122CHAPTER 1: A BOY IS PILOT?!
Tabane's Lab, Okinawa, Japan
"Yaaay~! Good job Shi-kun!" Tabane squealed at Shinji. After naming his Infinite Stratos, or IS, unit she had spent the last few days making 'last minute touches' to his unit to his slight amusement. He knew Tabane had always been…very zealous with her work and whatever she set her mind to. Even if it was something so minor as cosmetic adjustments to his new IS, once she heard its name and realized his reasoning she had spent even more time making it resemble his Evangelion.
She really tended to focus on the weirdest things in his opinion.
He really hoped that part of her hadn't rubbed off on him.
Now though he couldn't help but smile as he looked up at his sister, he was lying down on his back on her lab's cold hard floor and she was standing over him.
And she was his real sister now.
She had asked her father to adopt him into the family proper; how she managed to contact him while being one of the most wanted people on earth he had no idea but had decided to stop questioning Tabane many months ago. Regardless he was happy to be related, even if only on paper, to someone who cared about him. Hell he even threw away the Ikari name, he was no longer connected to that man.
"Thank you Tabane-nee," he thanked her quietly, he was too tired to speak loudly. "I have to ask though…why in the world did the drones use live ammunition?" he asked with a smile and a slight twitch in his brow.
"You wouldn't have done so well without danger!" She exclaimed with a fist in the air. He couldn't help but sigh.
He had just finished his first sortie in his IS, more of a test flight really…or at least that was the plan.
'Until she sent out those damn combat drones,' he thought to himself. Around an hour into the test, Tabane sent out combat drones. They were a pet project of theirs actually, the first prototypes to a future upgrade to his IS. And since they were on their fourth generation of prototypes Tabane decided, without asking him of course, to send out the older models against him.
But what really upset him was the fact he wasn't even armed so he had to tear them apart with the IS unit's own hands, it reminded him a bit too much for his liking of how...brutal combat was in an Evangelion.
But while it was slightly terrifying being shot at the danger gave a sense of urgency which helped him achieve something that he thought would have taken a few more sorties.
First Shift, and now he had that his IS was fully prepared for IS Academy.
He wasn't though, with women now holding a higher standing in society due to women being the only ones that can pilot an IS…well before him, he feared that he would inadvertently hurt someone's pride because of his presence…he really didn't want another Asuka. Yes he may have had feelings for her before and the lingering fondness and feelings for her he doubted would ever disappear but she was hard as all hell to deal with sometimes.
"So excited to go to IS Academy, Shi-kun?" She asked him as she sat down beside him.
And after a minute to think he answered, "Nervous but yes I am."
"That's good! Make some friends…meet some girls~!" She said excitedly, putting emphasis on the part of the girls. Shinji couldn't help but blush even though he rolled his eyes.
'It would be nice to have a girlfriend,' he thought to himself. Ever since coming to this world he had decided to try and live a normal life…well as normal as being a male IS pilot…who was also kind of not human…and who was from a different dimension…and an ex-child soldier…who also almost ended his own world…and was willing to exile himself into eternal loneliness if he could fix his mistake.
Yeah, he had already concluded that being 'normal' for him would be relative.
He also remembered how some of his classmates, the male ones, would talk about harems of beautiful women but that was unrealistic; that happened in mangas and anime and as crazy as his life was there had to be a limit to the crazy…right?
"But…"he trailed off.
"But?" she asked with her head slightly tilted to the side.
"I'll miss you Tabane-nee" he admitted and it was true, he loved her dearly. She had been with him since literally since his first day in this world and had helped him out to the point that he was sure he wouldn't be able to repay her. She had given him a family, a home, fed him, taught him about this new world, taught him engineering and computer science, and even made him one of the most advanced weapon systems in the world.
"I'll miss you too little brother," she told him with a gentle smile, "but don't worry! I'll drop by to visit you~!"
"Pfft haha of course, I'll look forward to it."
"Ne Shinji, here," she handed him a paper bag so he sat up and opened it, wondering what was inside.
"This is…" he trailed off and inside was a bottle of pills, "umm…ok what is it?"
"For your…episodes," she pointed out.
"Ah…" and he knew what she was talking about instantly. It was something he had lived with for some time now and frankly he had just thought it was something he had to live with.
Phantom pain
It was a fact of life all of the Evangelion pilots had to live with, or at least Asuka and he did, they had seen each other suffering from it quietly while they lived with each other at Misato's apartment. Rei never talked much about herself so he never got the chance to know if she suffered from it as well but he saw no reason why she wouldn't. Phantom pain is exactly as it sounded, it was a phantom, a ghost. Pain suffered by the Eva and felt by the pilot during combat and every now and then it would come back like a ghostly echo of their suffering.
