Disclaimer: Evangelion is owned by GAINAX.
SCRIBES OF TOKYO-3
By Eva On The Rocks
CHAPTER 7.1 Teenage Angst Has Paid Off Well...TOKYO-3 HIGH SCHOOL
Lunchtime.
It had not escaped the attention of Rei Ayanami that this part of the school day was favoured by most of her classmates. Her crimson eyes followed the groups of students as they spoke and giggled with one another, but she found the parts of conversations she overheard to be uninteresting, and so focused her mind elsewhere.
Shinji Ikari. Today she would converse with him and attempt to put him at ease so that their friendship might be stabilised.
Did they have a friendship though? Rei wondered. There was a bond, yes, but could her interactions with Shinji be classified as friendship?
"Hmm." Rei frowned slightly, although the change of expression would have gone unnoticed by most people. "Is it friendship that I desire with Ikari or something else?"
The sound of a throat clearing interrupted Rei's monologue with herself, and the blue-haired girl turned around to see Kensuke Aida standing there, clutching a half-eaten sandwich.
"Am I interrupting something, Ayanami?"
"No."
"You were...talking to yourself."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I believe it to be considered 'thinking aloud,'" Rei said, slightly irritated by this boy - Shinji's friend - and his questioning.
"Oh." Kensuke suddenly appeared to be lost for words.
From what Rei understood, it was rare for Kensuke Aida to be lost for words.
"Ayanami, I...err..."
Rei's eyebrows raised half a millimetre, a sign of impatience if a person actually noticed.
Kensuke did not notice.
"Toji's really the Fourth Child?"
This was not his concern, Rei thought. She said nothing.
"I didn't read much of those fan-fictions," he said. "But I read that Toji would get hurt. Can you make sure...well, I know you protected Shinji that time and I was wondering if...you know, you might...keep an eye on Toji too."
"You are concerned for you friend."
"Yeah, what I read-"
"I will..." Rei paused, deciding to use the words he had. "I will 'keep an eye' on Suzahara for you."
"And," he said, looking a little flustered now. "I think you should talk to Shinji. He likes you, ya know."
"He...likes me," Rei repeated.
"Yeah," Kensuke nodded. "But I think he's unsure of how to talk to you, if ya know what I mean..."
"No."
"Man," Kensuke chuckled, shaking his head. "Just go say 'hi' or something. But wait a few minutes, I think Red Devil's chewing him out over something at the minute."
"Red Devil?"
"Oh, that's what we call Asuka!" Kensuke grinned. "But not to her face."
"Her Internet pen-name," Rei noted. "You left a comment about her story."
"That's right." Kensuke took a bow. "Call me 'The Soldier of Eva'!"
"Pilot Sohryu is aware of your Internet alias and was displeased with your comments about her story," Rei said.
"She knows it was me?!" he gasped.
Rei had heard of people 'growing pale', but she found the colour draining from the spectacled boy's face to be a somewhat fascinating thing to witness. His skin was paler than her own once he found his voice.
"I...have to go," Kensuke stammered.
As he ran off into the distance, the sound of somebody shouting in German reached Rei's ears. Rei began walking in the direction of the yelling...
"If you're going to yell at me, can you do it in a language I understand?!""What was that?!" Asuka shouted, feeling a mixture of satisfaction and disgust as Shinji Ikari shrank before her. "It's not my fault you don't understand German!"
The spine of Shinji Ikari - now you see it, now you don't.
"Pathetic!"
"What are you so angry about?" Shinji asked. "So what? I didn't post a story."
"It's why you didn't post a story that I'm angry about!" Asuka shouted, before launching into her best 'Shinji-the-wimp' impression. "'Oh, will someone please pre-read my story because I'm such a dork. I can't just post something without getting everybody's approval first.'"
"I just wanted an opinion before I posted it," Shinji mumbled.
"Liar! You're probably happy nobody answered your request. It gives you a reason to be depressed!" Asuka's voice grew louder again. "Actually, you probably hoped somebody would read it and say it was garbage! It would give you an excuse to mope around listening to those same two stupid songs on your SDAT over and over-"
"What does it matter?" Shinji asked.
"You should have posted it," Asuka said. "Unless it's some sick and twisted lemon about me."
"It's not."
"What's it about then?"
"It's...I don't want to say."
"Post it then. I'll read it and find out for myself."
"You'll just call me stupid." Shinji met Asuka's eyes for half a second before looking at the ground again.
"I'll do that anyway."
