Author's note: Yes it's official. Hell has frozen over. No your eyes are not deceiving you. This really was a new chapter in
my story and to top it all off, it was a longer chapter than I have written in the past. Sorry for the long wait.
Thank you to Dan01 and Zeroasalimit for pre-reading for me. Now onto the chapter.
Differences
By Kale
Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion, any of its characters, concepts, etc or anything.
Chapter 05
While the joyous reunion between mother and son was going on, Hikari began to stir. As she continued to regain consciousness, she slowly opened her eyes. After completely gaining consciousness and her vision focusing, she found herself looking up at the ceiling. She surveyed her surroundings and found that she was on the couch in the living room. How did I get here? Hikari thought, the last thing I remember seeing was Shinji sitting in his room playing his cello. But that's impossible. We all attended his open casket viewing and funeral. She slowly raised herself into a kneeling position on the couch where she could look around the room. When she looked behind the couch, she saw Shinji and his mother hugging each other and crying tears of happiness. Hikari rubbed her eyes slightly and when what she thought was a hallucination did not disappear, she knew that her eyes were not deceiving her. Asuka was right. I don't know how but Shinji is alive.
As she continued to watch the scene in front of her, she noticed Asuka and Misato peeking around a corner. When she made eye contact with Misato, Misato and Asuka quickly disappeared around the corner. Hikari continued to kneel on the couch, being careful to avoid being noticed, and watch in silence so that she did not disturb Shinji and his mother's reunion.
As Misato and Asuka pulled back from peeking around the corner, Misato quickly turned to Asuka.
"Why did you bring Hikari here? Misato asked Asuka sternly. "I told you that no one should know about Shinji until we know what the commander wants to do."
Unable to make eye contact with Misato, Asuka looked down at the floor and moved her right foot sheepishly back and forth on the floor "I'm sorry Misato," Asuka apologized, "During school Hikari kept bugging me. She wanted to know what caused the change in my mood. There was no way I could keep this from her. So I told her after school when no one else was around. When she said that it was impossible, I knew there was only one way I could convince her. I know I shouldn't have brought her here but I couldn't help myself. I told her that I would prove it to her by bringing her here, but I did have her promise that she wouldn't tell anyone, not even her own family."
"Look at me Asuka" Misato said firmly.
Asuka slowly raised her head and made eye contact with Misato.
Misato placed her right hand on Asuka's left shoulder and tried to be as reassuring as she could. "I understand how you feel about not being able to keep this from your best friend, but you have to realize that even we don't know how it is possible that Shinji is alive. Never mind the people in your school. I don't know if Hikari's promise to not tell anyone will be enough for the Commander."
"What will happen to Hikari then?" Asuka asked, afraid of the consequences her friend may face.
Misato gave Asuka a reassuring smile to try and assuage the red head's fears. "I don't think anything will happen to Hikari but we will just have to talk to the Commander. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Just promise me that you won't tell another soul about Shinji until the Commander gives the ok."
Asuka, with her fears pacified a little, nodded slowly, "I promise I won't tell anyone else."
"Now let's go see what we do about the situation." Asuka and Misato then proceeded to walk around the corner to join the others in the living room.
After releasing each other from their embrace, both Yui and Shinji wiped the tears of joy from their eyes so they could see clearly.
I don't know how he's alive, but right now I don't care. He's standing here in front of me and that's all that matters, Yui thought happily as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I've missed you so much these past few months Shinji" Yui said. "Losing your father was hard, but losing you was like everything I had in the world had been taken away from me."
Shinji's faced changed to a look of confusion. "What do you mean? What happened to father?"
Now it was Yui's turn to be confused. "You don't remember what happened in Germany?"
Shinji opened his mouth to respond but just then Asuka and Misato walked around the corner and into the living room.
"I hope we aren't interrupting anything important but there are some important matters to be discussed," Misato stated
Yui turned to face Misato. "Such as?" Yui inquired.
"Such as the presence of Miss Horaki on the couch" Misato said as she pointed directly at Hikari.
Yui turned to look where Misato was pointing and sure enough, there was Hikari on the couch kneeling. Turning back towards Misato and Asuka, Yui switched to her cool demeanor she used at NERV. "Why is she here?" Yui asked.