Luckily, especially for him as he had seen the most combat, the episodes of phantom pain tended to be only be one injury at best and at worst it was only the pain from one battle.
He wasn't so sure if he could live with feeling everything at once.
Tabane had seen him have, what appeared to her to be, a seizure a few weeks into their cohabitation, of course he had been suffering from it since before the day he arrived but had been able to hide it well until then. She then thoroughly interrogated him about his condition and had vowed to come up with a solution.
"Thank you," he whispered, starting to cry tears of joy. He had given up hope and had resigned to just living with it.
"Take one pill a day right when you wake up, it should last you the whole day but it will wear off something while you're asleep," she explained.
Well it wasn't perfect, he knew he would be waking up because of an episode from time to time but he didn't care, he still had nightmares so not having good sleep wasn't too bad and besides that was much better than suffering from anywhere from every other day to a few times a day.
God forbid he had an episode while piloting his IS in a match or worse combat.
HHHHHHH
IS Academy, Japan
'Well so far so normal,' Shinji thought to himself as he sat outside the principal's office. It was his first day today at the, previously, all-girls IS Academy and was nervous…just a tiny bit.
And he was nervous for a number of different reasons, some of which he knew was nonsense.
Number one was the last time he transferred in to a school was Tokyo-3 Middle School and…well that was also the day that Toji punched him in the face when he transferred in because his sister was hurt during his first battle in Unit-01. He knew worrying about being punched because of a battle was nonsense; Angels didn't exist here to his knowledge and his test sorties in his IS were in secret, but it was still the only time he really remembered transferring into a school
The second was also related to his previous world. When he transferred into Tokyo-3 Middle School he had, foolishly, admitted to being an Evangelion pilot. Toji aside, he had been mobbed by his class soon afterwards as they bombarded him with questions…it was overwhelming for the shy boy. And now it might be worse, the class at Tokyo-3 had known Rei was a pilot but here…now…well he was the first ever male to be able to pilot an IS unit.
And now he's going to a school whose entire population are girls…many of whom, according to Tabane, have been brought up in all-girl schools. Needless to say he knew he would garner a LOT of attention.
Third he was now going to be in a first year high school class since all new IS pilots had to start at first year, this school's focus is on IS after all so they didn't care how old you were. And he was 14 and would be one year younger than everyone else, while he was absolutely confident in his IS knowledge since he was taught in their use by their genius creator, he was worried about his normal education.
Life as an Evangelion pilot meant that the three pilots didn't really have time to spend on school. Rei did well since she had laser like focus and nothing to do at home and Asuka already had a university degree but he? He was just a normal boy…well compared to the other two on an academic basis.
Fourth and last reason was surprisingly…normal. He was simply nervous of being in a new place and meeting new people. Would they look down on him? Would they hate him? Would they be nice to him?
All those things were swimming in his mind but he shook his head to clear it as the principal walked out of his office and handed him his schedule and class placement.
"I'm sorry but I'm sure you understand how much work there is when the school year is starting," said the principal as he walked up to him and held out his hand. He was an older man, in his sixties he guessed, with white hair swept back and dressed in a business suit. What made an impression on him though was his face; he had the look of a kind grandfather and a smile to match.
He would have been surprised if he hadn't heard from Tabane about him, since to the outside world his wife was the principal but he was the one who really ran the school. He also had no doubt that most students thought his wife ran the school too.
"Ah, no I understand sir," he said as he stood up and shook his hand and then stood in attention. During his time at NERV he and the other pilots didn't really function like most United Nations Military personnel. They went to school, didn't have a rank and didn't really follow the chain of command either. That being said they were given lessons by Misato on how to act properly in a military setting, they never used it but now he decided to since even though IS units were not used in warfare it was a possible use for them as military units did posses them.
Plus he didn't really know how IS Academy functioned, was it like a specialized civilian school? Or, since all pilots were sponsored by their respective governments to an extent (especially the representative candidates) did it run like a military school? Granted he wasn't, sure on paper he was a Japanese citizen but he was here thanks to Tabane, not some old pencil pushers.
So being clueless he decided to pull out all the stops and make a good impression by falling back to the limited military discipline he knew.
"At ease Mr. Shinonono," he told him with some obvious amusement and he did as he was told. "My my I did not expect the younger brother of Tabane to be so disciplined."
"I just wanted to make a good first impression," he admitted with a smile and a shrug as the dean handed him his schedule and class placement.
"I am the principal of IS Academy here in Japan, Juuzou Kutsuwagi, do you need help finding your class?"
