhaps he was part of the photography club? "Well Ikari, let me be the first to welcome you to Tokyo-3."
"Oh, thank you." Well, he seemed nice at least. At least there was one person who-
"So, are you piloting the giant robot?" Shinji's train of thought came to a screeching halt, possibly even derailing and destroying multiple metaphorical mental buildings.
"Giant Robot?" The genuine confusion in his voice from the sudden change in topic prompted Kensuke to keep going.
"Yeah, the one that fought the monster a few days ago. I thought it was pretty weird that we received a transfer student so suddenly after a giant monster attack, and he shares the family name of NERV's Supreme Commander, so-" He was interrupted when something flew past his cheek, leaving a small but noticeable scratch on it. He turned to look at the red lance now embedded in the train car's roof, then back at all the Minisukas, who were now all staring at him. The threatening look they were giving him was decipherable by anyone with at least three brain cells to mean 'You better stop if you know what's good for you.' Fortunately, Kensuke Aida had three brain cells, and plenty more to spare, so he got the hint. "-so how about the local sports team, huh? They sure are doing things in the current sports season." He flinched when the lance flew past him again, back into Leader's hand.
"They, uh, sure are Aida." Shinji tried, hoping to give his nosy schoolmate a way out.
"Yup, so I'm going to go sit away from any theoretical threat to my life. See you in school, Ikari!" Kensuke bolted away to the other side of the car before Shinji could get a word in edgewise. The Minisukas seemed to have brokered some kind of truce, as they stopped circling him like some kind of [{whitevulture}] predator, instead opting to hang around his general area, glaring at anyone who vaguely approached.
"I'm really going to need to improve my social invisibility techniques, aren't I?" He muttered to himself.
"Anta Baka?" Shiki provided, making Shinji sigh. It was going to be a long day.
Kensuke sprinted out of the train car like his life depended on it (which it might have) as the horde of Minisukas dispersed. Shinji then noticed something he hadn't during the drives with Misato. The city was infested with Minisukas. It wasn't like it was too obvious, but if you paid attention you could probably find a Minisuka doing something in a little alcove or on a roof as you walked around. On the way to school, Shinji noticed around two dozen Minisukas doing various things like drifting jury-rigged RC cars, using stray cats as steeds, fighting seagulls, or trying to explain the difference between pink and salmon to a preschooler via pantomime. And they were all watching him. He could feel their eyes as he walked past, studying him. It was uncomfortable having so many eyes on him.
Eventually, he was able to make it to school, attempting to blend in with a crowd of students making their way through the front gates. The teacher in charge of watching the front gate stared at him for a moment before breaking his stare and scratching his forehead while muttering something into his wrist. After a quick stop at the faculty, office to receive his papers and a school computer terminal he was directed to class 2-A for his introduction. After writing his name on the blackboard and giving himself a modest introduction, he noticed a few things. First, the boy he met on the train, Kensuke Aida, was his classmate and tried very hard not to look at him. Second, there were three Minisukas (who were clapping politely) on the desk of a brown-haired girl with twin tails, the 'class rep' if Aida was to be believed. Third and finally, everyone was looking at him with awe, whispering beyond the edge of his hearing about something.
"Thank you, Mister Ikari." Droned the teacher. "Please take that seat over there." A weary finger points to an empty seat in the center of the classroom. He silently makes his way to the seat, withstanding everyone's stares and the Minisukas continued polite clapping. Shinji tries to fade into the background as the teacher begins his lesson which devolves into a lecture about Second Impact. His terminal boots up without much fanfare, which prompts Leader and Shiki to start messing with it. They do….. something computery on it, something that goes beyond his barely computer literate head. Before he has time to question it a message notification appears causing Leader and Shiki to stop whatever they were doing.
KAida: hey ikari? its aida
Oh, these have chat functions? Aren't they worried the students will be distracted by these if everyone gets a terminal? Thoughts for later, he better respond, he wouldn't want to be rude.
