plasmariflesgeofrontgiantrobotsnotrobotsangelsneutronbombsabsoluteterrora
damwhoamiwhatismyidentityifIcannotplease otherswhatgoodam Iwhois theenemy
what is thisthing we call lifewhy are we born I hate father I hate
angels I hate evas I hate father I hate everything I
hate my s e l
f
ama I miss you mama I miss you mama I miss you mama I miss you mama I mis
save me my dark world empty blight white spots, falling holes -
you idiot...
Hmm... "what...?" Sound coalesced into voice.
The void began to pull away, fingers of light came in from behind,
yanking the cloak of dream from his vision. Familiar sensations of
silhouette and form clashed with transcendent concepts of color and
movement. A blink, cleansing, refocused reality surrounding him.
There was the blanket, and the ceiling, both unpatterned and blank, then
the evidence of walls, shelves, books, cabinets closed and open, clothes,
pictures, and music... somewhere. The CD player was dead, and the cello
was still in its case. Where...?
Something to the side of his bed spoke again. "It's about time you got
up, Shinji, you idiot."
Shinji Ikari pulled himself up from his pillow, shook his head slowly to
brush away the ringing in his ears, rubbing his eyes as though he didn't
want to see things straight that day. "What is it, Asuka?"
Asuka Soryuu Langley stood off to the side of Shinji's bed, already in
her uniform, arms akimbo in that flair that her German heritage lent to
her temper, etched on her features by a strong, open face framed in fiery
red hair. "What the hell does that mean? Can't you appreciate the fact
that I went through the trouble of coming to wake you up?" She pulled
back, giving her sternest, crossest, most critical look. She put a hand
to her breast and went on her tirade, "don't you have any words of
appreciation for your oldest childhood friend?"
Taking the hint from Asuka bludgeoning "appreciation" from him, he yawned
a "thanks". The yawn became just a little more, though: "... but let me
sleep a little longer." He went back into the sheets.
Veins were beginning to pop on Asuka's forehead in a painful manner.
"What are you doing?" She shook a fist threateningly. "It's time for
you to get up!"
With that, she pulled the sheet off of him.
Asuka looked down.
Shinji turned to look at Asuka, then to what she was looking at.
Then she turned red in the face.................................. *SLAP!*
"You stupid pervert! I can't believe you've got one of those!"
Shinji indignantly yelled against the new, jarring ringing, "I can't help
it! It's morning!" He only noticed then that he was talking to her
descending hand.
-----
Outside the room where this lovely scene of morning violence was taking
place, the Ikaris were busy fixing up after breakfast. That is, Yui was
washing the pot of the rice cooker under the running water of the faucet
in the sink, and Gendou was obscuring himself from sight and duty with a
newspaper, whose headline blared "ROTC officer gets stabbed in the eye
with a ballpen".
"Oh my," Yui said, observing, "Asuka's so sweet to come pick him up every
morning, and he doesn't appreciate it."
"Un."
"Dear, you have to get ready, too."
"Un."
She sighed a little, leaning to a side. "Gosh, you're just like Shinji."
Gendou didn't flinch. "Are you ready?"
"Anytime," she smoothly answered. "I'm the one who gets complaints from
Fuyutsuki-sensei if you're late for the meeting."
"That's true. He's your biggest fan."
"Oh, you! Cut that out and get ready."
"Un." He nodded without moving. "Wakatte ryo, Yui."
"Hurry up!" Asuka griped, coming into the dining room.
Shinji wondered how much faster it would have taken him to change into
his school clothes if his "dear friend" wasn't there to crow over him.
"I know! You're such a pain in the ass sometimes, Asuka."
"What did you say!" Her hand flashed and quite firmly fit itself in his
face. "How dare you say that to your oldest childhood friend!"
Because it's true, he didn't say, rubbing his cheek. "You didn't have to
hit me so hard!" was something else he didn't say. He couldn't remove
the glowing five-fingered welt, and didn't dare yelp.
Asuka pulled the boy to the entrance, trading the slippers with her flat-
heeled sneakers. "C'mon, we're late!" Shinji simply put his feet in the
loafers.
The redhead turned to the direction of the kitchen, and bowed slightly.
"Itte kimasu!"
"Itte kimasu..." Shinji mumbled, as Asuka pushed him out of the
apartment's door.
Having shut the tap, Yui sweetly called after him, nonetheless. "See you
later, sweetie!" She finished folding and returning the apron to its
place. "Come on, dear! Put the newspaper down!"
"Un." A pause. "Wakatte ryo... Yui."
-----
"I don't wanna wait - "
Switch pulled the plug on the cassette player. "Eh-heh. Sorry."
Evangelion Symphony
Episode 1: Shinji's Creek
-----
They ignored the standstill traffic that they had already gotten used to,
and streaked in step along the sidewalk.
Shinji was trying hard to catch up to his friend, remembered, "hey, isn't
there a new student starting today?"
Asuka turned her head to him, nodding slightly, "yeah, that's right!
Since Tokyo-3 is going to become the new capital, there're a lot of
people moving in. It's no wonder we're getting so many new kids."