"I don't get why you care about this," Shinji said. "And didn't you say we're not allowed to access the sites anymore?"
"You've taken the time to write a story." Asuka struggled to keep her voice calm. "So it must have meant something to you. But because nobody replied to your pre-reader request, you convince yourself nobody cares to read what you've written and give up. That's what pisses me off, Shinji, that you don't even try!"
"I'm not like you or Misato. I can't just post something and not care if people hate it!" Shinji cried.
"They're strangers in cyberspace, Shinji!" Asuka snapped. "Unless the only place you post it is that un-moderated fan fiction archive - you know the one - any negative comments you receive are most likely going to be constructive and helpful!"
"Didn't you post your story there?"
"I posted my story on every Eva Fan-Fiction site I could find," Asuka stated proudly. "That particular site ruined my story formatting though - how dare they try and tell me how to format my story!"
"What if my story is really bad?"
"Well nobody's going to know until you share it!" Asuka shouted. "Did you read that crap Misato posted? It can't be that bad."
"I guess..." Shinji sighed, turning his head so he could look at something other than the glare Asuka was still shooting at him. He was a little surprised to see that Rei Ayanami had apparently materialised beneath a tree a few metres away and appeared to have overheard most of the conversation.
Asuka followed Shinji's glance and scowled when she saw what held the Third Child's attention.
"Wondergirl." Asuka's eyes narrowed.
"Red Devil."
"What was that?!" Asuka demanded.
"That is the nickname Shinji and his friends refer to you as," Rei stated. "As you selected it as your Internet pen-name, I thought you deemed it an acceptable manner in which to be addressed. Was I incorrect in this assumption?"
"Argh!" Asuka booted an innocent trashcan aside before storming off, muttering to herself as she disappeared into the distance.
After a long silence, Shinji cleared his throat and Rei turned to stare inquisitively at him.
"So..." Shinji began, nerves causing his voice shake.
"You wrote a story, Ikari?"
"Err..."
Seated alone with a basketball by his feet, Toji had been contemplating the third hamburger resting on the bench beside him, when the familiar sounds of a 'Red Devil Rant' reached his ears. Out of habit, Toji's body tensed, adrenalin ready to surge so that he might run to safety, but when he heard what Asuka was ranting about, curiosity got the better of him."Stupid Shinji, stupid Wondergirl, perfect for each other, they could just sit there and talk about why they're talking about what they're talking about..."
"Huh?" Toji blinked, watching as the red-haired girl came closer.
Shinji and Ayanami? Red Devil's...jealous? Toji had only made the 'newlyweds' jokes because Asuka and Shinji had to live together, he never really thought that-
"What are you looking at, Fourth Child?"
Toji gulped, then allowed the 'dumb jock' smirk to animate his face.
"I'm looking at a cranky girl," Toji snickered. "Jealous of Shinji and Rei?"
"Who'd be jealous of those two?" Asuka snapped, surprising Toji by taking a seat beside him.
"Huh?" Toji's eyes widened. "You're right next to me and you're not hitting me. Wow, you must really be upset over this-"
Asuka snatched the untouched hamburger and began to unwrap it.
"That's my lunch!"
"Hmph!" Asuka snorted, taking a bite out of it. "As if you haven't already had six burgers."
"Two," Toji scowled, trying to snatch it back.
"Whatever." Asuka took another bite. "Don't know what Hikari sees in you."
Hikari?
Hadn't Shinji made a comment about Hikari liking him recently? And Hikari had offered to bring him the leftovers from the school lunches she made so he didn't have to buy his lunch all the time...
"...just a dumb jock," Asuka was muttering.
"You know, sometimes you can be a real bitch, Sohryu."
Asuka looked at Toji, burger poised before her mouth, a dangerous twinkle in her sky-blue eyes.
"Stooges like you bring out the worst in me," Asuka said finally, shrugging indignantly.
"You can't blame the rest of the world for how you behave!"
Had Toji known Asuka better than he did, he would have recognised the expression on her face as she blinked to be one of surprise.
Hikari Horaki stood looking down at the object of her affection, Toji Suzahara, sharing a hamburger with her best friend, Asuka Langley Sohryu, and felt an awful mixture of jealousy and disappointment.Well, Hikari thought, Asuka is much more popular than me...
"Class Rep!"
Hikari looked up to see Kensuke Aida standing there, looking a little paler than normal.
"Aida." Hikari blinked away tears and glanced down at the lunch she was holding.