SIkari: Greetings Aida, it is a pleasure to talk to you again. I hope we did not get off on the wrong foot on the train.
KAida: wow ikari i dont think ive seen some1 b more formal in a school chat room outside of the class rep
Was that a compliment or an insult?
KAida: anyway just a heads up i may have let slip that u may b the giant robots pilot 2 the entire class by accident please dont sic ur demon army on me pls+thnks
Aida left the chat room quickly and left Shinji with many questions. Like why was Aida using this weird language that seemed to abbreviate some words, how does one accidentally reveal the potential identity of a giant robot pilot, and oh gods why are all these chat requests popping up? The tidal wave of chat prompts flowed forth, most asking him if he was a pilot. Also, a bunch of boys (and one girl) asked him if he could get Doctor Akagi's number for them. He tried closing them, but for every prompt he closed, three more took their place like some kind of digital hydra. As it seemed all hope was lost, the deluge of prompts ceased and was replaced by one message.
HHoraki: Hello there Ikari, I'm the class representative Hikari Horaki. As a class representative, I possess minor administrative privileges over chat functionality, as such I have disabled incoming messages for you so as not to bother you.
Oh, that's a lifesaver. And explains how students don't get too distracted.
SIkari: Thank you very much Miss Horaki. I am sorry to have caused trouble on my first day, and I am thankful for your assistance.
HHoraki: You're welcome Ikari, and there is no need to apologize, it's not your fault Aida decided to spread rumors about you. In any case, I feel there are a few things we should discuss regarding school and other matters when we break for lunch. I will talk to you then, in the meantime be sure to pay attention.
The chat window closed, but it did nothing to dispel the stares he was receiving from his classmates. Leader and Shiki were staring at Aida, who was sweating bullets and trying to pay attention to the teacher, who was…
"…Second Impact then brought about a consistent increase in the temperature, making a massive variety of crops untenable in Japan's current environment….." Wasn't this supposed to be a math class? Well, no better time to practice being invisible, hopefully like a possum playing [{torntopieceslikeapotter'svessel}] dead they would ignore him eventually. Until then, he had research to do. Misato offhandedly mentioned yesterday that the Second Child was from Germany, perhaps that means Leader and Shiki would like German food. He hoped they did, he wanted to thank them for the help they gave him with the Angel, and what better way than food?
Rei Ayanami was stuck in a hospital bed, healing from her injuries. She had no problem with that, it gave her time to think, time to plot vengeance. A normal person would question why an inexplicable need to acquire vengeance cut through dull and dead emotions like a burning knife through cold butter, but she was not a normal person. She was the First Child, pilot of Unit-00, the container for the soul of Lilith, and a lifetime subscriber to Vegetarian's Tri-Monthly magazine. She didn't need to know where the need for vengeance came from, only that she obtained it.
"Anta Baka?" She was broken out of her revenge-based musings by a familiar, irritating, query. A tiny Ishim (the Commander informed her of the new designation when he visited her earlier that morning) was staring at her from the floor beside her bed. She wondered the best way to commit impromptu vengeance on her returned nemesis before she realized this one felt….. different. A flash of something momentarily broke her out of her vengeance-tainted thoughts….
[{adespairingscreamthatsignaledtheendofallthings}]
…..a vision that faded like her memories of the time before dashed through her mind, lessening the desire for vengeance.
"You are not the one who committed the indiscretion known as a 'prank' against me, are you?" The Ishim blinked, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. A very red-headed fish. Rei realized she had a sudden dislike for the color red that she did not possess previously, like her desire for vengeance. Unlike her desire for vengeance, she deigned to question where such a dislike came from. A moment of consideration brought an answer, she hated blood, blood was red, ergo she hated red. Nodding at her infallible logic as to where her new hate came from, she returned her attention to the Ishim, who shook her head in the negative. Good, that would make this easier.