"No sir but thank you," Shinji said as he lifted his left arm and pushed up his sleeve to reveal the blued stainless steel watch on his wrist. The principal raised a brow in curiosity, Shinji wasn't surprised since it seemed analog watches were rarer in this more technologically advanced universe; he just thought it looked better and more sophisticated. It wasn't a normal watch either, it was the stand-by mode of his IS and the new home of his trusty artificial intelligence Iruel.
A transparent 3D holographic image of the school flickered to life from the watch's face showing Shinji's location in the waiting room outside the principal's office and his classroom.
"I see," said the principal with a smile. "Good day Mr. Shinonono."
"Good day principal," returned Shinji and he made his way to his class room.
HHHHHHH
Currently Shinji was trying his best to appear calm as can be, and was doing an actual good job. Granted he was doing it by doing what his father did, by putting his elbows on his desk and tenting his hands in front of him and having a blank look on his face.
Why was he trying to stay calm?
Because right now he was sitting in a class room full of women, and sitting in the middle of the front row didn't help. Women who were staring so intently into the back of his head that he couldn't help but wonder why he didn't feel the back of his skull burning from their stares.
In short, he felt like a piece of raw Grade-A Kobe beef…tied onto the back of a small kitten...and thrown into a den full of wolves.
He was glad though for the person that sat on to his right though. He was also a boy, Ichika Orimura. He hadn't heard about him activating an IS somehow, he hadn't really watched the news in the last few weeks as he prepared to go to IS Academy since he knew he would be attending the boarding school for four years and needed to be ready. He knew Tabane knew but…
'I bet she didn't even think about letting me know…wanted me to be surprised I'm sure,' he thought to himself with a sigh.
Still it was nice to have another guy with him.
Speaking of Ichika he looked very uncomfortable from the attention as well. Shinji wondered if Ichika, who had brown hair and brown eyes, would need to change clothes after class with all the sweating he was doing.
Speaking of clothes Shinji was happy that the male uniform was actually nice, not like the boring one he wore in Tokyo-3 Middle. His favorite part was the blazer that made up the top of the unform; it was a stylish white jacket with a black collar and red trim, which Shinji wore a black dress shirt and white tie underneath. The uniform was finished with white pants and black shoes, the female version was similar but exchanging the pants with a white skirt with black trim.
The classroom was nice too, the black board was replaced with a huge touch screen and most of the desk's surface was a touch screen too…needless to say he had had Iruel hack into his desk already so it could act as a terminal for her.
He was snapped out of his thoughts as a teacher walked into the room. She was a young and sweet looking woman with shoulder length green hair and a…uh noticeable bust.
'Well it seems that crazy hair colours really are the norm in this universe,' Shinji decided.
She wore a yellow short sleeved dress and knee length brown boots and thin framed glasses were worn on her face, framing her emerald green eyes. She seemed like a sweet woman to Shinji, infinitely more likeable than his crusty old teacher back in his old world.
"Hello everyone, my name is Maya Yamada and I am your assistant teacher," she introduced herself.
'Assistant? We have more than one teacher?' Shinji wondered.
"O-ok…so let's do some self-introductions!"
And so started self-introductions, it was done in alphabetical order with each student going up to the front to introduce themselves. Back in Tokyo-3 he wouldn't have paid any attention, opting for spacing out instead. Now though he wanted to be friendly, make at least one friend without being punched in the face so he listened.
After around a dozen girls came his fellow male.
"Orimura! Ichicka Orimura-kun!" The teacher said loudly. It seemed his fellow man had been spacing out…badly.
'Even I never spaced out that bad,' Shinji chuckled inside.
"Y-yes!" Ichika said as he made his way to the front of the room. "My name is Ichika Orimura…that is all!"
Almost the entire class face faulted at that, Shinji had rested his chin on his left hand and his head fell onto his desk because of that. As he went back to his prior position he saw a message pop onto his desk's screen.
[11th: ARE OK YOUNG MASTER?]
He smiled, Iruel had always been a tad bit protective ever since she learned his past.
[SAS: YES, I AM FINE, THANK YOU]
"What was it that bad?" Ichika asked the class.
'Oh yeah, it was,' Shinji thought with a smile and made a note to himself to try and be friends with him. 'Well look at me trying to be social for once, Misato-san would be proud.'
*SMACK!*
A fist collided with the top of Ichika's head. Shinji traced the fist back to its source and saw a person even he recognized. Chifuyu Orimura, one of the best and still probably one of the best IS pilots around and former champion of the Mondo Grosso where the best IS pilots compete. She had dark brown eyes and had hip length black hair which was tied at the back in a loose pony-tail and dressed in a black suit with white dress shirt and tie, black dress skirt, black stockings and black heels. Shinji thought she was beautiful if a bit intimidating, she seemed to be all business. He did wonder what she was like outside of work though, Misato was similar when in her 'work-mode' at NERV but was a sloppy drunk at home.