Shinji, becoming uncomfortable at the sudden change in his mother's demeanor and the sudden change of conversation, began to shift his feet nervously. He began to look around the room to find some reason to escape from the uncomfortable situation. Then the clock on the wall caught his attention and he noticed that it was almost dinner time. "I'm going to prepare dinner now," he announced breaking the uncomfortable silence. Using that as an excuse to get away, he made his way into the kitchen.
Asuka heard Shinji make his announcement and quickly looked over at Misato with a look of dread. "Misato…" I hope he doesn't actually intend to try and cook.
Misato caught Asuka's look of dread, understanding why she had such a look, and quickly decided to take decisive action. Knowing that Hikari was a good cook, she decided she could use her to help prevent the possible hazardous meal as well as having a convenient excuse for her not to be around while the commander, Asuka, and herself discussed the Shinji situation..
"Hikari, could you come over here please?" Misato requested.
Hikari nodded and slid off of the couch and onto her feet. She then made her way over to Misato.
"Could you please go help Shinji in the kitchen?" Misato asked Hikari.
"No problem Misato" Hikari said. She then made her way into the kitchen to help Shinji prepare dinner.
Misato then turned to back to Yui. "Commander, why don't we go to my room so we can discuss this matter in private" Misato suggested.
Yui nodded, "That is acceptable Major."
Asuka, Misato and Yui walked through the apartment and into Misato's thoroughly clean and organized room.
Inside the kitchen, Shinji was busy pulling out everything he needed to prepare dinner for Misato, Asuka, Hikari, his mother, and himself. After he laid everything out and began cooking the first part of the meal, Hikari walked in.
She looked around the kitchen and saw that he had everything laid out in an organized manner.
I didn't know Shinji knew how to cook. At least, I have never seen him cook or heard Asuka talk about him cooking. He has everything organized by what needs to be done first.
"Hey Shinji, want some help?" Hikari asked, "Misato sent me in here."
"Sure, I guess" Shinji answered without turning around as he continued preparing dinner
Hikari asked Shinji what he was making and he told her. Hikari looked at what Shinji had already done and started on what else needed to be done. Hikari then thought to herself I wonder why Asuka or Misato never told me that Shinji could cook.
As they cooked dinner in relative silence, Hikari built up the nerve to ask Shinji a question that had been eating away at her ever since she regained consciousness.
"Shinji, can I ask you a serious question?" Hikari asked cautiously in a soft spoken voice, uncertain if she should really ask what she wanted to.
"Sure, I guess" Shinji replied uneasily. He suspected that the question Hikari wanted to ask would make him uncomfortable and given her reaction to seeing him in his room playing his cello, he wouldn't know what to say to her.
"I don't mean to pry, but what happened? I mean with the open casket viewing and everything"
Shinji briefly stopped everything he was doing and just stood in front of the stove. Unsure of how to answer her question, Shinji decided to give the only answer he could. "I don't know what to tell you." He then resumed cooking dinner.
Seeing Shinji's delayed and noncommittal response to her question, Hikari decided not to press the issue. Maybe he's just not at liberty to say.
The two teenagers then proceeded to finish preparing dinner.
Inside Misato's room, Asuka, Misato and Yui sat down on the floor on Misato's sleeping mat. Yui looked at both Misato and Asuka with a serious look on her face. "Now would either of you care to explain to me why Miss Horaki is here?"
Asuka looked at Misato, who gave her a reassuring glance, and swallowed nervously as she prepared to speak up. I hope she doesn't get upset with me. Asuka then turned her attention to the commander. "It's my fault Commander. When I arrived at school earlier today my friend Hikari quickly ran up to me after noticing my change in attire. She noticed that I seemed to be much happier than I have been for months. During the day she kept asking me what had happened that cause the change in my mood. Eventually I caved in and told her I would tell her when no one else was around. After school had ended and everyone had already left the class room, I told her that Shinji was alive. She didn't believe me and I knew the only way I could prove it to her was to bring her here."