"Toji and Asuka?" Kensuke gasped, as he looked down and saw what Hikari had seen. "Oh, no. I hope he doesn't lead her to me..."
"Asuka's not as bad as you guys think, you know," Hikari said, although her voice sounded hollow.
Hadn't she just confided in Asuka that she found herself attracted to Toji, and now there was Asuka, having lunch with him! How could Asuka do that to her?
No, Hikari thought, Asuka wouldn't be out to hurt her deliberately. Why would she? Besides, didn't Asuka hate Toji?
"It's the Eva pilot crowd," Kensuke said, chuckling bitterly. "Toji's the Fourth Child. I wish I could have been chosen. All I want is to pilot an Eva, but nobody ever chooses me."
"Toji's an Eva pilot?" Hikari gasped. "Since when?"
"Since yesterday, I think," Kensuke sighed, turning away from the sight of Toji and Asuka. "Man, they almost look like they're enjoying each other's company."
Hikari felt the surge of jealousy again, which was followed by a prominent blush.
The idea of Toji and Asuka as a couple was ridiculous, Hikari decided, as she looked down at them again. They would kill one another, even if they did look to be at peace at the moment.
She couldn't help wondering though, if maybe Kensuke had made a point with his comment about an 'Eva pilot crowd.'
Maybe because their friends were Eva pilots, people like Hikari and Kensuke could never truly understand them...
"Want some lunch, Aida?" Hikari asked, trying to sound cheerful. "Looks like I've made extra. It would be sad to see it go to waste..."
"Sure."
"Class will be resuming soon," Rei said quietly."Yeah," Shinji agreed.
"You have not posted your story."
"No."
"Pilot Sohryu is upset because of this."
"Yeah," he replied. "She knows I've been writing one...I thought she was just mad because I hadn't let her read it, but..."
"She is mad because it is your fear of others and their opinions that has stopped you from posting the story." A statement, more than a question, so typical of Rei.
Shinji nodded.
"I would..." Rei paused. "I would like to see what you have written, Ikari."
Shinji said nothing, doing his best to avoid eye contact with Rei. After the silence between them seemed to have stretched an eternity, the First Child cleared her throat and began to speak.
"Ikari," Rei began. "You have learnt things recently about my nature which disturb you."
Shinji sighed, trying to ignore the urge to just run away from this uncomfortable discussion.
This would be the part where he didn't run away, Shinji realised, thinking back to Misato's words a few nights ago. Rei was still the same person he had considered a friend before any of the 'fan-fiction' had been discovered.
"It was a little disturbing at first," Shinji admitted, forcing himself to look Rei in the eye even though he was frightened she might appear hurt.
Rei's face remained impassive.
"But you're still Rei Ayanami," Shinji continued. "On a genetic level, we're sort of related...I mean, you're cloned from my mother and..."
"Yes."
"But that doesn't matter," Shinji said. "You're still you, if that makes sense."
"Am I?" Rei asked. "I believe that I care for you, Ikari, but I wonder if this desire to protect you from harm, as well as the wish to perhaps become closer to you on an emotional level, is simply tied to the genes that make this physical shell what it is."
"Well..." Shinji blinked, absorbing what could be classified as a speech for Rei. "What do you feel?"
"Feel?" Rei asked.
"Right now, talking to me," Shinji said. "What do you feel? Happy? Sad? Anxious?"
Rei's expression became thoughtful, the crimson eyes darkening slightly as she considered her answer to this question, while Shinji patiently waited for a response.
"I believe I feel..." Rei paused, as if the word escaped her.
The bell signalling lunch was over sounded.
In an attempt to hide her surprise at Toji's comment, Asuka chose to focus her attention on the hamburger she had stolen from him.So what if she blamed them for her behaviour?
"You're pretty pissed I'm the Fourth Child, aren't ya?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Yep."
"Good."
"You know," Toji said, standing up and tossing the basketball between his hands. "My little sister thinks it's kinda cool."
"Your sister..." Asuka said, recalling the fragments she had heard from Shinji and Hikari.
Toji's sister had been injured in Unit One's first battle with the Third Angel, and Toji had originally blamed Shinji for it...
"Yeah," Toji said. "I'm sure you've heard what happened to her."
Asuka nodded.
"She thinks I'm her contact to the other Eva pilots," Toji explained. "She writes notes for Shinji that I pass along to him, but she's never met him face to face. She heard all about your arrival too."
"And so she should have!" Asuka said, but there was no malice in her voice.