Besides he knew she and Tabane are best friends and anyone who can put up with his sister to the level that he could couldn't be that bad.
"Chifuyu-nee?" Ichika asked.
*SMACK!*
"Call me Orimura-sensei in class."
"Ah, Orimura-sensei, is the meeting over?" the other teacher asked.
"Yes it is Yamada-kun," she answered in a tone Shinji noticed was warm and friendly and confirmed that she wasn't a bad person to him. "Sorry for making you handle the introduction so far."
"It's ok," the green haired woman responded as she stepped off the podium and sat to the side as Chifuyu took her place.
"Alright, everyone listen up! My name is Chifuyu Orimura, I'll be teaching your class this year and I expect the best from you and for you to understand what I'm teaching. If you understand say yes, if you don't say yes anyway!"
Shinji couldn't smile a bit in amusement, something Chifuyu saw but ignored for the moment. She reminded him a bit of some of the UN drill sergeants he'd seen providing security for the sniping platform of Unit-01 during the battle with the Fifth Angel, Ramiel the Angel of Thunder.
His classmates' response though…
"KYAAAA! Chifuyu-sama!"
"I'm so happy to be in your class, Onee-sama!"
"Chifuyu-sama~~~~!"
"Please scold me!"
"ME TOO!"
"It's amazing how many of these idiots come every year. Do they put them all in my class on purpose?" Chifuyu said with a sigh and obvious disappointment and annoyance.
And so the self-introductions continued, there weren't any girls that caught his attention except three people.
One was one of the first people who introduced themselves. She was a blond girl named Cecilia Alcott, Iruel automatically did background searches on all students for interesting information and thanks to her Shinji found out that Cecilia Alcott was England's IS Representative Candidate, making her the best 1st Year student from her nation. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes and a blue hair band. She wore the standard IS Academy uniform but her skirt was longer and her skirt and blazer sleeves had black frills and she also wore black leggings and brown shoes.
What he caught on the most though was her attitude. It was very similar to Asuka's, she was extremely prideful and seemed to look down on everyone. He knew that would end up with her isolated, Asuka didn't have any friends but Hikari and that was because her position of class representative meant she had to talk to Asuka, the other students were too intimidated to get close to her. She also looked at Ichika and Shinji with…anger? Frustration? Hate?
'Great ANOTHER Asuka and not in a good way,' Shinji mentally groaned to himself.
The second girl was Honne Nohotoke, she was a girl with pinkish hair (more proof of weird hair colour) which was somewhat long with two cute pigtails tied up with fox themed clips. She had hazel brown eyes although she seemed to smile so much that her eyes seemed closed most of the time. She was extremely cheerful and energetic and reminded Shinji of Tabane without the crazy. People like her, like Tabane and Misato always appealed to him; they were outgoing and so full of life, something he wanted to be like.
'I wonder if we can become friends?' he wondered as she introduced herself. He also hoped she didn't notice him, accidentally, staring at the energetic girl.
She did but that's for later.
The last was the girl who just introduced herself.
Houki Shinonono, the younger sister of Tabane Shinonono and now his one year older…well older sister. Shinji made a note to talk to her as well, she was his family now and as someone who had always ALWAYS desperately wanted a loving family he wouldn't let the chance to have another sister slip.
Houki had long light brown hair (making Shinji wonder how in the world Tabane had pinkish purple hair) and dark blue eyes, even darker than his own. She wore the standard women's uniform except for the white and red ribbon she used to tie her hair back.
And now it was his turn.
He got up before the teacher could even look down to read his name, Chifuyu raised a brow in a questioning look and he gave her a small smile in return.
Honestly he was nervous, his heart was pounding in his chest but he was also slightly excited, this was his new start in life after all. So he decided to take a page out of his older sister's book, surprise, he'd surprise everyone with who he is and wing it.
'Fortune favours the bold right?' he thought as he reached the front of the room and looked out to see the rest of his class.
'Interesting kid,' Chifuyu thought. Shinji had her attention when she walked in, after all he was a boy who could pilot an IS, the only other one other than her little brother. She also didn't know anything about him, unlike Ichika he didn't become big news which she found suspicious. Then there was the amused smile she saw after her little speech and what he did just now, it all made her curious.
Shinji took a deep breath.
"Hello everyone, I'm 14 and my name is Shinji Ayanami Shinonono, nice to meet you all," he said with a smile. He liked his new name, he didn't want to keep 'Ikari' as it reminded him of his father so he took his mother's maiden name. Then Tabane wanted him adopted and so Ayanami had become his middle name, it also served as a good reminder to his fellow Evangelion pilot, fellow Angel hybrid and half-sister Rei Ayanami.