"Oh, that makes sense." He turned thoughtful, "I wonder what she's like.
I hope she's cute."
The darkish look Asuka gave him was ignored. *Anta baka stooge!*
The two weren't the only ones running to school that day. Elsewhere, a
girl was running down a perpendicular street, rushing with a schoolbag in
her left hand and a piece of toast in her mouth. Her knitted pullover
vest comfortably complemented her albino complexion, but her pinkish eyes
were wide with something akin to full-blown panic.
"I'm late! I'm late! I can't be late for my first day!"
She eyed the corner, prepared to make the turn which was coming up.
Unfortunately, she was as far from her turn as two other students running
late were. When she realized that impact with a brown-haired boy who
popped out of nowhere was coming two steps ahead, she tried to apply the
brakes, but
*WHAM!*
"Oww..." The impact threw Shinji forward, resting on one hand,
incredulously cradling his head with the other, wondering why his legs
got caught in something. He looked up and to a side where a light-blue-
haired (?) stranger sat pained, with her legs just a bit apart, under her
brown skirt...
She fell back on her haunches, heard birds pecking on her piece of bread,
wondered why the world seemed full of pain - then complied with feminine
modesty when she realized that that bowl-haired boy was taking advantage
of the situation as it sat.
Asuka bent forward from her crouch, concerned that her friend had gotten
into some sort of incident. She saw the strange pale-colored girl pick
herself up with a flurry.
"Sorry. Please excuse me. I'm in a hurry!" She quickly set off in
front of the two, down the path they were going. "I'm going to be late!
Sorry again! Bye!"
Shinji stared at the newcomer, seemingly intent at the way her skirt
seemed to flap up in a most interesting fashion. Asuka knew that Shinji
was not interested in the stitching in the other girl's hem. But the
annoyed, shaded look she gave was easily ignored and hidden.
-----
The rest of the walk was covered with speed and silence brought about by
the visibility of the clock on the middle building. Given much more time
than the fifteen minutes they had, they would have probably have even
taken a slightly longer route passing in front of the nearby mall. As it
was, they already knew what movies were to be shown later that day, so
they could spare the rubbernecking.
Entering the doors of their school building would have been equivalent to
running through a time machine, back to the time when their parents were
going through junior high. The building's exterior still bore twentieth
century design, looking weatherworn and homely. Inside, tiles and
plaster, wood and metal, all the trappings of the last millenium etched
themselves, stylistically and aesthetically.
Of course, the twenty-first century was responsible for the preservation
of the look and the feel of history. Academics are sentimentalists at
heart - they remembered their halls echoing lonely steps of the studious
or the delinquent. Having the physical reality of that history was only
an added bonus.
Of course, their parents would have thought that desks supplied with
networked laptops would have been ludicrous, extravagant or too much of
an ideal - they took the sight as the norm.
So up the stairs, and the first door to the left, Shinji pulled the door
to classroom 2-A.
-----
Kensuke Aida's spectacles glowed as he incredulously pointed out, "what!
Did you see her panties?"
Shinji, sitting across and in front of his friend's desk explained,
"well, it wasn't really a good look." He leaned in conspiratorially.
"Only a little flash." He held up his forefinger and thumb to
illustrate, the eye on the same side narrowing to about the same width.
Asuka watched the exchange from the desk behind Shinji's, her own desk
marred by a barely-removed love-umbrella bearing the names Asuka and
Shinji, counter-vandalized by "Anta baka!" etched rather deeply into the
abused wood.
The third of the group sitting a desk in front of Kensuke, Touji
Suzuhara, made a strangled gasp, covering his face with a hand with all
the grace of a poorly manned marionette. "I can't believe that you're
the one with all the luck."
Unfortunately, that last comment earned Touji a rather fierce earlobe
pinch-pull.
"What did you do that for, class-rep?"
Hikari Horaki, 2-A's freckled and ponytailed class representative, took
her shouting stance, arms akimbo and face forward. "Suzuhara, just
exactly what were you talking about!" She didn't wait for an answer.
"Go change the water in the flower vase, right now! You understand?"
"You're so mean," moaned Touji.
Hikari actually looked more enraged, freckles glowing flames. "What did
you just say!"
Shinji took his other (not in trouble) friend, hoping to keep the spat in
the background: "Poor Touji is so hen-pecked. It's sad, isn't it?"
Unfortunately, trouble took up another speaker. "Look who's talking."
Turning around, Shinji indignantly responded, "are you saying that I'm
easily manipulated?"
Asuka stood her ground. "I'm merely reporting the facts."
"How so?" Shinji sounded dubious.
"It just is. Accept it."
Shinji gave up trying to reason, sounding all the more whiny, and a bit
pained, "why do you treat me like this?" Then a yelp as Asuka treated
him similarly.
Ikari did not take too well to having his lobe pinched, so he pinched the
half-German's arm, the closest extremity at hand, forcing her to let go
of the ear.
"Hey," Asuka replied, readying for her counterattack, "that hurts, you
idiot!" *BAP!*
Kensuke, feeling quite left out, leaned back on the window railing and
tried to tune out both arguments. With a sigh, he focused on staring at
the ceiling.