"Very well. I have no ill will towards you. But to the one who transgressed against me, you will relay a message." Rei did not wait for a confirmation before continuing. "Tell the one who transgressed against me that I, Rei Ayanami, will not take this act of disrespect lying down. I will enact upon them a vengeance so grand, so sublime, that future generations of mankind will write epics about my victory. Plays will be written about my conquest over your compatriot, sonnets depicting my revenge will be distributed to schoolchildren to teach them of the folly of men perpetrated by the one who wronged me. And when my dread vengeance is brought to fruition, when this Prankster who had defaced me lies broken and defeated at my feet, I will say nothing. As nothing needs to be said to mere dust" Rei pauses to take a drink of water, her vocal cords are quite out of practice for such lengthy use. "Could you tell her that, please?" She almost forgot to add please, she was always instructed to be polite when possible.
The Ishim stared at her, slacked-jawed and pale. Rei hoped she wasn't sick, she would like her promise of vengeance to be delivered. The Ishim regained color and nodded stiffly before running out of the room. She must want to deliver the message as soon as possible, how helpful. Rei realized the pinching feeling of vengeance had also lessened, decreasing the need to think about vengeance. Odd, she would have to investigate this later. But before that, she felt the tendrils of sleep creep upon her mind. She required rest, any thoughts of vengeance could wait until when she woke up. As she drifted to sleep, her thoughts, oddly enough, drifted to a certain brown-haired boy she had met a few days prior, filling her with curiosity about the Third Child.
"I wonder what the Commander's son is like?"
The lunch bell rang and the dogs of war were let slip. Students circled around Shinji like sharks smelling blood. They pelted him with a caterwaul of questions, leaving no time for him to answer. Before Leader and Shiki could scare them away with what was undoubtedly a violent act of intimidation, an authoritative voice cut through the voices.
"Ikari, welcome to our class, I am the class representative, Hikari Horaki. I need to go over a few things with you, would you care to join me for lunch while I explain things?" Her mere presence inspired fear into the student body, as they shrunk away as she approached him, mutters of 'the twin tail tyrant' whispered just out of earshot. Shinji grabbed the offer like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood.
"Y-yes, of course, Class Representative Horaki. Sorry to trouble you." He idly noticed the three Minisukas from before sitting atop the Class Rep's head and shoulders, glaring at the other students.
"It's no trouble at all, it's my duty as Class Representative to help new students." Her eyes turned to a student trying to quietly flee the classroom. "Aida." She called out to Kensuke with a smile that did not reach her eyes. "Help me go over things with Ikari, please." It was not a request. Kensuke's eyes flew back and forth between the Class Rep and the door, trying to decide if he preferred being consigned to oblivion now or later. Kensuke, to his credit, decided to face the gallows without delay.
"Yes, Class Rep." He moved to follow the Class Rep with Shinji as she led them to a more secluded area away from prying eyes, which ended up being a nice shaded bench out in the courtyard. Shinji began to unwrap his lunch and distribute some of it to Leader and Shiki.
"So first off-" Hikari began. "Aida, apologize to Ikari for spreading rumors about him!" She ordered as she also began doling out parts of her bento to her own retinue of Minisukas. None save Leader seemed to notice Shiki holding an octopus-shaped sausage that Shinji had given her with a shell-shocked stare. This was quickly solved by a light smack on the back of Shiki's head, courtesy of Leader.
"Uh, sorry Ikari. In my defense though, I didn't outright say you were a pilot." Kensuke silently lamented his own lack of lunch, but thought of the cafeteria food and realized he was probably better off.
"What do you mean Aida?"
"Well, someone asked how I got this scratch." He pointed to the scratch on his cheek. "So I said a Red Demon gave it to me when I asked a new kid if he was the pilot of the giant robot. People began making their own assumptions. It…. snowballed from there." Oh, that wasn't as bad as he thought. It didn't help that he was the pilot, but hopefully, Shinji could play dumb until they got bored.
