Chapter 13.3
- Location
- Australia, mate
Yeah, they're technically two different holes that happen to be in the same spot.
By the way, (minor spoiler for part three) I'm looking to try and describe this kind of person's face
(They're the closest images I could find for what I was going for)
when he's had time to think about what he did. The only thing I can think of is the word 'ashamed', which is really not enough. It kind of needs a few lines to say just how... well... ashamed the guy looks while Misato is staring him down and trying to resist the urge to shoot him.
******
Chapter 13.2
A week after his return, Toji had voiced a concern about Shinji to the Katsuragi household.
"He needs exercise, even if all he can do is walk. He's already a skinny dude. If you keep the Shin-man laying in bed all day, his muscles are gonna disappear. You should get him out and about, just to try and keep what little he still has."
Misato had immediately made the suggestion that Asuka take him for a stroll, which the redhead grudgingly agreed to. Now that people had returned, she could no longer simply drag him around by the hand as she had done before. Instead, Asuka had to order Shinji to follow her, and tended to stay close to the apartment building.
Whenever Shinji was told to follow someone, it was always right on their heels, and that plus the blank look on his face almost always got strange looks directed at him and his caretaker, and a few people had even tried to stop the boy, believing him to be a stalker. To Asuka's slight relief, occasionally one of the other residents of the building would offer to take her place, meaning that she would not have to worry obsessively over people staring when she passed them on the street.
Shinji now at least looked much better physically, especially after Hikari had offered to trim his unruly hair. Since the two Children were approximately the same size, it had been easy for Asuka to loot new clothing for the boy. Clothes that were most definitely not a white button-down shirt and black pants.
Today she had been planning a trip to the mall to, as she said to Misato that morning, "update the idiot's wardrobe". They both still needed more clothing, although Asuka would admit that the trip was more for her benefit than Shinji's. While she would have preferred to go on her own to avoid the stares, there was currently nobody else available to look after the boy. Toji and Hikari had already left on their own planned outing with Sakura and Pen-pen, Kensuke was running an errand, and their fathers had gone off to their jobs.
With a sigh, Asuka told Shinji to follow her and left the apartment building. As always, Shinji was on her heels like a lost dog. They made it to the mall and Asuka immediately went to the nearest clothing store. It was obvious that the people of Tokyo-3 wanted to return to a normal life as quickly as possible. Most of the shops and stalls were already open, with people wandering around pretending as if nothing had happened.
Asuka would have enjoyed her time at the mall, had it not been for a couple of incidents. The first was when a clerk walked up to the redhead after she had spent about twenty minutes picking out clothes for Shinji.
"Excuse me, miss," the woman said. "Is this person bothering you?"
"Uh, no, he isn't," Asuka replied. "He's my... house-mate."
The clerk nodded and turned to Shinji. "Well, I'm afraid I'll still have to ask you to leave, sir. You're disturbing the other customers."
Asuka looked around, and saw several other people looking their way suddenly turn around and become incredibly interested in whatever was in front of them. She groaned in frustration.
"There's nothing he can do about it, alright?" she growled. "He was traumatised by Third Impact and I'm the one that looks after him. If you have a problem with that then I'll take my business elsewhere!"
Backing away in shock, the clerk stammered, "O-oh! I didn't know! Please accept my apologies!" She bowed profusely in front of Asuka, who rolled her eyes and turned back to the rack she had been perusing.
When Asuka decided that she had enough clothing for the two of them, she walked up to the front counter, and sighed as the same clerk once again apologised. She silently paid for her things and left, carrying three bags of clothing. The German girl would have given one to Shinji to hold, but it felt too much like she would be... using him if she did that.
Perhaps if she had done it anyway, the second incident would have been avoided. Asuka almost made it to the mall exit when she was stopped by a black-haired teen.
"Hey girl, is this freak troubling you?" he asked, grinning at the redhead.
Behind her, the teen's two friends were holding onto Shinji, who was futilely trying to reach Asuka.
"Hey! Let him go, you idiots!" she yelled as she stomped over to them.
"Whoa, are you defending this creep or somethin'?" one of them asked as they relaxed their grip on the boy.
"Yeah, he's been stalking you ever since you came in here!" the other added. "Least he could have done was hold your bags. Why don't you ditch him and walk home with me? I'll carry them for you." He shoved Shinji away, and the Third Child immediately fell over and lay still on the ground.
The three teens were only seconds away from being attacked by Asuka when a voice from behind said, "How about you go find someone else to harass, Hiro?"
The black-haired teen turned and snarled. "Suzuhara. You're jumping in to protect him too?"
"Damn right I am."