"The calm, the peace and tranquility..." he mumbled. *It's driving me
insane!*
*SCREEEEECCHH!*
The Ferrari GTO zoomed in a tight arc, rushing toward one of the parking
spots and performing a Blues-Brothers-esque 180-d-t, stopping well within
the lines. Shinji, Kensuke and Touji (the latter evincing a "Hey!" from
Hikari) rushed to the window, all over each other to catch a glimpse of
the emerging maniac driver, with Kensuke somehow generating his
camcorder.
"It's Misato-sensei!" Touji gasped.
Decked out in white heels, a narrow black skirt, a white chemise-like
shirt under a long-sleeved faux-patent-leather jacket, sheening yellow in
the morning sun was Misato Katsuragi, their teacher. A pearl amulet
necklace hugging her neck, two dangling crosses for earrings nearly
covered by her long raven hair, and equally dark sunglasses, which she
took off as she crossed the parking lot, were each the subject of
Kensuke's and the camera's attentions.
Touji positively gushed, "she's so gorgeous!"
Misato noticed trio and flashed them a grinning V, which they gratefully
flashed in return.
The remaining duo chorused in a monotone, "just look at those idiotic
three stooges. Have they no shame."
-----
Ding dong.
"Stand up! Bow! Sit down!"
Misato waited for her students to seat themselves, then leaned forward on
the desk (much to the delight of those seated up in front). "Lighten up,
dudes. We've got a new blue-haired babe here to introduce herself!!"
She moved to the side to show someone standing behind her.
"My name is Ayanami Rei. It's nice to meet you all."
Shinji started, with some amount of shock.
Rei noticed him first, though. Pointing to him, she recalled, "you were
the jerk who was staring at my panties!"
Asuka was immediately on her feet. "Hey, what do you mean by that! You
were the one flashing your panties at Shin-!"
Rei turned to Asuka. "Who are you and why are you defending him?" She
gave a critical look, "are you guys doing it!?"
Taken aback, the redhead stuttered, "wuh... wuh... we're just really good
childhood friends! You shut up!"
"Be quiet, you two! We're in a classroom, not a bar!" Hikari was on her
feet as well. Completely ignored was Touji, slightly cringing.
Misato laughed and crossed her legs. "Hey, this is more interesting than
class! I want to see how this turns out. Please continue!"
Everybody laughed at that.
Rei and Asuka, both red-faced, stopped, chagrined.
"You stopped?" She leaned on an arm, hand on chin, disappointed. "Aww,
that's too bad." She regarded Rei with a glance. "Oh, well... Rei,
there seems to be an extra seat behind Shinji." She waved in the general
direction. "Just take that one."
For a moment, the albino seemed about to protest but instead just shut
up. With an evident lack of spirit, she ambled over to her seat, and sat
on it, placing her bag on the desk. With a baleful glare, she drilled at
the back of Shinji's head for the next hour and a half.
-----
Ding dong.
Misato's caricature of two figures blowing bubbles out of their noses at
their desks adorned the blackboard with the caption "Lunch Break",
subtitled with "Do Not Disturb". At their respective desks, Kensuke and
Touji were obscured by small cardboard rectangles adorned with all their
classmates' pet names for them.
Shinji discarded Touji's nameplate, disgusted by Asuka's never-ending
"Baka stooge!" labeling, saw all the regular character scribblings -
which meant one thing.
Rei sat at her desk, sullenly picking at the teriyaki in her bento box.
Shinji turned around: Asuka was elsewhere, off with Hikari, no doubt. He
walked a bit back to his desk, only to return the board, balancing itself
on Touji's head.
"..." Rei was about to give up on her brother's cooking when she felt
him. She sat up, alert, and gave Shinji a look that gave no indication
of her thoughts.
"Er... um..." Shinji actually pulled at his collar. "Ah... sorry. I
didn't mean to do what I did. Sorry."
Rei deflated slightly, and he noticed. After a small intake of breath,
she turned her pink eyes at him. "Um..." A pause. "It's okay, I
suppose." She brightened a notch, small curls at the points of her
mouth. "Just don't do it again, alright."
Shinji found her smile soft and infectious. "Whew!" he muttered. Though
he was relieved, Shinji floundered, unsure of what to say.
He suddenly straightened, with arms stiff to the sides. "Hajimemashite.
Watashi wa Ikari Shinji. Douzo yoroshiku." He bowed slightly at the
waist at the "nice to meet you", then added, "I'm friends with those two
goofs there." He pointed to the huddled (sleeping) masses. "Since
you've just arrived here, I thought you might like some company."
Rei was a little puzzled by the quick change of mood, but appreciated the
effort. *That's nice of him.*
"Thanks," she said instead, putting one hand behind head in a semi-
embarrassed pose, "and I'm sorry for yelling at you in class. I was a
bit nervous coming to school, being my first day and all." She chuckled,
small blushes accenting her cheeks. "Imagine my surprise when the first
classmate I meet turns out to be a per-"
Rei froze in mid-word, hand clutching at the back of her head
spasmodically. *Damn, I let my tongue get away from me again!*
"Pervert," Shinji finished, as though it was Asuka who had said it.