After hearing Asuka's justification of Hikari's presence, Yui's expression softened a little but she still had a solemn expression on her face. "I can understand why you reacted the way you did, given your relationship with my son, but we can't afford to let news of Shinji being alive get out until we can come up with some sort of explanation of his presence."
Misato then decided to speak up. "That brings us to another issue. Shinji has asked about going back to school. We would need to have some sort of explanation prepared about his return and especially about the funeral and open casket viewing."
Yui nodded, "You're right. Also the explanation would have to be plausible enough for people to believe."
After several minutes of uneasy silence as they tried to come up with a plausible explanation, Asuka decided to speak up. "What about if we say that Shinji was on urgent business for NERV and had to go about it in utmost secrecy. We could say that the funeral was just a cover for him."
"Hmm. That might work, but it would still be really awkward for him to just suddenly show up after he's supposedly been dead for months." Yui commented.
"Better awkward and at school, than cooped up alone in the house all the time. Besides, people might see him anyways when he goes to NERV when the next Angel attacks" Misato added.
"Good point. So it's decided then. We will release a statement explaining Shinji's return and about both the funeral and open casket viewing" Yui stated but then paused for a moment. "On a more personal note, is it just me or is there something different about Shinji? He seems to be different from before."
I wonder what she means by that? Asuka looked at over at Misato to see if she knew what the commander was talking about.
Misato nodded in response to the commander's comment and responded.
"I've definitely noticed some differences, especially after I asked him a particular question. But regardless, it's good to have him back all the same."
"Out of curiosity Misato, what did you ask Shinji this morning?" Asuka asked.
"I asked him if he remembered how he first met you Asuka."
"What did he say?"
"He said that he met you on some ship called Over the Rainbow."
"Wasn't that ship destroyed by the 6th Angel?" Asuka asked
"Yes it was. It was in a fleet from the UN that was on its way to Japan" Yui added.
"So what does this mean? Instead of just not remembering that we first met when we were really young, he has an entirely different memory all together?"
"Apparently so." Yui agreed. This is serious. I need to speak to Dr. Akagi soon.
"In the meantimelet's not worry about how or why and just be glad that he's alive."
Each woman, all with a different but special relationship with Shinji, agreed with that statement wholeheartedly.
Asuka took in a deep breath. A delicious scent caught her attention. "Mmmm. Something smells good. Hikari must have taught Shinji how to cook a decent meal." I really hope he just stayed out of her way. That way we can actually have an edible meal. I can remember that last time Shinji tried to cook for us. Terrible doesn't even begin to describe it, inedible does though.
"I don't think it will be much longer so let's go out to the dining room to wait for dinner" Asuka said, knowing her friend's excellent cooking abilities.
Both Yui and Misato nodded. All three women proceeded to get up from their positions on the sleeping mat and exit Misato's room.
As Asuka, Yui, and Misato walked back into the dining room, they saw Hikari setting the table and Shinji placing the food on the table. As soon as Shinji finished placing the food onto the table, he looked up and saw the three ladies standing by the dinner table.
"I was just about to come to tell you that dinner was ready" Shinji said.
Asuka took another deep breath. "It smells really good Shinji. Hikari must have been able to teach you a thing or two."
I wonder what she means by that, Shinji thought but gave her a small smile, not sure how to respond to the comment.
"Anyways, let's eat shall we?" Misato suggested.
Everyone agreed and they all sat down at the table with Asuka sitting next to Shinji of course.
A brief silence ensued as everyone began to eat their meals. "So Shinji" Yui began, breaking the silence after she swallowed the mouthful of food in her mouth, "I heard you were anxious to return to school."
"Ummm… yeah," Shinji answered after taking a sip of his soda and placing the can back down onto the table, "It's kind of boring being cooped up in the house all day."
"Depending on how fast the public relations department of NERV can work, you might be able to return to school tomorrow, thought it might be better if you waited one more day just in case. NERV needs to release a statement that will explain your reappearance after being 'dead' for several months now" Yui stated.
Shinji, though still not sure why everyone thinks he died against the fifth Angel, decided to agree anyway. "That makes sense." Earlier Misato said she'd have to clear my return with the commander. So I guess this means my mother is the commander. But that doesn't make sense. Father has always been the commander. What exactly is going on here? There are a lot of things that are the same but then there are things that are radically different.