While they were facing off, Hikari and Sakura were gently lifting Shinji off the ground, while Pen-pen made angry noises at the hoodlums. The boy hadn't even attempted to soften his fall when he had been shoved, and had been only centimetres away from hitting his head on a planter.
"Phew, he isn't badly hurt," Hikari said, breathing a sigh of relief.
Sakura was visibly upset by the teen's treatment of Shinji. "Those mean boys almost hurt him!"
"And now your brother needs to have a chat with them about their behaviour, so let's go outside and wait for them."
Only a minute later, Hiro was now in the foetal position on the ground after being kicked in the gut by an angry redhead. The other two had attempted to intervene, only to be stopped by Toji grabbing handfuls of their shirt and lifting them both into the air.
"Get the hell out of here," he demanded, dropping them back to the ground. "and don't let me catch you picking on my friends again."
They hastily picked up their defeated leader and fled. As soon as they were out of view, Toji exhaled deeply and glanced sidelong at Asuka, who still had her fists clenched with a hateful look on her face while staring in the direction the teens had retreated. Toji called out to her, and Asuka snapped out of it, shaking herself and letting her arms drop to her side. He jerked his head towards the exit, and they left the mall.
Outside, the two girls and Shinji were sitting on a bench, with Pen-pen being hugged to Sakura's chest. Asuka rushed over to check on Shinji, but apart from a lump on his head where it had connected with the ground, the boy seemed unharmed. She gently pushed the boy to one side and sat down on the bench next to him before turning her attention to the jock. "Okay, Suzuhara, who the hell were they? You apparently knew one of them. And what are you all doing here? I thought you had plans for today."
Sakura stood up to make room for Toji, and got on his lap when the boy took her place next to Hikari. "We did. We were on our way home when Sakura asked to go to the mall for a bite to eat. The guy who stopped you was Hiro Kitamura. I never bothered to learn the names of his cronies. You're not the first girl they've tried to," he put up his hands and made finger quotes "'impress' with what they probably think is chivalry. The last time, I heard Hiro actually paid someone to harass a girl so he could swoop in and get rid of him."
The redhead rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I guess even Third Impact can't change some people. Well they should just consider themselves lucky that Section 2 isn't back on their feet yet to bodyguard us pilots. They'd probably have shot him and his flunkies dead."
Sakura bounced up and down on Toji's lap. "Big bro! Did you teach them a lesson?"
Toji put on a smile for his sister, and gave her a thumbs up. "Asuka did the teaching. I just made sure they paid attention in class!"
By the way, (minor spoiler for part three) I'm looking to try and describe this kind of person's face
(They're the closest images I could find for what I was going for)
******
Chapter 13.2
A week after his return, Toji had voiced a concern about Shinji to the Katsuragi household.
"He needs exercise, even if all he can do is walk. He's already a skinny dude. If you keep the Shin-man laying in bed all day, his muscles are gonna disappear. You should get him out and about, just to try and keep what little he still has."
Misato had immediately made the suggestion that Asuka take him for a stroll, which the redhead grudgingly agreed to. Now that people had returned, she could no longer simply drag him around by the hand as she had done before. Instead, Asuka had to order Shinji to follow her, and tended to stay close to the apartment building.
Whenever Shinji was told to follow someone, it was always right on their heels, and that plus the blank look on his face almost always got strange looks directed at him and his caretaker, and a few people had even tried to stop the boy, believing him to be a stalker. To Asuka's slight relief, occasionally one of the other residents of the building would offer to take her place, meaning that she would not have to worry obsessively over people staring when she passed them on the street.
Shinji now at least looked much better physically, especially after Hikari had offered to trim his unruly hair. Since the two Children were approximately the same size, it had been easy for Asuka to loot new clothing for the boy. Clothes that were most definitely not a white button-down shirt and black pants.
Today she had been planning a trip to the mall to, as she said to Misato that morning, "update the idiot's wardrobe". They both still needed more clothing, although Asuka would admit that the trip was more for her benefit than Shinji's. While she would have preferred to go on her own to avoid the stares, there was currently nobody else available to look after the boy. Toji and Hikari had already left on their own planned outing with Sakura and Pen-pen, Kensuke was running an errand, and their fathers had gone off to their jobs.
With a sigh, Asuka told Shinji to follow her and left the apartment building. As always, Shinji was on her heels like a lost dog. They made it to the mall and Asuka immediately went to the nearest clothing store. It was obvious that the people of Tokyo-3 wanted to return to a normal life as quickly as possible. Most of the shops and stalls were already open, with people wandering around pretending as if nothing had happened.