The class exploded into excitement.
"Shinonono?!"
"The genius Tabane had a brother?"
"We have both male pilots in our class!"
"A younger guy!"
"He's cute guehehehehe!"
"KYAAA! A bishonen!"
Those bishonen comments made him chuckle awkwardly.
Ichika was surprised that Tabane had a brother that he didn't know but was glad for another male around and looked at the other Shinonono in the room, Houki who was his childhood friend and wondered why she never mentioned a brother.
Houki was also surprised. 'What…what?! I don't have a brother…Tabane what did you do?'
Chifuyu was also surprised but did not show it. Tabane was her best friend and made a mental note to call her later to ask about the boy. 'Interesting kid…but something about those eyes…'
And after the class calmed down the girls bombarded him with questions. They asked him about his hobbies, which he responded with playing the celo and cooking. His favorite colour which was purple, green and black. What kind of girls he liked and that was all he could make out before the voices overlapped and he couldn't understand individual questions anymore.
Chifuyu silenced the girls by seemingly smacking them all of them in the head at the same time.
HHHHHHH
With home room done and the students left to take a break Chifuyu headed off to her quarters which were at the first year dormitories since she was also in charge there as the supervisor.
'Well this should be an interesting year,' she thought to herself as walked up to her door. She was happy to have her brother around. Sure she had to be professional as his teacher and not play favorites but it would be…nice to be able to even see him on a daily basis. Her life had been busy as all hell in recent years with her being a military instructor in Germany a few years ago and then working at IS Academy, she barely had time to go home and see the only family she had left.
Their parents abandoned them so they don't count.
Then there was the blond English girl, she was a representative, should be interesting seeing how good the younger generation is. Houki was in her class as well, she would look out for her, Tabane would want that and while she hadn't seen the eccentric bunny eared mad scientist in a while they were and still are best friends.
Strange friends yes but best friends nonetheless.
And besides she was a good friend to her little brother and she hoped they would she would be again.
'Maybe beat some sense into him,' she thought to herself. Literally beat it into him that is, she was a national kendo champion after all.
Speaking of the Shinonono family, there was that other boy that could pilot an IS and he peaked her curiosity.
Shinji Ayanami Shinonono
He was a ghost as far as she was concerned. Tabane had never mentioned a little brother and she had never seen him and she had visited the Shinonono family many many times with her brother when they were younger. And why had he not become big news? The moment Ichika had become a male pilot the international media exploded the story.
It wouldn't surprise her if some of his friends, like that Chinese girl he had become close with after Houki moved, would come to the Academy to be with him or at least visit. No, she hadn't even heard about another male pilot until the staff meeting that morning, hell they didn't even know his name since the principal was so insistent on it being a surprise.
She didn't even know if he took the entrance test.
'And now with him at IS Academy now he won't become well known outside of the IS community until his graduation….someone wants him hidden,' she deducted. One of the advantages of attending is that students are protected from outside influences like national governments and corporations.
And there was his behaviour. He was surprised to see Houki and Houki him which was strange since they're siblings and he's only 14, one year younger so she should have played with him at some point. And then there was the way he behaved. There was a subtle nervousness to him, one she was sure only she and Yamada had noticed but when she did her little speech in the style of being a military instructor he smiled even though she could see he was a bit intimidated. It was a smile of amusement and nostalgia which was curious.
And there was those eyes…there was something there, something unnerving about them…something missing and it annoyed her to no end that she couldn't place what it was. She wasn't exactly a people person, she preferred having a few close friends but she was really good at reading people.
And most weird of all she didn't know where he was staying, for some reason her brother was being assigned a room with Houki.
Sighing in annoyance at the young anomaly that popped into her class she opened her door…and froze.
"…"
Her quarters at the first year dormitories were more like an apartment than a dorm room. Granted the students had nice rooms as well. Students had a spacious central room and two beds with night stands, two study desks, a wall mounted flat screen plasma television, wireless internet and Ethernet cable ports, a large bathroom and a kitchen along with a table and four chairs. Her room though had a living room, two smaller rooms (one she used as a bedroom and one was empty), a balcony, a large kitchen and it was fully furnished along with enough options to connect to the internet she could run the space program from her room with the correct equipment.
She had just moved in though as her room was a part of a recently finished extension of the first year dorms…
'So why is there luggage here?!' she thought to herself. In her room was a small pile of luggage that she knew wasn't hers. They were all purple, she didn't even really like that colour.
And then she saw her sitting on the couch in the living room, Tabane Shinonono in her usual blue maid-ish dress and mechanical bunny ears and a smile on her face.
"Hello~! Chi-chan!" the scientist exclaimed as she leapt to try to glomp her friend.