"So...maybe one day, now that she's in NERV's hospital, you and Shinji, and maybe even Ayanami, could visit her and let her meet her heroes."
I think I understand his compassionate side now, Asuka thought. But Unit Three is...
"Make sure she has a pen and paper ready so I can give her an autograph!" Asuka declared, while trying to hide how humble the mention of Toji's sister had made her feel.
"Thanks." Toji offered her a genuine smile instead of an infuriating smirk. "Maybe you aren't that bad after all..."
"Did you ever read any of that fan-fiction?"
"Kensuke told me about it, but I never got around to it," Toji replied. "Why?"
"If I tell you this stuff, it doesn't mean we're friends or anything, right?" Asuka narrowed her eyes.
Sure, he was a dork, but Asuka had to give him some warning. Plus, Hikari liked him.
"Of course not." Toji bounced the basketball in front of him a couple of times. "I'm a dumb jock and a stooge."
"And I'm a bitch." Asuka nodded her head. "Well, now that's sorted, you better listen to what I have to say..."
Shinji ignored the sound of the school bell, waiting for Rei to finish what she had been going to say."Content," Rei said finally. "Your presence is agreeable."
"Agreeable?"
"Yes," she said. "Although I find your behaviour and line of questions to be odd at times, I believe I do enjoy conversing with you. I wish to understand you better, and perhaps..."
"Perhaps?"
"Understand this concept of friendship, which has always been foreign to me."
Shinji took a step towards Rei and slowly extended his hand, taking his time and hoping she would understand the gesture.
For what seemed an eternity, Rei simply stared at him, and Shinji felt his resolve weakening as his arm began to ache from the effort of holding it outstretched. Finally, just as he was about to walk away in embarrassment, Rei moved to stand before him and he felt her cool hand gently grasping his own.
Shinji met her eyes and smiled at her, trying to ignore how uncomfortable the simple act of touching another person made him feel as he considered what to say.
"Friendship is something new to me as well," Shinji said. "I never understood it before I moved here. I still don't, but maybe we can try to figure it out together?"
"I think that I would like that, Ikari."
When Kensuke Aida arrived to class on time without the company of his fellow 'stooges' and sharing a laugh with the Class Rep, it was considered slightly odd but not worthy of becoming a part of the gossip circulating through the class chat system.
The cool but polite greeting Asuka Langley Sohryu received from the Class Rep when she entered the room lead most to draw the conclusion that the fiery red-haired girl had probably insulted somebody and Hikari had not approved.
Again, not totally out of the ordinary, and most were too frightened of Asuka to speak ill of her.
When Toji Suzahara, rumoured to be the newest Evangelion pilot, casually strolled into the room after Sohryu, grinning at the Class Rep and saying something about having lunch together soon, nobody really thought much of it. Most knew of Hikari's crush on Suzahara and figured a date had finally been arranged. Perhaps Toji's laidback attitude would rub off on the Class Rep?
But then Hikari responded in the same manner she had done so with Sohryu. This was interesting and worth paying attention to, even though Suzahara may have just been himself, and it was most likely coincidence that Sohryu was not in the good graces of the Class Rep either.
Then the sensei arrived, which meant it was time to sit down and tune out his inevitable ramblings.
But wait. Two classmates were missing.
Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami. Both Eva pilots. Perhaps they were required at NERV?
Then why was Asuka Langley Sohryu, or Toji Suzahara for that matter, still present?
More information required. A glance at Sohryu showed the red-haired girl to be looking at Ikari's empty seat and appearing irritated. The irritation seemed to increase when the students by the window began talking.
"Hey, look! Ikari and Ayanami are holding hands down there by the old tree!"
"What? No way!"
"Shinji and Rei? You're kidding me, right?"
"Let me see!"
Students were pressed up against the glass, amazed at this display of affection - whether romantic still undetermined - between two of the most emotionally repressed people in Tokyo-3.
The crowd hushed and moved aside though, when Asuka Langley Sohryu rose to her feet to inspect the sight for herself, and they waited to gauge her reaction. It would allow a conclusion to be drawn about these events, as well as provide insight into Sohryu's mood - something that the students liked to monitor throughout the school day.
Sohryu's body tensed ever so slightly. The hands became trembling fists and the bright sky-blue eyes turned to ice as she took in the sight below.
And then, without a sound, Asuka Langley Sohryu slowly turned around and calmly strolled back to her seat.
A couple of students seated close by were able to see Sohryu bringing up several saved web-pages on her terminal, but they had no idea what fan-fiction was, and thought nothing of it.