Asuka would have enjoyed her time at the mall, had it not been for a couple of incidents. The first was when a clerk walked up to the redhead after she had spent about twenty minutes picking out clothes for Shinji.
"Excuse me, miss," the woman said. "Is this person bothering you?"
"Uh, no, he isn't," Asuka replied. "He's my... house-mate."
The clerk nodded and turned to Shinji. "Well, I'm afraid I'll still have to ask you to leave, sir. You're disturbing the other customers."
Asuka looked around, and saw several other people looking their way suddenly turn around and become incredibly interested in whatever was in front of them. She groaned in frustration.
"There's nothing he can do about it, alright?" she growled. "He was traumatised by Third Impact and I'm the one that looks after him. If you have a problem with that then I'll take my business elsewhere!"
Backing away in shock, the clerk stammered, "O-oh! I didn't know! Please accept my apologies!" She bowed profusely in front of Asuka, who rolled her eyes and turned back to the rack she had been perusing.
When Asuka decided that she had enough clothing for the two of them, she walked up to the front counter, and sighed as the same clerk once again apologised. She silently paid for her things and left, carrying three bags of clothing. The German girl would have given one to Shinji to hold, but it felt too much like she would be... using him if she did that.
Perhaps if she had done it anyway, the second incident would have been avoided. Asuka almost made it to the mall exit when she was stopped by a black-haired teen.
"Hey girl, is this freak troubling you?" he asked, grinning at the redhead.
Behind her, the teen's two friends were holding onto Shinji, who was futilely trying to reach Asuka.
"Hey! Let him go, you idiots!" she yelled as she stomped over to them.
"Whoa, are you defending this creep or somethin'?" one of them asked as they relaxed their grip on the boy.
"Yeah, he's been stalking you ever since you came in here!" the other added. "Least he could have done was hold your bags. Why don't you ditch him and walk home with me? I'll carry them for you." He shoved Shinji away, and the Third Child immediately fell over and lay still on the ground.
The three teens were only seconds away from being attacked by Asuka when a voice from behind said, "How about you go find someone else to harass, Hiro?"
The black-haired teen turned and snarled. "Suzuhara. You're jumping in to protect him too?"
"Damn right I am."
While they were facing off, Hikari and Sakura were gently lifting Shinji off the ground, while Pen-pen made angry noises at the hoodlums. The boy hadn't even attempted to soften his fall when he had been shoved, and had been only centimetres away from hitting his head on a planter.
"Phew, he isn't badly hurt," Hikari said, breathing a sigh of relief.
Sakura was visibly upset by the teen's treatment of Shinji. "Those mean boys almost hurt him!"
"And now your brother needs to have a chat with them about their behaviour, so let's go outside and wait for them."
Only a minute later, Hiro was now in the foetal position on the ground after being kicked in the gut by an angry redhead. The other two had attempted to intervene, only to be stopped by Toji grabbing handfuls of their shirt and lifting them both into the air.
"Get the hell out of here," he demanded, dropping them back to the ground. "and don't let me catch you picking on my friends again."
They hastily picked up their defeated leader and fled. As soon as they were out of view, Toji exhaled deeply and glanced sidelong at Asuka, who still had her fists clenched with a hateful look on her face while staring in the direction the teens had retreated. Toji called out to her, and Asuka snapped out of it, shaking herself and letting her arms drop to her side. He jerked his head towards the exit, and they left the mall.
Outside, the two girls and Shinji were sitting on a bench, with Pen-pen being hugged to Sakura's chest. Asuka rushed over to check on Shinji, but apart from a lump on his head where it had connected with the ground, the boy seemed unharmed. She gently pushed the boy to one side and sat down on the bench next to him before turning her attention to the jock. "Okay, Suzuhara, who the hell were they? You apparently knew one of them. And what are you all doing here? I thought you had plans for today."
Sakura stood up to make room for Toji, and got on his lap when the boy took her place next to Hikari. "We did. We were on our way home when Sakura asked to go to the mall for a bite to eat. The guy who stopped you was Hiro Kitamura. I never bothered to learn the names of his cronies. You're not the first girl they've tried to," he put up his hands and made finger quotes "'impress' with what they probably think is chivalry. The last time, I heard Hiro actually paid someone to harass a girl so he could swoop in and get rid of him."
The redhead rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I guess even Third Impact can't change some people. Well they should just consider themselves lucky that Section 2 isn't back on their feet yet to bodyguard us pilots. They'd probably have shot him and his flunkies dead."
Sakura bounced up and down on Toji's lap. "Big bro! Did you teach them a lesson?"
Toji put on a smile for his sister, and gave her a thumbs up. "Asuka did the teaching. I just made sure they paid attention in class!"