"Um... again, I'm really sorry for what happened this morning, alright."
He sat across from her, the desk empty, producing his own lunch package.
"C'mon, let's eat - I'm starving."
She put her arm in front of her. "Hai." She couldn't deny her fierce
blush, though.
They ate.
Time passed.
Silence discomfited.
-----
The two from 2-A sat underneath a tree just outside their classroom,
watching passing students eating, playing, and generally lounging about.
They packed up their bento boxes, turning to the nothings that filled
their after-meals.
" - you really see in him?"
Hikari bowed slightly, as though not wanting her friend to see her eyes.
"I don't know... I know a lot of the time he goofs off like no one's
business... and when he's with Kensuke and Shinji they act so stupid..."
Asuka interjected, "don't I know it."
"... but he can be so sweet at times, y'know?" She tugged at her left
ponytail, finding it uncomfortable for some reason. "It's like,
sometimes, he knows exactly what to say to make me laugh sometimes. And
he needs me so much sometimes..."
Asuka pounced on her, chopstick in hand. "A-ha! So you like him because
he's a big baby!"
"No!" Hikari turned to her friend and shook her head emphatically.
"Uhh... it's not like that..." Her gaze darted about rapidly. "And how
about how you feel about Shinji, hmm?"
Asuka winded back, caught. "Wh... what are you talking about?!?!" She
held the chopstick in both hands tightly. "We're just good friends,
that's all."
Hikari noticed Asuka's death-grip on her utensil. "C'mon, Asuka... be
honest with me now. I've seen how mad you get when you catch him staring
at a cute girl. Don't tell me you haven't even thought about it."
*Maybe* "No, I haven't! I... I... just worry about him, that's all." A
momentary pause, tapping the point on her bento box. "He's so wishy-
washy, he can get hurt by any girl he meets. I... I'm just protecting my
oldest friend!"
"All right, Asuka." She chose to ignore the chopstick's nervous
clicking, and went to inconsequential matters. "Have you done that
homework -?"
-----
In the back of the classroom, someone had apparently cast a silence, 5'
radius spell. In the middle of this sphere, Rei and Shinji did what they
both did best - uncomfortable silences.
Finally:
"So, Rei-san."
"Hmm?"
"What clubs are you going to join?"
Rei thought for a moment, a moment more, then slowly turned to him.
"Well... I was kind of hoping I could enter a school band or
something..."
Asuka came in through the door, after Hikari. Her gaze immediately
located Shinji talking to Rei. Not noticed by either, she quickly and
quietly edged into earshot.
"Really?" Shinji exploded, "that's great! Me and Asuka are in the band,
too! What instrument do you play?" Asuka's face twisted when she noted
the enthusiasm on Shinji's.
Rei, a bit goofed by Shinji's enthusiasm, replied, "err... the flute."
Shinji nodded, "maybe you'd want to go with me and -"
Asuka quickly added, "- me! to the orchestra today. Hi!" She stuck out
a hand near Rei's surprised face. "My name is Asuka and I'm the most
popular girl in school."
Shinji coughed none-too-quietly.
"Not to mention this baka's..." then she bopped Shinji one on the head.
"Ow," Shinji eloquently rebutted.
"... best friend," Asuka continued. "Anyways, auditions for the band are
later after class, so why don't you come, please?" Then she put on the
Bo Peep and smiled innocently.
Rei goggled, too goofed to muster any amount of emotion. "Okay."
"Great." And Asuka really meant it. "Oh... here comes Misato-sensei."
The class resumed. Aside from her occasional amused glances at the
static duo, Misato went through the nuances of English, Algebra, History
and other foreign languages. Shinji, on the other hand, paid special
attention to her body language.
The afternoon passed, as afternoons tended to do when left in the hands
(and tongues) of one such as Misato.
"... and that concludes this day's lectures." With a simple motion,
Misato shook her hair out of its stupor. "Boy, this was a tiring day.
It sure makes me want to go out tonight."
Immediately, volunteers were made known, in the hope of being included in
the night's "festivities". "Sorry, boys, only men are allowed where I'm
going."
Several sighs of disappointment from the unattached and some of the
attached boys of the class turned into mostly yelps of pain as said
attached boys found themselves being punished by said "attachments".
Kensuke and Touji chose this moment to open their eyes, stretch and wake
up.
"So... *yawn*... when's lunch?"
Hikari slapped her cheek lightly with her palm in supposed embarrassment,
amidst the class's laughter. She smiled, though, a small smile. *Touji,
you dope.*
Misato left the room, followed in trickles by the class. Soon, the only
people left in the classroom were Hikari and Touji, the latter already
balancing a flower vase in both hands.
Walking from her bag, Hikari approached Touji with a hand-wrapped
package.
"Here you go, Touji." She traded the package for the vase. "I managed
to save some lunch for you."
Touji brightened considerably. "Thanks, class-rep." Undoing the ribbon
knotted at the top of the cloth, the bento box revealed itself, a tableau
of culinary treats. "Looks delicious!" He took the chopsticks apart
with an audible snap, then turned to his companion. "You're a lifesaver,
Hikari!"