Not noticing her son going into deep thought, Yui continued on. "I'll give Misato a call in the morning to let her know if it is okay for you to return to school tomorrow."
Shinji, brought out of his internal monologue, just nodded. "Alright."
"About that Mrs. Ikari," Hikari interjected, "how would I explain this to our classmates and other students in the school?" This is my chance to get an explanation about Shinji's return.
Yui turned her attention to Hikari. "Tell them while NERV regrets any grief that the funeral and open casket viewing may have caused, they were just a cover for an urgent mission for Shinji."
Hikari nodded. "Okay." Seems kind of dubious to me, but it's still better than having no explanation.
With the most pressing issue out of the way, the dinner proceeded to be pretty normal with Asuka and Hikari talking to each other about school and gossip while Misato and Yui discussed non-classified work related materials. Shinji just listened to both conversations while eating his dinner silently hoping to gain an understanding of why so many things seemed different and yet others remained the same.
In the middle of her and Misato's conversation, Yui's cell phone rang and she told Misato to wait for a moment. The conversation between Asuka and Hikari also stopped when Yui's cell phone rang. After all, there was always the possibility that an Angel was attacking.
She left the room and she took the call. "Commander Ikari here" Yui said.
Yui listened for a little bit then answered, "Alright, meet me in my office. I'll be there shortly. Bye."
"Don't worry. It's not an Angel attack." Yui assured the group as she reentered the dining room. Hikari relaxed after hearing Yui's statement. "I just received a call from Dr. Akagi. I need to go meet her at NERV for a meeting. Regretfully, I must be leaving now."
Yui walked over to Shinji. "I would like to talk to you at NERV after school as soon as we clear your return. So please don't forget." She then gave him a hug and whispered into his ear. "I'm so glad you're back and I'm looking forward to talking to you again."
Shinji hugged his mother back and smiled as his eyes began to water up with tears again. "Me too, mother, me too. See you soon."
Shinji and Yui then released each other from their hug. "Good night everyone."
"Good night commander" Asuka and Misato said in stereo.
"Good night Mrs. Ikari."
"Good night mother." Shinji said as he cleared the tears from his eyes with his forearm.
Yui then left the dining room and made her way out of the apartment.
After the commander left, Asuka and Hikari resumed their conversation.
"Hey Hikari, this food was really good. Did Shinji help at all in the kitchen or did he just get in the way as you cooked us this excellent dinner?"
"Actually Asuka, Shinji cooked most of the dinner. I was the one helping him, not the other way around." Hikari said, "You never told me that Shinji could cook so well"
Misato and Asuka both did a spit-take and got the other's clothes wet with their drinks of choice, Asuka with Misato's beer and Misato with Asuka's favorite soda.
"What did you just say?" Misato asked incredulously. "Did you actually mention Shinji and the phrase 'cooking well' in the same sentence?"
"You obviously have never tasted his cooking before and there is a reason for that I might add" Asuka added "Calling it hazardous waste would be being polite."
Shinji felt hurt by their comments. Neither Asuka nor Misato had ever made comments like those about his cooking before. The one thing he thought he was good at, cooking, and they insult his cooking abilities I may not be a master chef, but I know my cooking isn't as bad as Misato's cooking. Or I should say as bad what as Misato's cooking used to be. Shinji didn't bother waiting for anyone to say something in reply to Asuka's comment. Shinji stood up suddenly. "I'm finished." Shinji said in a soft voice with a hint of sadness that betrayed his feelings. Shinji grabbed his plate and silverware then headed to the kitchen to dump the rest of his food in the trash and then put his dishes in the sink.
After placing his dinnerware into the sink, he passed back through the dining without a word and headed towards his room.
As Shinji passed by the dining table, Asuka opened her mouth. "What's with him? It's not like his cooking has ever been good. That's why Misato usually cooks."
"That is a mean thing to say Asuka, especially after he cooked most of the dinner for us." Hikari said.
Shinji only heard Asuka's comment as he passed by the dining room table. So that's what she meant earlier. He then entered his room and shut the door behind him.
