We are not animals anymore, are we?
P.E. was probably my favorite class. Although I only had a week of training, my muscles were far more efficient than anyone else's. By digging my feet into the ground and using every muscle in my foot and legs, I could sprint faster than anyone. With my daily runs, my stamina was far more developed than normal.
At first, I thought it might be a side effect of cursed energy, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. Maybe alongside the Ratio Technique, I also got enhanced physiology, or maybe Shinji was just a genius who never took advantage of his talent.
Regardless, in P.E. I always had a good time. When you were good at something, you most likely enjoyed doing it too. We were playing basketball on the court outside.
Toji was a beast during the game. We'd been pitted against each other, and it wasn't a good match-up. He was more experienced than I was in sports. He moved like the ball was glued to him. Even with my clear advantage, he managed to get past me, either by doing a well-timed faint or by taking a step back and shooting. He was more accurate than my team would have him to be.
Kensuke, who was in my team was the world's only example of subtraction via addition. It was impressive how someone whose hobby was to track in the mountains and hike in nature could be so out of shape. It was our ball, then the enemy's the moment that orange sphere got into Kensuke's hands. They flew in like vultures the moment Kensuke's digits touched the ball. After getting the ball, they'd immidiatly pass to Toji, who would do all the heavy lifting.
All I could do to counter was try to keep possession of the ball to score, but without reliable teammates, I was limited. With teammates who walked instead of running, and who passed the ball to me when they got it.
"You don't have enough time for a comeback, that lunch is mine!" Toji had his knees bent and his arms stretched out. Sasquatch over here took up so much space, my peripheral vision was halved and he wasn't even right on my face.
"I'd gander I can make 20 points in 10 minutes. That's only seven three-pointers." I stepped to the side and raised my hands, ready to throw the ball. Toji immidiatly took the bait and jumped. Using a pivot foot, I bounced the ball and moved to the side before throwing the ball inside the hoop. "That's three in one."
The match from there on was intense. Those last 10 minutes were a 1 v 1 where Toji and I would score. When the time ended, and the score showed itself we were 3 points behind.
"Score! We're going to Ramen this afternoon!" Toji pumped his fist and clicked his heels. I was left there, heavily breathing while being forced to acknowledge that I had been bested by someone who had just graduated from middle school.
Loosing sucked. It did, for a second I could hear my wallet weep. Toji's stomach was an endless storage.
"Sorry man," Kensuke's voice was annoying to me at that moment.
"The match was over the moment Kensuke was put on your team." Toji laughed at us, bouncing on his feet, alternating them for mocking purposes.
"Well, back to history." Kensuke looked up, the girls were heading back down from the pool on the roof of the other building. That meant that their swimming class was over, and so was ours.
"Ughhhh." If Sysiphus made any noises when he had to walk back down that hill to grab his rock, it'd be that. History was the one subject I couldn't follow. Probably because it was the only subject I had never had. Everyone studies history, I was no different... but I also never had anything like the second impact in my world.
"It impresses me how someone so ahead in everything, can be so behind what's happening around him." Kensuke cleaned his glasses using his sweaty t-shirt.
"No, wait. I've heard of this, it's called Savant syndrome," Toji looked pensive. Academically, he was wrong though, I wasn't anything special. I had just gone through all those classes beforehand and studied what I couldn't remember...
"Savant Syndrome is when you're good at one thing, Ikari's a bonafide genius." Kensuke pushed his glasses back in his face, "must be nice."
"If anyone has Savant Syndrome, it's both of you," I looked behind me, the teacher was leading the others back into the changing room. "I mean, Kensuke's good at mechanics and survivalism but sucks at sports," I pointed my right hand at Kensuke, "Toji's good at sports and history, but his other subjects are lacking." I pointed my left hand at Toji.
"I wouldn't say lacking... I pass don't I?" Toji scratched the back of his head.
"Well, he's got a point... barely passing's not enough if you want to get into a good university you know? Especially if you want to become a doctor like you say you want to."
"Yeah... you're right," Toji's head hung, "I just can't get in the mood you know? Studying's so damn boooring..." He sobbed, "Ikari, mind sharing your brains with the rest of us?"
"Ask for me to buy food, ask for my brains... I must look like your dad or something."
"Nah, my dad would never lose a basketball match." Toji's little giggle at the end of his sentence got to me.
"I can see where this is going... save the re-match for tomorrow... the teacher might blow a hole through our heads with his stare." Kensuke ran to the changing room first. He was right, the teacher was staring at us like we killed his dog.
The bells of school rang, and we were freed from another hour of lecturing about our futures. Homeroom was the worst. What was I going to do? I didn't know. What was I supposed to do? I hadn't put any thought into it. The world was ending, no one knew it of course, but I did, and I was too busy thinking about the consequences of my possible mess-ups to care about my future job.