"That sounds like it was just an accident Aida, so you don't have to worry. Everyone will get bored eventually and leave me alone. It's not like I'm very interesting to be around anyway."
"Geez, Ikari, that's kinda-"
"Anyway!" Hikari interjected before this depressing topic could continue any further. "There was something I wanted to ask you Ikari. How do you deal with them?" Shinji blinked at the sudden change in topic.
"Them?" He questioned. He looked around, spotting the two groups of Minisukas eating. He quickly put two and two together. "Oh, the Minisukas."
"Wait, what did you call th-" Kensuke's question was cut off by Hikari's confirmation.
"Yes, them. I know they mean well-" Kensuke barely suppressed a snort. "-but they're so exhausting to deal with! I already have to deal with my sisters, my dad, and being a class representative! And I don't want to kick them out, that would be rude! Besides, my little sister loves them."
"Are they good with kids?"
"I didn't say that." She coughs awkwardly. "Anyway, you obviously have your own to deal with, how do you handle them?" Shinji was taken aback by the Class Rep's mild but firm mannerisms breaking, leaving a tone of exhaustion.
"Uh, sorry, but I don't really do anything in particular. I just, go about my day with them there. They haven't really bothered me much in any way." Well, aside from Shiki staring at him while he sleeps, but that might be misinterpreted, so he wasn't going to say that.
"Oh." Hikari seemed to deflate at that. Silence reigned for a time, peppered by the sounds of eating before she spoke again, this time to Aida. "By the way Aida, where is Suzuhara? I haven't seen him in a few days."
"You haven't heard Class Rep? His sister got injured when the giant robot was fighting that monster. He's been staying at the hospital while his sister is in the I…..C…..U. Hey, Ikari? You alright?" Kensuke could only stare at Shinji, who had gone wide-eyed and pale.
"Baka-Shinji?" Leader, or perhaps Shiki, called out to him, but they were fading from his perception as the weight of his actions was crashing down upon him. He stumbled off the bench, his lunchbox clattering to the ground along with its contents. He didn't care though, as he half sprinted to the nearest location he could see, a lone tree, and expelled the contents of his stomach at the base of the trunk. He tried to get his erratic breathing under control as muffled voices approached him from behind as he tried to stabilize his guilty thoughts.
"It's….. my fault?" Shinji gasped out through the taste of bile as two pairs of tiny hands proceeded to pat his back, making him feel a bit better. Thankful for Leader's and Shiki's support, he couldn't help but feel undeserving of it. Quite frankly, his first day of school was ending up terrible, and he hoped the day wouldn't get worse.
Nerv Berlin at the same time
[{lettingoutananguishedscreamasyoucradledthebodyinyourarms}]
Asuka Langley Soryu woke with a start. She got up out of her tangled bed covers and stared at her reflection in her vanity's mirror.
"What the hell was that!?"
Politely denying Misato's offer for a ride to school on the basis of wanting to get a better lay of the land, he quickly walked to the train. The car he got in wasn't too crowded, mostly containing other students and a few errant businessmen. He quickly grabbed a seat and tried to make himself invisible despite the two Minisukas on his shoulders, a challenge, but not undoable. His long practiced social invisibility techniques, however, were never meant to account for a horde of Minisukas bursting into the train car before it left and surrounding him, drawing the attention of everyone to him and him alone.
"Baka!" "Anta Baka?" "Baka Shinji." The cacophonous half-shouts of the new horde of Minisukas conveyed nothing to him about what was going on. He wondered if he caused some kind of territorial dispute by entering the train, as Leader was threatening the horde with her lance, acting as a mighty lioness protecting her cub from a pack of hyenas. Angry red-headed hyenas. Shiki, to her credit, ignored the whole thing and climbed into his front pocket and proceeded to use it as a hammock, drifting off into a light nap.