She rolled her eyes heavenward. "Don't I know it." But she hid her
warmest smile behind the lips of the vessel, seating herself across from
him. The reddish glow of the setting sun did more to bridge the warmth
that came from cooking and eating than any other chore would have at that
hour.
-----
Outside a third-floor classroom, a girl with long, deep brown hair was
fiddling with a red ribbon tied in a bow in her hair. That quickly lost
its appeal; she toyed with the cuffs of her coffee-brown jacket, then
with her short chocolate tie. Finally, squinting her already chinky eyes
in consternation, she gave up to pace the short walk to the stairs.
Her eyes lit up as she recognized two of the faces coming up from the
stairwell, easily washing away her earlier worries.
"Hi, Shinji, Asuka!" She waved them to hurry over. "How were classes
today?"
Shinji's face started to light up in response to her enthusiasm, but he
realized immediately, with some gloom, that all was not right - more
likely, all would not be right. "Ehhh... so-so." He couldn't raise a
hand to illustrate.
He was bopped by Asuka. "As you can see, Miwa-sempai, he's still as
eloquent as ever."
A sly smile crept onto Miwa's face. "I... see." Significant pause.
"So... have you done it yet?" The last was directed at Shinji.
Here the boy stopped (they were already a few steps from the doorway), at
a loss for words at the fascination of girls with "it", especially with
him and Asuka. He gesticulated with fingers, wrists, lips, brow and
forearms. "It?"
Miwa's expression reached her eyes, emphasizing the corners. "You
know..." She then ran her fingers through her hair in suggestive
circles.
Asuka's eyes widened at the implication (*why is everyone...?*), then
covered her mouth as she forced a guffaw. She waved a hand at Miwa.
"What a kidder, what a kidder." She looked her senior in the eye.
"Clearly you can see that we're just childhood friends!" She turned to
her classmate. "Right, Shinji?"
Deciding not to risk saying something that would make him come out as
knowing anything, the hapless boy nodded, thin-lipped.
Giving the two a final glance, "ooookay, yeeah," she turned to the
ignored third, "so introduce me to your friend!"
"Sure!" Here, at least, was safe territory. "Miwa-sempai, meet Ayanami
Rei."
"Hello, Miwa-sempai." Rei didn't move.
(some degree of uncomfortable silence)
Shinji was the first to fold. "Umm... Rei-san wants to join the
orchestra!"
Miwa gave him a wide-eyed, what-were-you-expecting-me-to-think look,
which prettily made her appear slightly chubby and smiled while she
asked, "Really? I thought she was your girlfriend!"
"Of course I am." They were surprised by Rei's statement, plainly oozing
with sarcasm. She nodded to Asuka and said, "she's kind enough to
share!"
Asuka's eyes shot open, as though she was poked with a cattle prod. "No,
I'm not! I... I... let's go!" She grabbed Shinji's hand and marched
into the room. "We're late for practice!"
Miwa watched them go, with Shinji trying every so often to point out how
he wasn't a pet or a bag, and won't she stop pulling his collar? With
some amount of respect, she smiled knowingly at Rei. "So, what
instrument do you play?"
The two walked over to the room. "Umm... the flute."
The doorway they had entered was the closer of the two which opened into
the school orchestra's music room, or what acted as the orchestra's music
room. What it was was a normal classroom, with the few desks moved to
the back. It did have a longer teacher's desk, in the center, and fixed
to the floor. Two pianos, one upright and one actually a baby grand,
stood next to the windows that overran the far wall. Names adorned the
blackboard: Aijima Hiroko, Suteko Musashi, Takada Akira, Takahashi Jun,
Torishimagakure Hikaru, Fujishima Midori, Yamada Saatama, apparently the
names of the people in the room, other than Miwa, and Shinji and Asuka,
who were leaning on the wall next to the door, eyeing each of the
applicants and compared notes. Miwa went to the blackboard and added
Rei's name to the list.
The group of applicants was a motley crew, sitting on the desktops of the
front-most desks: a redheaded boy with an open face peppered with
freckles who was wearing a black sweater with white sleeves and a white
"R" over his collared polo shirt, talking animatedly to a girl with
shoulder-long raven black hair and a bored look on her chic, made-up
face, he with a guitar on his desk, she without any instrument -
apparently a pianist; a girl with corn-blonde hair, glaring hotly at the
two, but couldn't afford to let go of the double bass she was straddling
to keep in place; a boy with greased black hair and sharp, predatorial
features, with a sinister look toward the pair, as well, gripping his own
guitar's neck tightly; another couple - a delicate girl with short black
hair and simple, striking features, holding a piccolo, being wooed by a
large (bullish was a term) boy with short yellow hair, who, ironically,
favored a triangle in the hand not holding the girl's hand delicately;
finally, a wiry young man with a curiously long, wiry nose, and a
Styrofoam crown with buttons on his head, idly waving a drum-stick,
biting about it as though it was a drumstick, sitting near the drum set.
Miwa gestured to Rei, who was still standing in the doorway. "Come on
in, Rei-san - sit next to the rest of the new people." She gestured
toward the others.
Rei simply walked to stand next to them.
