Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Macross Fan Fiction ❯ A Job of a Pilot ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A Job of a Pilot
a Neon Genesis Evangelion/Macross/Robotech crossover
by Bug-Chan

Chapter 8

"WHAT???"

The foursome group of Asuka, Hikari, Touji and Kensuke gathered around a TV showing the news. But it wasn't just any news that elicited that reaction -- it was the image of Shinji, battered, wet and dirty but very alive, that came on.

"Apparently, Ikari Shinji and Ayanami Rei were stuck in this particular section of the fortress for the past week after the folding caused them to fall into this area. They managed to attract attention by breaking a water pipe, causing a letter of complaint to be sent to the military and triggering a rescue from a simple fix-up," the reporter announced, much to the disbelief of the teens.

'So that's where he was the whole time,' she said, and put a face of relief. Hikari noticed this and Asuka reacted; the face changed from relief to anger. "If that pervert laid a finger on that girl, I will so pummel him!"

Hikari noticed the quick change. "Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure," she sarcastically agreed.

IN THE CHINESE RESTAURANT

Closing time was approaching in the restaurant as Shinji ushered the remainder of the customers out and started cleaning up, much to Shigeru's and Maya's disapproval. They still insisted that Shinji not do anything and just relax, but Shinji's conscience couldn't stand not helping out and disagreed; eventually, they let him work as well. A half-hour later, after all the customers were gone, the restaurant was cleaned up and everyone was ready to head to the rooms.

"Oh, Rei, please show Shinji to the guest room," Maya said as she and Shigeru entered their room. Rei nodded and motioned to Shinji to follow her. A few feet past the door to Shigeru's and Maya's room was another door which Rei opened. The guest room was plain with a bed, blanket, pillow and a closet, as well as a balcony, but Shinji didn't mind.

'Oh man...a bed!' he groaned mentally, suddenly feeling all the fatigue cumulated over the past week sleeping, or attempting to sleep, on a hard floor. "Thank you, Rei," he thanked.

"You're welcome," she replied in her quiet tone as she left the room and closed the door behind her. Shinji then got ready to sleep, but as he laid down, he heard a soft voice coming from what seemed to be outside. Intrigued, he got up and walked outside to the balcony to find the source of the voice and saw Rei a small distance away to his right, singing, and oblivious to his presence.

"Toki ga nagareru
Ai ga nagareru
Watashi no mae o kanashii kao shite
Anata wa kitto ikusa ni yuku no ne

Otokotachi wa minna tsukareta yoo ni
Kuchimoto hikishime hitomi o moyashi
Ashinami o soroete

Watashi wa kitto okisarareru wa
Ikusa no tame ni
Hokori no tame ni
Toki wa nagareru
Ai wa nagareru
Kuchihateru watashi wa..."

Shinji couldn't help but be awestruck by her soft, melodius voice. Her softness actually fit very well with the song, making it sound so much nicer and pleasing to his ears. As Rei stopped singing, she noticed something to her left out of the corner of her eyes and turned. She was somewhat surprised to see Shinji looking back at her. A few seconds later, Shinji noticed her looking at him.

"That was...very nice," he said softly. Rei only blushed slightly at his compliment. "You know, you should sing more often," he then suggested, which Rei blushed even more at again.

"Thank...you," she thanked, somewhat hesitantly, and looked at his reaction. He smiled back at her. "Would you like me to..." she trailed off.

"Yes," Shinji answered, knowing what the red-eyed girl was going to ask. "Please continue."

"Hai," she said, and turned to face forward again.

"Toki ga nagareru
Ai ga nagareru
Anata no mae o munashii kao shite

Watashi wa zutto ikusa o nikumu wa
Onnatachi wa minna tachinaotte yuku wa
Ha o kuishibari sesuji o nobashite
Kodomora no tame ni

Anata wa kitto kaette kuru wa
Ikusa o yamete
Ikiru tame ni

Toki wa nagareru
Ai wa nagareru
Kuchihateru mae ni wa..."

Shinji was now spellbound, Rei's voice had captivated him fully. He just looked at her, trying to take in as much of her voice as he could. To his disappointment, she was finished singing and walked back into her room. He did likewise and went to sleep, Rei's voice singing in his head as he drifted off.

NEXT MORNING

"Come on! Let's look for that baka!" Asuka shouted.

"Why are you so intense on finding Shinji all of a sudden?" Kensuke asked. Touji and Hikari were quite confused. "I thought you wanted to leave him and that girl alone."

"He's a pervert! Who knows what he'll do to her?" the fiery redhead retorted.

"Reason's not good enough," Touji said. He was thinking of something else, which was being commonly thought of by the other two.