"Woah, how'd you tame them?!" A new voice broke his attention away from the horde, revealing a bespectacled teenage boy with sandy blonde hair. "Cause the only other person I've seen the Red Demons interact with cordially is the Class Rep, and she won't tell me anything!" All the Minisukas, even Shiki, turned to look at the boy with varying levels of annoyance. Except for Shiki, she just stared at him, blinked, then went back to ignoring everyone in favor of napping.
"Uhhh…."
"Oh right, I'm Kensuke Aida, night to meetcha!" The newly identified Kensuke began appraising Shinji with an analytical eye. "Haven't seen you around before, did you just transfer in?"
"Y-yes, I'm Shinji Ikari. Nice to meet you, Aida." Shinji bowed lightly, in order to not disturb Shiki like last time.
"Ikari huh?" Kensuke muttered aloud. The Minisukas had since gone back to their territorial dispute, though a few kept a wary eye on Kensuke, in particular, the camera dangling from his neck. Why he had a camera, Shinji didn't know. Perhaps he was part of the photography club? "Well Ikari, let me be the first to welcome you to Tokyo-3."
"Oh, thank you." Well, he seemed nice at least. At least there was one person who-
"So, are you piloting the giant robot?" Shinji's train of thought came to a screeching halt, possibly even derailing and destroying multiple metaphorical mental buildings.
"Giant Robot?" The genuine confusion in his voice from the sudden change in topic prompted Kensuke to keep going.
"Yeah, the one that fought the monster a few days ago. I thought it was pretty weird that we received a transfer student so suddenly after a giant monster attack, and he shares the family name of NERV's Supreme Commander, so-" He was interrupted when something flew past his cheek, leaving a small but noticeable scratch on it. He turned to look at the red lance now embedded in the train car's roof, then back at all the Minisukas, who were now all staring at him. The threatening look they were giving him was decipherable by anyone with at least three brain cells to mean 'You better stop if you know what's good for you.' Fortunately, Kensuke Aida had three brain cells, and plenty more to spare, so he got the hint. "-so how about the local sports team, huh? They sure are doing things in the current sports season." He flinched when the lance flew past him again, back into Leader's hand.
"They, uh, sure are Aida." Shinji tried, hoping to give his nosy schoolmate a way out.
"Yup, so I'm going to go sit away from any theoretical threat to my life. See you in school, Ikari!" Kensuke bolted away to the other side of the car before Shinji could get a word in edgewise. The Minisukas seemed to have brokered some kind of truce, as they stopped circling him like some kind of [{whitevulture}] predator, instead opting to hang around his general area, glaring at anyone who vaguely approached.
"I'm really going to need to improve my social invisibility techniques, aren't I?" He muttered to himself.
"Anta Baka?" Shiki provided, making Shinji sigh. It was going to be a long day.
Kensuke sprinted out of the train car like his life depended on it (which it might have) as the horde of Minisukas dispersed. Shinji then noticed something he hadn't during the drives with Misato. The city was infested with Minisukas. It wasn't like it was too obvious, but if you paid attention you could probably find a Minisuka doing something in a little alcove or on a roof as you walked around. On the way to school, Shinji noticed around two dozen Minisukas doing various things like drifting jury-rigged RC cars, using stray cats as steeds, fighting seagulls, or trying to explain the difference between pink and salmon to a preschooler via pantomime. And they were all watching him. He could feel their eyes as he walked past, studying him. It was uncomfortable having so many eyes on him.
Eventually, he was able to make it to school, attempting to blend in with a crowd of students making their way through the front gates. The teacher in charge of watching the front gate stared at him for a moment before breaking his stare and scratching his forehead while muttering something into his wrist. After a quick stop at the faculty, office to receive his papers and a school computer terminal he was directed to class 2-A for his introduction. After writing his name on the blackboard and giving himself a modest introduction, he noticed a few things. First, the boy he met on the train, Kensuke Aida, was his classmate and tried very hard not to look at him. Second, there were three Minisukas (who were clapping politely) on the desk of a brown-haired girl with twin tails, the 'class rep' if Aida was to be believed. Third and finally, everyone was looking at him with awe, whispering beyond the edge of his hearing about something.