"Through the anime... the only path allowed to me is having the world destroyed..." I sighed, both hands in my pockets. I hadn't even looked at the color of the sea... that's right, I was scared of looking at it. If the sea was red, that meant I was in the movie continuity... if it was blue, then I was in the anime continuity.
Being in either sucked... but I couldn't choose which was worse.
The future... how laughable... All I get in the future should I act like Shinji is a fear of heights, trauma, and pain...
For now, I would just walk past the school gates, and then wait for Toji and Kensuke so we could go eat ramen.
"You look lost in thought."
Just as I was about to cross the gates, I stopped and turned around. Blue hair, taller than me, an eye so red in the sun, they looked fake, and skin so pale, she looked sick. She had a cast on her arm tied to a sling around her neck. Her left eye was covered by a patch, stuck on by medical tape. This was Ayanami Rei.
"I was..." Talking to her was awkward knowing everything I did...the awkwardness didn't end there. To my dismay, being close to her made the hairs stand on their end. "..." I wasn't sure what else to say, I had to pretend I didn't know who, or what she was... it shouldn't be too hard. I was pretending to be Shinji, wasn't I?
"My name is Ayanami Rei, I am the first Children." She introduced herself, but it didn't seem like she cared. She had a bland expression on her face, I couldn't tell whether she wanted to be here or not.
"So I was subbing for you," Lying was awkward for sure... thankfully lying about my knowledge was all I had to do. I wasn't forced to act like someone else. This precious gift existed because Ikari Shinji didn't know anyone, his sad existence allowed for my more comfortable one. "You should be more careful."
"I have come to tell you that we have another medical check-up today." Ayanami turned around and began walking away. She stopped noticing a distinct lack of footsteps behind her and turned around. Did she think I would follow her to NERV? "I need you to accompany me because my new ID has not been issued."
What a hassle. I didn't want to be near her at all. The silence during the walk there would be uncomfortable, and I was sure I'd keep getting chills throughout. I reached for inside my pocket and produced my ID.
"Use mine, I'm not going to med check today... I had one yesterday." They were exaggerating the medical checks.
"Doctor Akagi thinks there might be something different about your body, she wants to study it. You must go to the medical checks." Ayanami's lifeless voice was also difficult to listen to. It was like listening to a monotone speech. What she said was interesting though. If Akagi was interested in my body, that meant there was truly something weird to it. "I was told to remind you, that your contract stipulates mandatory medical examinations."
"Tch..." That was unwilling of me, almost a reflex. I knew I would regret not revising that piece of paper with more scrutiny. Then again, it's not legally binding since I wasn't old enough.
"Doctor Akagi also told me to warn you against going to law, because she has evidence of possible pandemic-breaking viruses that could be in your system." Ayanami's voice grew more tiring the longer I talked to her. Akagi must have hated me like no equal, she even got blackmail to use against me. If I didn't go with her, she would cry wolf to others.
"Hey, Shinji! You coming?" Toji caught up and stopped at the sight of Ayanami, "do you two know each other?"
Ayanami didn't say anything, she kept staring at me, so I was forced to answer.
"We're long-distance relatives," I thought that would make my life easier. It made it look less weird when she asked me to go with her to Nerv, and technically, it was true. "She's telling me we have a medical check-up today."
"What happened to the Ramen?" Toji looked disheartened. I broke my no-blinking contest against Ayanami, which I won. Kensuke was walking slowly from the entrance.
"Dinner?" I waved at Kensuke, who looked confused as he got closer.
"Sure, I'll tell slow-pants back there." Toji pulled me closer and whispered in my ear, "Hey, could you put in a good word with your cousin?" I turned my head to look at him, then I hit him with my elbow to push him aside. "Remember what I told you!" I flipped him off while walking with Ayanami.
"Why did you tell them we were related?" Ayanami began the conversation again. It was not something I was expecting.
"It's so it doesn't seem weird when we leave for NERV at the same time. It just seemed like the most convenient explanation."
"Just tell them the truth."
"I don't want to be known as a pilot."
"But it's what you are."
"Yeah, well... the last thing I need is people putting me on a pedestal. When you're put in a position of expectation by others, people will blame you for any failures, regardless of whether it's the group's fault or not. When there's someone on the pedestal, it's always their fault... and that sounds sucky to me."
"It also means that you get all the credit for success." Ayanami wasn't wrong, but it was still a hassle. I'd do my job and have fun with my friends. There was no need to mix both. "People don't know about angels, but they know about the EVAs, and they treat whoever pilots them like heroes."
