yeah, that might not be true, in the old, pre-disney canon Palpatine had Clones as backup bodies
and even in the new Canon, I hear that Snoke was a flawed Palpatine Clone. Which implies that there might be one or more non-flawed.
Keel: If you get killed by one of your adversaries, your contingencies weren't redundant enough.
xxxx
The rest of the day had been relatively uneventful: Shinji had managed to make it in time for his fourth period class (which was with Hyuga-sensei's social studies class on Thursday), which meant he could enjoy lunch and the rest of the school day: various music and fine arts topics from Aoba-sensei in fifth period, and health education from Ooi-sensei in the sixth period. As Fuyutsuki-sensei finished the last homeroom period and Cleaning Time commenced, Shinji wondered about the certain distance between himself and most of the other students. It was hard to describe, but there was a strange separation; whereas before he had been the object of detached fascination as the 'new transfer student', there was now...wariness? Whispers?
What had happened?
"Man, gossip travels fast..." murmured Kensuke as he washed the window next to Shinji.
"Huh?"
"Well, I'm not exactly sure
what happened, because I was at NERV
all day yesterday," he griped, "but I've heard some students talking about you being near that giant cross of light at Lake Ashi from Tuesday."
"...really?" How had
that happened?
Kensuke shrugged. "Who knows. This may catapult you into the
Ayanami Social Bracket. Trademark," he added as an afterthought.
"...hmm." He didn't quite know how to feel about that. People didn't really bother Ayanami-san that much...but did that mean he would become like her?
xxxx
His Other was quiet.
As was the Beast.
xxxx
He didn't know.
As he finished cleaning his particular window - wincing at the fact that he needed to use a stepladder to reach the highest corners, and
why did he still feel so sore?? - Hikari Horaki approached both boys, holding two sheaves of paper. "I photocopied my notes from yesterday's classes and this morning's earlier periods, since you two were...occupied."
"
Bless you," dramatically said Kensuke, with an equally dramatic bow.
"Thank you," simply said Shinji. He briefly glanced over at Ayanami, who was calmly cleaning one of the student desk. "...what about Ayanami-san? She was absent too, wasn't she?"
Hikari sighed, a somewhat disgruntled curl to her lips. "I tried when we first had classes together back in First Year. She always denies my assistance...but she always scores in the Top Ten, so it's not like she apparently needs my assistance."
"Well, your assistance is
always appreciated," groveled Kensuke.
"Okay Aida-san, there is such a thing as going
too far," groused the Class Representative.
Shinji quietly looked around; now that he was thinking about it, he meant to check up on Toji Suzuhara, to see if he was okay. His roommate had been slated for sweeping the outside hallway today, so he wasn't exactly present...plus, the boy had been avoiding him for the most part today, occasionally looking his way with a strange expression...maybe he just wanted to be left alone, come to think of it.
I'll have a chance to talk with him later.
But first, today was Thursday. And that meant one thing, at least.
xxxx
/Literature Club, Junior High Branch, Hakone Academy/
That's right, extracurricular activity!
"Ikari-san," said Mayumi Yamagishi, a pleasantly tiny smile coming to her face. "I'm...I'm glad to see that you're safe. There were some odd rumors..."
"...thank you, Yamagishi-san. I'm...fine." 'Fine.' What a strange way of summarizing exactly how he felt about things.
(His sensei asked him about how his day at school had gone. When he responded that everything was 'fine', the older man looked at him with a suspicious glance. "You do realize that saying you're 'fine' like that only means the opposite, right?" He didn't quite follow.)
But it was all he could offer. And apparently, the other students reading books within their respective corners were okay with that.
"Well...that's good." As if that were all, the bespectacled girl returned to her own novel.
And so Shinji returned to his laborious task of reading
The Tragedy of Hamlet. At long last, it appeared he would learn about who exactly the strange ghost was that had been bothering Bernardo, Marcellus, Horatio, ad Hamlet, and boy wasn't
that a timely thought in light of...well, everything.