"Thank you, Mister Ikari." Droned the teacher. "Please take that seat over there." A weary finger points to an empty seat in the center of the classroom. He silently makes his way to the seat, withstanding everyone's stares and the Minisukas continued polite clapping. Shinji tries to fade into the background as the teacher begins his lesson which devolves into a lecture about Second Impact. His terminal boots up without much fanfare, which prompts Leader and Shiki to start messing with it. They do….. something computery on it, something that goes beyond his barely computer literate head. Before he has time to question it a message notification appears causing Leader and Shiki to stop whatever they were doing.
KAida: hey ikari? its aida
Oh, these have chat functions? Aren't they worried the students will be distracted by these if everyone gets a terminal? Thoughts for later, he better respond, he wouldn't want to be rude.
SIkari: Greetings Aida, it is a pleasure to talk to you again. I hope we did not get off on the wrong foot on the train.
KAida: wow ikari i dont think ive seen some1 b more formal in a school chat room outside of the class rep
Was that a compliment or an insult?
KAida: anyway just a heads up i may have let slip that u may b the giant robots pilot 2 the entire class by accident please dont sic ur demon army on me pls+thnks
Aida left the chat room quickly and left Shinji with many questions. Like why was Aida using this weird language that seemed to abbreviate some words, how does one accidentally reveal the potential identity of a giant robot pilot, and oh gods why are all these chat requests popping up? The tidal wave of chat prompts flowed forth, most asking him if he was a pilot. Also, a bunch of boys (and one girl) asked him if he could get Doctor Akagi's number for them. He tried closing them, but for every prompt he closed, three more took their place like some kind of digital hydra. As it seemed all hope was lost, the deluge of prompts ceased and was replaced by one message.
HHoraki: Hello there Ikari, I'm the class representative Hikari Horaki. As a class representative, I possess minor administrative privileges over chat functionality, as such I have disabled incoming messages for you so as not to bother you.
Oh, that's a lifesaver. And explains how students don't get too distracted.
SIkari: Thank you very much Miss Horaki. I am sorry to have caused trouble on my first day, and I am thankful for your assistance.
HHoraki: You're welcome Ikari, and there is no need to apologize, it's not your fault Aida decided to spread rumors about you. In any case, I feel there are a few things we should discuss regarding school and other matters when we break for lunch. I will talk to you then, in the meantime be sure to pay attention.
The chat window closed, but it did nothing to dispel the stares he was receiving from his classmates. Leader and Shiki were staring at Aida, who was sweating bullets and trying to pay attention to the teacher, who was…
"…Second Impact then brought about a consistent increase in the temperature, making a massive variety of crops untenable in Japan's current environment….." Wasn't this supposed to be a math class? Well, no better time to practice being invisible, hopefully like a possum playing [{torntopieceslikeapotter'svessel}] dead they would ignore him eventually. Until then, he had research to do. Misato offhandedly mentioned yesterday that the Second Child was from Germany, perhaps that means Leader and Shiki would like German food. He hoped they did, he wanted to thank them for the help they gave him with the Angel, and what better way than food?
Rei Ayanami was stuck in a hospital bed, healing from her injuries. She had no problem with that, it gave her time to think, time to plot vengeance. A normal person would question why an inexplicable need to acquire vengeance cut through dull and dead emotions like a burning knife through cold butter, but she was not a normal person. She was the First Child, pilot of Unit-00, the container for the soul of Lilith, and a lifetime subscriber to Vegetarian's Tri-Monthly magazine. She didn't need to know where the need for vengeance came from, only that she obtained it.