Miwa stared at her for a while, then shrugged and went to sit on the
bench of the baby grand. "Okay, guys, welcome to the auditions. My name
is Chigusa Miwa, I'm a senior, and I'm the conductor for the school
orchestra." She gestured with a nod toward Shinji and Asuka, who waved
at the newbies. "We're a bit short-handed now, since a lot of the
orchestra graduated last year. So, right now, I'd just like to see each
of you do scales with me, alright? Let's start with..." a wave of a
hand, pointing to the carrot-top, "you."
He stared, almost surprised, looked apologetically to his companion, who
ignored the glance, as he hopped off of the desk. He grabbed his guitar
and flashed Miwa a grin that was supposed to be comfortable, but
broadcasted his jitters. "Hi, Chigusa-sempai. My name is Akira and I
play the guitar."
Miwa smiled her winning smile. "Don't worry, I don't bite. And you can
call me Miwa. So, Akira, you're a recent transferee to Tokyo-3, am I
right?"
"Yes." He still shifted.
"Did you play in your previous school's orchestra?"
"Um..." he glanced toward the others in the desks "surreptitiously",
"yes."
Miwa nodded knowingly. "Okay, then let's try out this exercise for
size." She played a semi-complicated staccato trill of notes and chords
on the treble clef, which Akira followed - obviously, he was familiar
with this version of the exercise.
Listening to the notes with some satisfaction, Miwa upped the pace,
gradually removing the staccato, and played on the difficulty of the
chord changing required. Akira followed, with some effort.
The sun dipped off the horizon, and it was night when all the applicants
had been auditioned in similar fashion.
-----
*clang* The gates closed and the custodian strolled away, muttering
something about a train. On the clock face, the short hand passed the
seven.
On the other side of the heavy bars, the three from 2-A stood.
"Bye, guys," Rei said, in a posture with arms crossing at her hands on
her bag, simple and cautious, "it was an enjoyable first day... thank
you." She bowed slightly.
Shinji bowed in response. "No problem, Ayanami-san." He grinned
sheepishly as he said, "I hope you don't think of me as a pervert
anymore."
"Please, call me Rei. And don't you know..." she smiled slightly and
cocked her head to a side, eyes wide open with impish savor, "all guys
are perverts. Anyway, my house is that way, so I guess I'll see you guys
tomorrow." She turned and started on her way, tossing a hand over her
shoulder, waving.
"Count on it!" He took a few steps forward, waving. "Bye, Rei!"
Asuka mouthed, disgusted, "count on it." *Anta baka!* Loudly: "Bye,
Rei-san, it really was nice to meet you!" quickly switching from her
annoyance over Shinji's interest in their new blue-haired classmate to a
sincere liking of the latter.
Soon after, Shinji and Asuka started walking down a different street.
Walking in the spots of lamp-lights on the sidewalk, the silence cloaked
them, shared as they moved away from the area of the school, to the mall
area, where people milled about them in their own cloaks of familiar
sounds. The silence itself was familiar, comfortable - much unlike,
Shinji mused, the silence at lunch with Rei.
They took a turn away from the mall, into a brightly-lit park whose
walkways made a shortcut to the patch of apartment houses where both of
them resided. Again, the lights restricted themselves to circles on the
ground, coming from the sky.
"Hoy, Asuka."
The redhead didn't turn. "Yeah."
Shinji's voice had a deeper timbre, a sure sign that he wanted to broach
a topic of some importance. "I had this really weird dream last
night..."
Asuka's eyebrow (on the other side, unseen by Shinji) rose by a notch.
Feigning indifference, she replied dryly, "about..."
Shinji wrestled with words, as though he just realized how silly his
dream sounded like. "Er... giant robots that ran on long extension
cords."
That made her stop in her tracks. She snickered a bit, quite obvious to
Shinji by the way her shoulders shook in the lamplight, though she didn't
try to hide her expression. "I... see...." They both started to walk
again.
Suddenly defensive, (Asuka wasn't helping, since she was still laughing)
Shinji said, "Hey! It seemed really realistic at the time. The robots
had these extension cords, so they wouldn't have to carry nuclear
reactors around, which might blow up, if..."
The itch could not be scratched, though. She tried to keep the laughter
out of her voice as she said, "so, let me guess, you were one of the
pilots?"
The thin boy nodded slowly. "Yes..."
The Cheshire-Cat smile crept, and threatened to overtake the boundaries
of her face. "In fact, not just one of the pilots, but the bestest pilot
among the lot..."
"Ummm..."
A snicker. "... who all happened to be 14-year olds..."
"uhhhh..." He was trying to cope with Asuka's lightning (badgering)
deductions.
Heh. "... while it was your father who invented those robots..."
Shinji knew at this point that he had to get the verbal offensive.
"But..."
Unfortunately, Asuka was only starting to get a good huff. "... with the
most powerful of these robots being one that only you, his only son,
could pilot -"
He stopped to face her. "But it wasn't just like that -"
She stopped, and concluded, wide-eyed, "- and your robot's color was
RED!"
Shinji's mouth flapped noiselessly open.