Misato saw Shinji's reaction and saw that the comments about his cooking had hurt Shinji's feelings. "Asuka, please drop it. Our comments seemed to have hurt Shinji" Which is unusual since comments like those didn't usually bother him. In fact he usually came back with a witty reply of his own.
Now Asuka felt guilty for saying what she did. "I'll have to apologize to him later" Asuka stated. "But did he really cook this? I mean he's never cooked a meal as good as this."
"I wasn't kidding Asuka. He really did do most of the cooking."
"Hmm, he must have been practicing while he was gone" Asuka said thoughtfully, using the commander explanation's of his return to try and explain his good cooking even though she didn't really believe that statement herself.
"Even if he couldn't cook before like you said, he can certainly cook now" Hikari said.
A lull in the conversation occurred so Hikari looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was getting late. "I need to be getting home Asuka. I need to finish some homework for tomorrow and get ready for bed."
"Alright, let me walk you to the door Hikari." Asuka said. Both girls got up from their chairs and walked out of the living room to the door of the apartment.
"I'm so happy for you Asuka, Shinji's back and you're not depressed anymore" Hikari said while slipping on her shoes.
"I'm glad as well. It's like a dream come true that Shinji's back. I'll be damned if I ever lose him again." Asuka said. "Just remember what the commander told you to tell anyone who asked about Shinji's return."
Hikari then gave her best friend a hug. "Just be careful. He seemed to be really hurt by the comments you and Misato made earlier."
Asuka nodded. "I will and I'll see you tomorrow in school Hikari."
"Bye Asuka. See you tomorrow."
After she watched Hikari exit the apartment and the door closed, Asuka walked back into the dining room where Misato was picking up the dirty dishes and silverware.
"Do you want some help Misato?" Asuka asked.
"No, I've got it. It's my night to do the dishes" Misato replied, "Besides don't you have an apology to make?"
Remembering what she said about Shinji's cooking earlier, Asuka felt guilty again. "Yea…." Asuka replied as she started walking towards Shinji's room.
When Asuka arrived outside of Shinji's room, she brought her right hand up to knock on the door but then paused. How long has it been since I was in Shinji's room? How long since I could enter the room with out breaking down and crying?
She knocked softly and called out to him. "Shinji?" She waited a few moments but got no answer. Maybe he's asleep. I know he was upset by the comments Misato and I made but hopefully we didn't upset him too much. I should let him get some sleep. He had an emotional day today and tomorrow may be rough with everyone's reactions if he's allowed to go back to school.
"Good night Shinji." Asuka said softly and then turned around and walked into her room to go to bed.
Shinji lay on his sleeping mat with his back to the door. He had heard Asuka knock on the door and call out his name; however he didn't feel like answering. What did she want? Was it to insult me or my cooking some more? Shinji thought bitterly. He hit the play button on his SDAT and he used the music to drown out Asuka knocking on the door and her calling out his name. Soon the soothing sounds of classical music lulled Shinji into a deep sleep.
Back at NERV headquarters deep in the bowels of the geofront, Yui sat at her desk in her office. Dr. Ritsuko Akagi stood at attention in front of the desk.
"So what are you trying to tell me Dr. Akagi?" Yui inquired.
"What I'm saying is that the Sea of Dirac that the 12th Angel produced could theoretically be connected to an alternate universe."
"Interesting" Yui commented with her hands crossed in front of her face. That potentially explains his return, the reason why he doesn't know what happened to Gendo, and his response to Major Katsuragi's question. I will talk to him tomorrow after he gets out of school. Even if it turns out that he is from another universe, he is still my son. "What is your recommendation doctor?"
"We should ask him a series of questions. We don't know how different the alternate universe may be from our own" Ritsuko stated.
"I will deal with that matter personally doctor. Yui replied. "That will be all for now doctor. Thank you."
"Yes commander." Ritsuko saluted the commander and turned to leave. Don't let your emotions get the best of you commander. He may be your son but we still don't know how different he may be. Humanity is counting on you. We can't afford any mistakes. Ritsuko then left the commanders office.
After Ritsuko left her office, Yui leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Things are only going to get more complicated from here on out…."
End Chapter 05
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