"Anta Baka?" She was broken out of her revenge-based musings by a familiar, irritating, query. A tiny Ishim (the Commander informed her of the new designation when he visited her earlier that morning) was staring at her from the floor beside her bed. She wondered the best way to commit impromptu vengeance on her returned nemesis before she realized this one felt….. different. A flash of something momentarily broke her out of her vengeance-tainted thoughts….
[{adespairingscreamthatsignaledtheendofallthings}]
…..a vision that faded like her memories of the time before dashed through her mind, lessening the desire for vengeance.
"You are not the one who committed the indiscretion known as a 'prank' against me, are you?" The Ishim blinked, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. A very red-headed fish. Rei realized she had a sudden dislike for the color red that she did not possess previously, like her desire for vengeance. Unlike her desire for vengeance, she deigned to question where such a dislike came from. A moment of consideration brought an answer, she hated blood, blood was red, ergo she hated red. Nodding at her infallible logic as to where her new hate came from, she returned her attention to the Ishim, who shook her head in the negative. Good, that would make this easier.
"Very well. I have no ill will towards you. But to the one who transgressed against me, you will relay a message." Rei did not wait for a confirmation before continuing. "Tell the one who transgressed against me that I, Rei Ayanami, will not take this act of disrespect lying down. I will enact upon them a vengeance so grand, so sublime, that future generations of mankind will write epics about my victory. Plays will be written about my conquest over your compatriot, sonnets depicting my revenge will be distributed to schoolchildren to teach them of the folly of men perpetrated by the one who wronged me. And when my dread vengeance is brought to fruition, when this Prankster who had defaced me lies broken and defeated at my feet, I will say nothing. As nothing needs to be said to mere dust" Rei pauses to take a drink of water, her vocal cords are quite out of practice for such lengthy use. "Could you tell her that, please?" She almost forgot to add please, she was always instructed to be polite when possible.
The Ishim stared at her, slacked-jawed and pale. Rei hoped she wasn't sick, she would like her promise of vengeance to be delivered. The Ishim regained color and nodded stiffly before running out of the room. She must want to deliver the message as soon as possible, how helpful. Rei realized the pinching feeling of vengeance had also lessened, decreasing the need to think about vengeance. Odd, she would have to investigate this later. But before that, she felt the tendrils of sleep creep upon her mind. She required rest, any thoughts of vengeance could wait until when she woke up. As she drifted to sleep, her thoughts, oddly enough, drifted to a certain brown-haired boy she had met a few days prior, filling her with curiosity about the Third Child.
"I wonder what the Commander's son is like?"
The lunch bell rang and the dogs of war were let slip. Students circled around Shinji like sharks smelling blood. They pelted him with a caterwaul of questions, leaving no time for him to answer. Before Leader and Shiki could scare them away with what was undoubtedly a violent act of intimidation, an authoritative voice cut through the voices.
"Ikari, welcome to our class, I am the class representative, Hikari Horaki. I need to go over a few things with you, would you care to join me for lunch while I explain things?" Her mere presence inspired fear into the student body, as they shrunk away as she approached him, mutters of 'the twin tail tyrant' whispered just out of earshot. Shinji grabbed the offer like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood.
"Y-yes, of course, Class Representative Horaki. Sorry to trouble you." He idly noticed the three Minisukas from before sitting atop the Class Rep's head and shoulders, glaring at the other students.
"It's no trouble at all, it's my duty as Class Representative to help new students." Her eyes turned to a student trying to quietly flee the classroom. "Aida." She called out to Kensuke with a smile that did not reach her eyes. "Help me go over things with Ikari, please." It was not a request. Kensuke's eyes flew back and forth between the Class Rep and the door, trying to decide if he preferred being consigned to oblivion now or later. Kensuke, to his credit, decided to face the gallows without delay.
"Yes, Class Rep." He moved to follow the Class Rep with Shinji as she led them to a more secluded area away from prying eyes, which ended up being a nice shaded bench out in the courtyard. Shinji began to unwrap his lunch and distribute some of it to Leader and Shiki.