It was then Asuka, somewhat ruddy, laughed out loud at the determinedly
desperate expression on her friend's face.
She clapped a hand onto his right shoulder to stop from falling to a
side. "Alright, Shinji, I won't question the 'reality' of your dream."
She took the hand off (not without some haste). "I'm just curious as to
what Kensuke force-fed you to make you dream such a weird, detailed, B-
movie idea."
The boy sniffed, and trudged behind her. "Fine. Be that way..." *It
was PURPLE...*
It was only a short, silent walk from there to their apartment house.
Both of them checked the mailboxes for their families. Seeing no mail,
they trudged up the stairs just to the right of the mailboxes.
"Hey, Asuka."
She breathed an inaudible sigh of relief and put on an air of mock
irritation. "What is it this time?"
He was turning in the landing below her. "Do you want to go out and
watch that new movie they're showing?"
She stopped on her floor. "Oh, you mean 'Titanic 2: Return to the
Iceberg'?" Gladly, the light was behind her. "Sure, I'd like to..."
Shinji brightened just two steps below. "Great! We could go out with
Rei-san and..."
Now, she was really irritated. "... but, unfortunately, I have to wash
my hair, so I guess you'd best go on your _date_ without me!" Under her
breath, she muttered, "anta baka!"
Shinji was just passing by as she tried to hide her true ire. *Wha...
what did I say?*
They walked in silence, until they reached Asuka's doorstep, a few floors
down from the Ikaris'. By this time, Asuka's anger had dissipated
somewhat and she was fiddling with her key-ring.
"So, I'll see you tomorrow, right?"
She stopped at the door. "Yes, I suppose so..." Here she turned to face
him, "and, once again, I will have to sacrifice my morning, just to get
your lazy butt in gear!"
Shinji had to laugh. "Goodnight, Asuka!"
Asuka turned on her heel. "'night, Shinji!"
He saw her slide the door open, and waited to go to his own apartment
until that door in front of him was...
-----
... closed.
Before the door slid snugly into its niche, Asuka took off her sneakers,
with much of the grace and speed of a turtle.
She knew that the light in the hallway was meant to invoke a small amount
of warmth, but Asuka could not feel it. She slid her feet into her
slippers, bent to pick up her sneakers and put them away for tomorrow
morning.
A few steps further, and she was in the living room. She saw each
fixture with no amount of solace - from the heavy-armed couches that sat
perpendicular to each other like gates to Lilliput, to the low-slung
table, whose glass top left no clues, to the 31" television set, where
only a flat doppelganger stared to meet her gaze.
"I'm home!" she announced, half-heartedly, mutely echoed by the figure on
TV.
She ambled to her right, into the dining area. This was on the door of
the refrigerator:
We're very sorry, Asuka-chan, but there was an emergency in
the hospital. There's food in the fridge, if you're hungry.
We'll probably be back tomorrow afternoon.
Love, Mom and Dad
Asuka's looked at the note, as though staring at her hand at its corner,
or the white of the door as the hand balled into a fist. After a moment,
she opened her hand, took the note in her left hand, and flattened it
against the dining table, smoothing it with the other.
She opened her book bag, which was leaning on a leg of the table, and
placed the note in her notebook.
Another corridor, this one unlit. A door to her room: covered in a
pastel blue wallpaper, a bed overflowing with stuffed toys, a small TV,
and a cabinet filled with porcelain dolls. Moments later, she was
leafing through a "Sixteen" magazine.
Discarding the teen-zine, she then hugged her favorite doll. Stepping
out to close the lights, she then came back in, slumping onto the bed.
A good hour, just staring at the ceiling - then sleep.
-----
Elsewhere in the metropolis, there was an apartment building. There was
a room in an apartment, shrouded in black, aside from a monitor, gleaming
in the early evening darkness, casting the rest of the quarters in gothic
tones. On the monitor, a battle, five generations old, was being waged
using state-of-the-art technology, on the newest of battlefields - the
grandson of battle.net.
The person in the room was losing, each of his attacks foiled by a quick
counter-attack.
"Kensuke! It's time for dinner!"
The losing party called back in a hoarse voice. "In a minute, mom!"
With a relish, he hunkered down to snarl at the computer. *What's wrong
with me? Is he reading my moves?* He grimaced, cracking his knuckles.
*All right, this time for real!*
With a flair of the madman, he then proceeded to create units very
quickly, tapping his optical mouse and ergonomic keyboard (and
occasionally stepping on his old-style "Dance Dance Revolution" dance
pad) to coax the screen to reveal all that he needed, faster, faster -
but, still, he failed, and had to bear watching as his final HQ was
crushed, helpless.
In the face of utter defeat, there was only one thing that a true warrior
could do. //Nice game.// That sent, he left to eat dinner.
-----
Half a world away, Michael Daniel Villena Samson leaned back from his
computer and grinned.
-----
Touji's sleeping, so leave him alone.
-----
*knock* *knock*
After a moment's wait, Shinji respectfully knocked another time on the
door of his apartment, before getting out his house keys. He entered and
removed his shoes in favor of slippers at the door.
"I'm home."
Upon entering, he was immediately bombarded by... music? Unfamiliar with
the concoction of keyboards, guitars and drums, he went into the living
room.