HHHHHHH
Well try was the key word as Chifuyu had pulled out, seemingly by magic, a very thick book and whacked her friend over the head.
"Ouuu…Mou Chi-chan that hurt," Tabane said as she, adorably, rubbed the sore spot on the top of her head. She was sitting on the couch again as Chifuyu made some tea, it had always impressed her how long the pain from her best friend's hits would last.
It had already been 10 minutes and it didn't seem to be going away anytime soon.
"Quiet you," Chiguyu scolded as she put a tray with a pot of tea and two cups down onto the coffee table in front of the couch, "here."
"Thanks!" Aaaand Tabane was back to her usual cheer. Chifuyu couldn't help but shake her head in amusement as her friend took a sip of tea; Tabane was always quick to recover.
"Something wrong?" She asked when she noticed some disappointment in her friend, she knew she wasn't a great cook but her tea was at least passable.
"Oh nothing it's just Shi-kun makes really good tea, Chi-chan."
"Hm…I wanted to ask you about him, actually."
"Oh?" Tabane said as she put down her cup and Chifuyu could see the sparkles in her friend's eyes, it seemed like she wanted her to ask about him, strange but at least she'll get her answers and fill her curiosity.
"How come I've never met him? Houki and Ichika were as surprised as I was."
"I asked Papa to adopt him!" Her friend replied and she almost did a spit take, Tabane didn't care about anyone other than Ichika, Houki and Chifuyu herself.
Great more questions.
"I found him on a beach you know?" Tabane continued. Chifuyu had to sigh, she didn't take Tabane to be the kind who picked up strays. Well she was at least proud of her friend, to be nice enough to give someone a family.
"Ne Chi-chan…" Tabane said in a serious tone, that got Chifuyu's attention, she had never heard her best friend sound serious. And as Tabane stood up, walked to the glass sliding doors that lead to the balcony and looked through she looked…well serious. Not childish, not even energetic, Chifuyu knew she wasn't going to like where this was going. "Chi-chan, I want Shi-kun to stay here with you."
"What?! Wh-"
"Please let me finish," Tabane interrupted as she turned around, Chifuyu had to understand she was being serious; she needed this favour from her friend. Playing matchmaker may be fun but even if that didn't work she knew Chifuyu could protect her brother and be an understanding and mature confidant, better than herself even though it kind of hurt her to admit that. "He…needs to be protected. Please believe me in that he needs a place to stay, where nobody would take advantage of him. I know you're curious about him Chi-chan but I know you're mature enough to know when to try and pry into his past and when not to. So please Chi-chan, I just want him to stay somewhere he could feel safe."
Tabane knew Shinji spent some, just a tiny bit, of his conscious will into maintaining his brown hair colour and blue eyes. She wanted someplace he could relax, 100% whenever he could. She'd message Shinji before leaving to tell him that he could trust Chifuyu. Shinji had enough trouble sleeping as is and she knew that, even though he tries to hide it, she knew he suffered from nightmares.
He may be consciously ok but it seems his sleeping mind just wouldn't leave her precious little brother alone.
'One demon at a time Tabane,' she reminded herself.
Whether he lies about and pretends he wears a wig or uses a dye he can wash off and uses blue contacts, or just shifted his appearance in front of Chifuyu she didn't care. She trusted him to do what he thought was best and trusted her best friend to respect her brother.
"Sigh* Fine, he can stay."
"Thank you, Chi-chan."
HHHHHHH
"So did anyone not understand?" Yamade-sensesi cheerfully asked.
Break was over and class was in session and…well…Shinji was bored. Tabane had taught more than enough for his entire first year…or two…maybe even three years.
'Well…this could be worse I guess. I could be stuck in Tokyo-3 listening to sensei ramble on about Second Impact again and again…and again…and again. Seriously how did he never get fired? He literally said the same thing every day! And it being a meteor strike was propaganda too…well not that he knew that. Well at least the teacher is nice enough and easy to listen to,' he thought to himself. Which was true, Yamada-sensei had such an innocent aura when she spoke it was pleasant, he'd never met anyone exactly like her. And when Orimura-sensei taught she had a passion he couldn't help but admire. 'Well it looks like I'll enjoy most classes at least.'
Then he noticed his fellow male raise his hand.
"Yes Orimura-kun, what didn't you understand?" Their green haired teacher asked.
"...sensei…everything," Ichika muttered.
"EH?...eh?" The teacher made cute sounds in confusion, "everything? Um, did anyone else not understand anything?"
Silence
"Orimura," he heard the other teacher, Chifuyu Orimura a.k.a. 'Brunhilde' spoke up and walked towards them, "did you read the reference book before coming to school?"