Then the ghost began talking, and his mood dimmed. "I am your father's spirit," he whispered, "doomed for a certain term to walk the night...and...confined in the day...to fast in fire? Until the foul crimes done in my days of...nature? Are burnt and purged away...but I am forbidden...to tell the secrets of my prison-house..." He continued reading on, grimacing at the tale of betrayal spun by the ghost of Hamlet's father, the late King, apparently murdered by Hamlet's uncle Claudius. The accusations about Queen Gertrude were...odd, yet pointed. However, even as he tried to ponder everything that the ghost was saying, he couldn't help but think about his own situation: what if someone had killed his father? Would he be driven to vengeance for Gendo Ikari's sake? For that matter, would his father even care enough to come back from the dead to request vengeance on his behalf?
The very thought seemed absurd...and he didn't know how to feel about that.
In the corner of his vision, he saw Yamagishi rise from her recliner, placing the book
Kokoro back on one of the bookshelves. As she went to sit back down, he couldn't help but ask, "are you finished?"
The long-haired girl actually startled at the question, shocked by the question being asked. "Oh! Um...well...yes." She slowly selected a beanbag chair several feet away from his own, sitting down with her legs curled to the side. Brushing at her skirt, Yamagishi said, "whenever I finish a book...I like to spend the rest of my time thinking about it before starting a new one. To...meditate on it, I suppose."
"...what was it about?"
The girl blinked, apparently unused to other people asking her about her reading materials. A curious glance from some of the other club members only solidified the fact that an antisocial norm was being violated. Yet, she still found it in herself to continue. "It's the tale of a young man trying to find his own way in early 20th century Japan, and his relationship with an older man he calls Sensei. It's...a look at how changing times can often leave people behind, and how sometimes...one's actions can put you in a place of isolation...and how one's guilt can render it almost impossible to move on..." She flushed, her head shrinking in a manner evoking a tortoise. "Um, I don't want to spoil it...you know, in case you want to read it later..."
Shinji wordlessly nodded, mentally making a note to
not read it: reading about someone else's struggles with isolation and guilt didn't sound like his idea of a good time. "...what do you think about it?"
"...um...it's kind of sad...a little depressing...but kind of cathartic, I guess..." She huffed; if he didn't know any better, she sounded frustrated. He had no clue why. "I suppose...I kind of...
identify with the main characters, in a certain way..." Yamagishi's smile now carried a hint of sadness, slight like the tiny smudges of fingerprints found on glasses at the end of the day. "...but that's not really worth talking about. The book itself is more important."
Shinji blinked, a concerned frown coming to his face. "...why do you say that?"
"Hmm?"
"Well...it was a book written by a person, right? And without other people to read it, that person's ideas wouldn't go anywhere...um..."
What in the world am I babbling about?! "...well...I guess what I'm trying to say is...people are more important than books. So...that applies to you too," he finished, trying hard not to focus on how
intimate those words sounded.
Aida-san must never find out...or Misato-san. He had a pretty good idea of just
how they would react.
The bespectacled girl blinked dumbly at his words, a strange little blush coming to her face. Finally, she loosed a nervous giggle. "...I'm not sure I agree with you...but I think what you said is sweet. Thank you, Ikari-san." Idly brushing at one of her long strands of dark hair, she added, "maybe for the rest of the period, I can help you with any questions you have while reading
Hamlet. Does...that sound okay...?"
"Sure," Shinji immediately answered, because
GODS this translation of Shakespeare was proving to be a difficult beast to tackle.
Yamagishi's smile increased, becoming just a bit brighter. "Okay then."
xxxx
And all the while, on a subconscious level, in words he had no way of knowing...a familiar voice spoke, within the depths of his being:
I am thou, thou art I...
Thou hast acquired a new bond.
It shall lead thou to the truth
that parts the seas of depravity.
Take hold of the Hermit Arcana,
and let it guide you
to a new Promised Land...
xxxx
And so the rest of the Literature Club's time passed in relative peace.