His parents made a scene similar to that morning - Gendou sitting at the
table, reading a different newspaper from the one he was reading in the
morning - and his mother cooking to the tune of that music.
"Plant a seed, plant a flower, plant a rose - you can plant any one of
those..." she crooned, not without lilting a little higher than her usual
tones.
Curious, he turned to her. "Mom...."
She looked back at him, and smiled. "Ah, Shinji! You're just in time
for dinner!" She turned the stove off and started to remove her apron.
"... what's that music?"
"In an mmmbop, they're gone. In an mmmbop, they're not there," the song
continued.
She laughed. "Oh, that? That's just some old music I liked to listen to
while I was in college." With a conspiratorial air, she leaned in to
mock-whisper, "don't tell him I told you, but your father was a closet
Spice Girls fan." She stared in Gendou's direction, and grinned.
The man of the house shrugged under the broadsheet.
Shinji, who was not really into what was known as "the age of another
time", had the reference going completely over his head. "Ooookay..." he
nodded, "but who sang that song you're listening to? It sounds kind
of..." a sudden loss of words, "spiffy."
Yui turned to him. "That was sung by Hanson."
Shinji boggled. "Hanson!"
[HISTORICAL REFERENCE #1]
In late '99, embittered by their very swift fall into obscurity
at the hands of the Moffats, Hanson changed their image into
that of a very heavy alternative band which was into stuff like
bondage, devil worship, etc. They were able to release several
hit singles, starting with their release in '01 of their hit
"Canadians (and everyone else, for that matter) Must Die!" At
this point in time, they are more known for this.
Upon hearing of the Hansons' abrupt turnaround, Marilyn Manson
figured 'what the hey' and went into a monastery.
Shinji repeated. "Hanson!"
Yui sighed. "Yes, Hanson... they were such good kids then, too." She
shook her head, stopping the thought. "Well, get in the shower and get
dressed, so that we can eat already."
Shinji was still weirded out. "Yes, mom." He went into his room and
shut the door.
"... you don't kno-ow! You don't kno-ow! You don't -!"
-----
A door open.
Rei held on to it, as though daring anyone to peep on her removing her
shoes - a perfect bromide moment. She had closed it, though, when she
was done, and she flopped onto the couch a short distance away, right
next to where she had thrown her school bag.
"Bleh, what a long day." She closed her eyes and ran a hand across her
bangs, imagining herself against a baking sun, on a beach - it was always
summer somewhere else.
At this moment, when she was in her most vulnerable, it was then that the
figure she did not see crept closer, from one of the rooms within the
abode, a mysterious man, cloaked in shadow, with a dark secret. The
villain was dressed smoothly, as were all proper scoundrels, in a penguin
suit, smelling of light cologne, his face still thrown in shadow.
MMCSWADS#1 moved closer to the light, in the receiving room, facial
features revealed slowly - a full chin, neatly unshaven, the hints of a
ponytail, swept in roguish cragginess, the - wait... it's just Kaji.
"So, how was school today?" he asked, already on the way to a mirror.
Rei closed the eye she squinted open. "Engh," she elaborated with a hand
swinging on her wrist in a "so-so" way.
Kaji grinned slyly, and not at his reflection. "So, do you have a
boyfriend yet?"
Rei was already sitting up, and she caught her chin in her knuckles, both
hands balled into fists. "Oh no, Kaji-sempai! No one could ever replace
you in my heart!" She even had the cheeky, wide-eyed look of the airhead
down-pat.
Kaji ruffled her locks carefully. "Too true, too true." He helped
smooth his touch over. "Oh well, I'm going out tonight, Rei. There's
food in the microwave, so you can eat whenever, 'k."
"'k" was her simple reply.
He was already halfway out. "Bye, Rei."
"Bye, oniisan!" she called out to his back, slumping back into the couch
when the door closed. A while longer, then, with a sigh, she stood up to
take a shower and to change. (And, no, we're not gonna show her taking a
bath, so there.)
Instead, Rei was finishing brushing her teeth. She stepped out of the
bathroom in her off-white pjs, depositing her school clothes in the
nearby clothes hamper, while laying her pullover on top of her bag, on
her desk.
She lay on her bed, hugging her big bear (named, oddly enough, "Big
Bear") and tried to go to sleep. She hugged the bear a bit tighter,
trying to squeeze out her sadness, sniffling a bit.
"Mama... I miss you."
----- End
Will Touji ever wake up for more than 1 hour at a time?
Will Asuka ever realize that giant purple robots w/ extension cords are
*snicker* cool?
Will Shinji ever score with Misato?
Find out in the next ... Evangelion Symphony
-----
A Been-Itching-to-Shojo Production
Evangelion Symphony
by Nikholas "Pervitch" F. Toledo
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The Nikholas F. Toledo Zu @ WWW: The Entertainment Capital of UP Village
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Rain Man, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee, Datzo, Jewel, elf, Radler, Pinball, Mayhem, Chaos, Father,
Attar, Llewe and Katana @ http://nikholas-f-toledo-zu.webjump.com/ NEW!
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