"I'm sure you know," Ikari Shinji would have jumped at the idea of being a hero, "but we aren't heroes... we're glorified soldiers." I wasn't Ikari Shinji.
"..." Ayanami stayed quiet after that. The awkward silence combined with the chills I felt near her was about what I expected.
When we arrived at NERV, I was forced to put on a plug suit. I hated using that thing. It felt restrictive and tight. I didn't understand the need for it either. In the show, they had something to do with the synchronization with the EVA.
I met with Ayanami outside and our medical exams began.
0*0*0*0*0
Akagi was used to weird, she was a scientist using giant robots to fight angels, and she had to be... but something about Ikari Shinji truly perturbed her to no end.
The first time he crawled inside the EVA, he could use it perfectly. He thought in English despite being born and raised in Japan. His perfect scores in all grades other than History, and worst of all, his ego, which he backed up with incredible athleticism despite his frame.
It wasn't just strange, someone like Ikari Shinji shouldn't exist.
"Just as I thought," Akagi looked at the physical results being displayed. They had improved once again. It hadn't been a full day, and his numbers went up.
"Is this kid the commander's? Are we sure he's not some super-soldier experiment?" Ibuki Maya, the exhausted Lieutenant pushed herself off the desk. She had short brown hair and eyes that looked tired from crunching numbers all night. She turned around to look at the rest of the team. "What? Someone had to say it. How else could scores like these exist?"
"..." Akagi didn't like the kid. She didn't understand him. Could it be that Commander Ikari experimented on him? They didn't seem to be on the best of terms when they met... the fact Akagi couldn't tell for sure was a worry in the back of her mind.
"Soon enough he'll shred through world records... he's 14, and he can run like a professional who has been doing it for years." Ibuki looked at her screen. "Maybe he was trained before coming here?"
"Trained? He didn't know how to remove the safety of the riffle in the EVA... and it's just scaled up the standard issue." Aoba Shigeru, another lieutenant chuckled behind his screen. He leaned back on his chair, "I think he's just got talent. I mean, isn't this a good thing?"
"It is" The doors closed behind them. Akagi had been so focused on the data, she hadn't noticed her friend walk in. It was Misato, she looked like always. "Apparently he's a good basketball player."
"Basketball player?" Ibuki wasn't sure what the relevance was. She raised her eyebrow, then stuck her head back into the screen.
"So, that is all you found out with your stalking?" Akagi was not impressed. She crunched the numbers in her mind, Ikari Shinji had improved by 15% in one day. Usually, Akagi would chuck it up to a fluke, but the growth has been about that much every day ever since he arrived.
"No..." Misato sat down next to Akagi and looked at the screen showing Ikari Shinji running on a treadmill, "I also found out he's popular."
"Great, so nothing."
"Wasn't it you who said nothing is good?" Misato's question was like a slap to Akagi's face. Although she'd said that to seem considerate, the reality was that it was all PR. She hoped there was something Misato could tell her that would explain this rapid growth, be it drugs, or even a revelation that he was a vampire... anything. "Well, he does train every morning and afternoon, there's that."
"I doubt training has much to do with anything. I think I'll ask for a sample of his blood and run tests to analyze his muscle structure." Akagi pulled the microphone closer to her mouth and pressed a button. "Ikari-kun, if you could go to the med-lap so we can scan you."
Ikari looked directly at the cameras. He raised his arms, then dropped them in frustration. Although there was no sound, Akagi could see him say "Another test?" with his mouth.
"I think you should calm down with the tests... if this keeps up he won't be able to do anything in the afternoons. He has homework you know?" Misato looked at the screen of a frustrated Shinji lying down in a medical bed beneath a large glowing ring.
"This isn't a game, it's a war against angels, and he signed up for it willingly. I'm being lenient. In my opinion, he should stay his whole day here, having him go outside makes us lose time for training, and it puts him in danger." Akagi crossed several things off her tablet and checked on what tests she had done.
"Do you dislike him that much?" Misato couldn't fathom how much Akagi disliked Ikari Shinji.
His arrogance and his unwillingness to follow orders without questioning everything. Any time they spoke, it felt like he didn't trust her like he knew something she didn't. It irked her. He acted like he knew everything, and he didn't bother hiding the fact. He clearly disliked her too, and he didn't bother hiding that either.
"Shinji-kun go home, tests are over for today!" Misato pressed the button next to the microphone.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Akagi threw her arm to press the button again, but Misato grabbed her wrist. "Have you gone mad?"
"Who has gone mad here Akagi? Do you want to keep Shinji-kun here all night? It's my job to take care of his mental health, isn't it? He needs to socialize, and he needs to rest."
"Have it your way." Akagi swung her arm and forced Misato to release it. "We'll continue the tests tomorrow."