"The big thick book?" her brother asked.
"Yes, it had 'Must read' on it."
"Uh…no."
*SMACK!*
And as Chifuyu used an ungodly heavy and thing book to smash her little brother's head Shinji wondered if the book appeared by magic, he swore she wasn't carrying one before.
"You WILL memorize it within a week, understood?" And while it was phrased as a question it came out more like an order.
"But-"
And Ichika was silenced by a glare that Shinji felt could have caused the mighty Zeruel itself, the Angel of Might, to whimper in fear.
'Wait…I could teach him,' Shinji realised, 'it would be a good opportunity to make a friend.'
And so, remembering that he told himself that he would stop running away whenever he got scared he raised his hand.
"Um, Orimura-sensei," he called out and she turned around to face him with curiousity.
"Hm?"
"I could help teach Orimu-uh Ichika-san the basics."
"I'll count on you then, Shinonono-kun," she said with a nod and Shinji could see…approval?
Well either way Shinji felt proud, for the first time in his crazy life he would take the first step towards friendship himself.
HHHHHHH
"Thanks a lot for agreeing to help me out Shinonono-san!" Ichika said as he clapped his two hands together. It was lunchtime now and most of the girls, obviously prioritising their hunger before curiosity, have left the class room already.
Shinji couldn't help but sputter a bit, he had never been good at taking compliments. "H-h-huh?! Ichika-san, you can just call me Shinji! It's confusing with my…uh sister here." Shinji had to fight the urge palming his face, here he was trying to be a new man and old Shinji apparently wanted to stop by and say 'hullo.'
"Oh right, Shinji you call me Ichika then," the older boy replied with a smile.
"Uh…ok then…Ichika-san"
"Good enough," Ichika said with a laugh, Shinji smiled in relief. It seems making friends here won't be too bad.
"Ahem" Ichika was a bit startled and turned to see the blond, Cecilia Alcott, standing in front of him.
"Huh?" Ichika was a bit surprised to find his classmate there right in front of him looking strangely annoyed.
Shinji was going to say something but saw a message from Iruel pop onto the screen on his desk, he heard Cicilia be offended by something unimportant and rant at Ichika and while he could hear them talk he focused on his message.
[11th: MSG YOUNG MASTER]
[SAS: SHOW IT PLS]
[11th: OF COURSE]
[To: Shi-kun]
[From: Neechan!]
[You can trust Chi-chan!]
'….That's it? Wait...what does that even mean?! Who is Chi-chan?! I swear Tabane-nee sometimes…' sighing to himself he can't help but shake his head. Sometimes his sister tried really hard to surprise him and he tended not to enjoy her surprises, 'oh well I'm sure I'll find out what she means eventually.'
"HEY!" An angry female voice called out to him and he, for a seconded, thought he heard Asuka. But no, the voice was too high pitched and she was living in a new world now, she probably doesn't remember him.
He doesn't know why but God he missed her sometimes. He still remembered her battle with the nine white Mass Production Evangelions, he didn't know who but he had the memory from one of the bridge staff watching the battle on the monitors.
And while her defeat and death is his greatest regret, something that hurt less when he reminded himself his Eva was encased in hardened Bakelite so he couldn't even get inside but still it haunted him.
But the memory of that battle as a whole was inspiring; it was a source of strength for him now, an inspiration. She was amazing, awe inspiring; she lived up to her nickname as the Spitfire of NERV that day. She, alone in her Unit-02, tore through the JSSDF troops, tanks and even a warship. She destroyed them like a wrathful god and it was glorious. Then when the nine MP Evas came she did not run, she did not falter even though she was running on around 60 seconds of emergency battery power. No, she was confident and she faced them with the skill and grace he thought impossible. She defeated them one by one and even though they regenerated and she was ultimately defeated it could not stain his image of her, the life that was burned into his memories.
Asuka in that moment, so full of confidence and fire and life, became his inspiration.
"Don't ignore me!" He looked up to see a very angry Cecilia Alcott.
"Sorry, uh...hi?"
'Smooth Shinji smooth,' he thought to himself.
"Is that all you have to say? Hmph! Are all men like you two? Don't you know who I am? I swear you stupid monkeys are unbelievable! But what do you expect from a small backwards island country in the east?" She ranted. Shinji, just finished thinking about her, and so couldn't help but compare her to Asuka.
'No they're different...her words, while holding animosity…perhaps she was wronged or felt she was wronged by a man before? But she lacks…Asuka's venom when she gets real mad. So at least she's not as…broken like me and Asuka were…not as warped,' he thought to himself.
Ichika was about to say something but Shinji, deciding it would be a bad idea to appear like a doormat on day one, decided to use his newly developed spine.