"So first off-" Hikari began. "Aida, apologize to Ikari for spreading rumors about him!" She ordered as she also began doling out parts of her bento to her own retinue of Minisukas. None save Leader seemed to notice Shiki holding an octopus-shaped sausage that Shinji had given her with a shell-shocked stare. This was quickly solved by a light smack on the back of Shiki's head, courtesy of Leader.
"Uh, sorry Ikari. In my defense though, I didn't outright say you were a pilot." Kensuke silently lamented his own lack of lunch, but thought of the cafeteria food and realized he was probably better off.
"What do you mean Aida?"
"Well, someone asked how I got this scratch." He pointed to the scratch on his cheek. "So I said a Red Demon gave it to me when I asked a new kid if he was the pilot of the giant robot. People began making their own assumptions. It…. snowballed from there." Oh, that wasn't as bad as he thought. It didn't help that he was the pilot, but hopefully, Shinji could play dumb until they got bored.
"That sounds like it was just an accident Aida, so you don't have to worry. Everyone will get bored eventually and leave me alone. It's not like I'm very interesting to be around anyway."
"Geez, Ikari, that's kinda-"
"Anyway!" Hikari interjected before this depressing topic could continue any further. "There was something I wanted to ask you Ikari. How do you deal with them?" Shinji blinked at the sudden change in topic.
"Them?" He questioned. He looked around, spotting the two groups of Minisukas eating. He quickly put two and two together. "Oh, the Minisukas."
"Wait, what did you call th-" Kensuke's question was cut off by Hikari's confirmation.
"Yes, them. I know they mean well-" Kensuke barely suppressed a snort. "-but they're so exhausting to deal with! I already have to deal with my sisters, my dad, and being a class representative! And I don't want to kick them out, that would be rude! Besides, my little sister loves them."
"Are they good with kids?"
"I didn't say that." She coughs awkwardly. "Anyway, you obviously have your own to deal with, how do you handle them?" Shinji was taken aback by the Class Rep's mild but firm mannerisms breaking, leaving a tone of exhaustion.
"Uh, sorry, but I don't really do anything in particular. I just, go about my day with them there. They haven't really bothered me much in any way." Well, aside from Shiki staring at him while he sleeps, but that might be misinterpreted, so he wasn't going to say that.
"Oh." Hikari seemed to deflate at that. Silence reigned for a time, peppered by the sounds of eating before she spoke again, this time to Aida. "By the way Aida, where is Suzuhara? I haven't seen him in a few days."
"You haven't heard Class Rep? His sister got injured when the giant robot was fighting that monster. He's been staying at the hospital while his sister is in the I…..C…..U. Hey, Ikari? You alright?" Kensuke could only stare at Shinji, who had gone wide-eyed and pale.
"Baka-Shinji?" Leader, or perhaps Shiki, called out to him, but they were fading from his perception as the weight of his actions was crashing down upon him. He stumbled off the bench, his lunchbox clattering to the ground along with its contents. He didn't care though, as he half sprinted to the nearest location he could see, a lone tree, and expelled the contents of his stomach at the base of the trunk. He tried to get his erratic breathing under control as muffled voices approached him from behind as he tried to stabilize his guilty thoughts.
"It's….. my fault?" Shinji gasped out through the taste of bile as two pairs of tiny hands proceeded to pat his back, making him feel a bit better. Thankful for Leader's and Shiki's support, he couldn't help but feel undeserving of it. Quite frankly, his first day of school was ending up terrible, and he hoped the day wouldn't get worse.
Nerv Berlin at the same time
[{lettingoutananguishedscreamasyoucradledthebodyinyourarms}]
Asuka Langley Soryu woke with a start. She got up out of her tangled bed covers and stared at her reflection in her vanity's mirror.
"What the hell was that!?"