"You do realise that this 'backwards' country is the birthplace of IS right? That my sister, a Japanese woman invented it here," he pointed out. He raised an eyebrow but kept his tone even, he knows people like her, antagonizing her won't get him anywhere but an empty argument.
"W-what did you say?" Cecilia was taken a back, she did not expect this man…no this boy to speak up to her. Who did he think men are? And he should show his elder and better respect! "Do you know who I am?"
"Yes," and again she was taken a back, "you are Cecilia Alcott, England's representative candidate, an elite amongst the elite."
"Y-yes."
"Uh," Ichika interjected. He was a little annoyed by Cecilia looking down on them and their country but he didn't know why Shinji was being so polite and, wrongly, had assumed he was angry. "What's a representative candidate?"
That caused Cecilia to take an exaggerated step back in surprise while Shinji just lamented how much he would have to teach his new friend but saw an excellent time to start, "they are the best pilot candidates from their respective nation Ichika-san."
"Oh thanks Shinji."
"You are welcome Ichika-san."
"Don't ignore me!" Cecilia said, "but that's right, I am an elite! The only one to defeat an instructor!"
"Uh I did too," Ichika admitted.
"Same," Shinji seconded. He didn't really need to do the test, Tabane's influence was enough to get him into the school with no trouble and no attention but he wanted to compare his skill so a test was done in private. Honestly he felt bad, he scared the woman testing him half to death when he decided to use the test to experiment (on his sister's suggestion) one of his IS unit's more…exotic weaponry.
He aimed for areas so his instructor wouldn't get hurt if his weapon was too effective but a slight malfunction left the instructor's IS looking like a pincushion although his aim was true so no one was hurt.
"So please treat us with the respect we would give you Alcott-san," Shinji told her and Ichika nodded in approval. The class gasped a bit but he expected that, women had better social standing but he would not be walked on in a second life if he could help it.
"You think you deserve that?"
"Yes"
"Do not think you are my equal boy."
"Hey! I wa-"
"Do not interrupt me! For this constant disrespect I want a duel!" She said pointing at Shinji.
'I will use you and show the class you and that other boy's place!' she decided.
Shinji thought for a second. If he denied the fight then he would be seen as a pushover and it would cast a bad light on his new and only friend in the school. If he accepted, well he was confident he would win but what would that do to Cecilia? He didn't want her to hate him.
'She reminds me too much of Asuka and… she's alone…I saw how even the girls avoid her. She's confident to the point of arrogance and its turning people off but she's not as bad as Asuka was. If I beat her would she hate me? Or will taking her down a notch teach her to respect everyone and tone down her ego? She'd have more friends that way,' he pondered. If he could help her then he would, 'besides I haven't tested my IS unit's one-off ability yet.'
So for the chance helping someone and for the chance to do a bit of science…
"I accept and no I don't need a handicap," he said already having a rough idea what she would suggest to try and belittle him.
"What? FINE! Good you have one week to prepare!"
Yup like a less intense version of Asuka.
NEXT ON BERSERKER CHAPTER 2: BLUE TEARS
A/N
To the many people who think I made a mistake with Yui's maiden name I know its Ikari. In the Rebuild movies her maiden name is Ayanami and not Ikari, in that universe Ikari is Gendo's last name. Personally I liked the way Ayanami sounded so I took some liberty and used it instead.
So there it is, chapter 1 and yes I have decided, by mix of reader's opinions and my careful consideration, there will be a harem. It won't be big, three members (possible fourth) are planned and all will be chosen for very specific reasons. Most of the member's have been mentioned already, and no Cecilia won't be in it. Ichika's group will not be touched.
And as you can see Shinji is trying to actually be pro-active in trying to make friends. In the original Evangelion he never really actively tried to be friends with or get close to anyone. His friendships and bonds really happened because of NERV (as the case of Rei, Asuka and Misato) or because they talked to him first (as with Toji and Kensuke). So expect him to be more active and less passive in his new life.
Not a lot happening in this chapter though I admit as it is only the first day of Shinji's new life. Next chapter we'll see some deviation from the IS plot as Shinji moves in with Chifuyu and joins a club!
And how 'bout his living arrangements? I came up with the idea since I established that his appearance of brown hair and blue eyes required some conscious focus so wouldn't it be bad if he falls asleep and his secret gets out? I also wanted to show that Tabane is actively looking out for her baby brother.
And we also see some of the issues that Shinji still hasn't fixed and more problems he's living with. I thought of the phantom pain idea as something that made sense (I mean it would be odd that connecting with the nervous system of a monster like an Eva during stressful combat DIDN'T have side effects) and that along with the nightmares will serve as hints that not all is as it seems with the youngest member of Year 1 Class 1.