"Asuka," Hikari said. The aforementioned girl gave Hikari her full attention. "Are you jealous?"

The vocalized thought did wonders to her. Asuka first paled, then went into a full-blown blush of embarrasement, then the blush changed to a red face of anger.

"What kind of a stupid question is that??? How could you have stooped to the level of these Stooges???" Asuka yelled at her friend. Pedestrians were giving her funny looks as they passed by her. "Anyways, let's just go look for him!" The other three teens just followed in silence. After some walking and turning, they ended up in front of the Chinese restaurant where Shinji was working and staying. "OK, let's split up. We'll go down one road from this intersection for the next two or three blocks and ask where Shinji is. Half an hour later, let's meet here again." she suggested, or more like ordered, and took off one way. The others shrugged and went down different paths themselves.

HALF AN HOUR LATER

"Nothing."

"Nope."

"No one knows."

"DAMNIT!" Asuka groaned, frustrated, hungry and thursty. She noticed the Chinese restaurant they were standing in front of. "Let's get some food," she suggested. For the first time that day, there was a unanimous agreement. They walked into the restaurant and Shigeru saw them and ushered them to a table as he took their orders. He went back to the kitchen with their orders on hand.

"Shinji! Two spicy pork and vegetable noodle soups and two large orders of fried rice!" Shigeru yelled.

"Hai!" Shinji yelled back as he headed towards the fridge to get some ingredients. Fifteen minutes later, the food was ready. "Orders for Table 4 are done!" he yelled again. Rei approached the kitchen and took the tray of food towards the foursome sitting at a table. As she placed each dish in front of each person, Asuka looked at her.

'Something seems familiar,' she thought to herself. 'Blue hair, red eyes,' she repeated, trying to put a picture. Then it struck her. 'She's that girl Shinji was stuck with!' "Hey! You're that girl Shinji was with!" she said. Rei only looked back at Asuka. "You know what happened to Shinji?"

"Hai."

Asuka waited for her to continue, only to get nothing. "Well then, where is he?" she asked, becoming very impatient and forgetting her hunger and thirst.

"In the kitchen," she said. Just as she finished saying it, Asuka was gone in a blur of red, headed towards the kitchen.

(A/N - I dunno whether I should stop here or go on...oh well, let's go on)

"Oi! Shinji!" Asuka yelled out. Shinji literally dropped everything he was doing and just froze.

'That voice...I know that voice.'

As the teenage boy stood there frozen, Asuka entered the kitchen as quickly as her walking legs would allow. Shinji thawed back to see Asuka approaching him with a nasty look in her eyes. When she was in striking distance, the timid boy automatically cringed, waiting for the inevitable attack. Instead...

"Come here, you," Asuka whispered as she gave him a very strong bear hug. Shinji was again caught by surprise as the normally violent girl he knew as Asuka was...hugging him. He was...confused, to say the least as to why there was the sudden attitude change. However, he knew that times like these are rare so he decided to make use of it and hug back. Too bad it only lasted a minute or two.

"Whoa! Shinji! Shoryu! Never knew you guys had something for each other!" Touji yelled, smirking. Hikari and Kensuke were behind him, Hikari only looking with shocked silence and Kensuke taping the couple in the kitchen. This snapped something in Asuka.

"OK, what did you do to that poor girl??" she interrogated as she broke the hug and whacked him in the head.

"Nothing!" he yelled back, annoyed.

"What nothing? She's not herself!"

"We did NOTHING! N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!!" Shinji yelled again, this time with some spine. "Now if you don't mind, I have some more cooking to do. We can talk tomorrow over lunch, when I have my day off. Now shoo!" he said, pushing Asuka out much to her displeasure and locking the door after she got out.

Back at the table, Asuka was fuming. "How dare he..." she could only let out as the other three teens gave her looks, that too the same look. 'Jealous?' the eyes seemed to mock her. Defeated, she looked back down at her food and started eating it, and so did the others. The meal proceeded and ended in silence as each teen paid up his/her share of the meal and left.

"You know, I'd like to hear what Ikari has to say about his experiences," Hikari said casually as they walked down the street. It was, however, more to get Asuka to come than her curiosity.

"Yeah, how the hell did they survive for a week in that place?" Kensuke mock-wondered, catching Hikari's drift.

"How did he even end up there in the first place?" Touji said, catching the drift as well.

For someone who was smart, Asuka did not get at what the others were thinking. "Why are you so interested? For all I know, he might've taken advantage of that blue-haired girl!" she tried to kill the plan but it didn't turn out the way she wanted it to turn out.

"Jealous, Shoryu?" asked Touji. Instead of threatening to hit him, or hit him outright, she "hmphed" and left off on her own. "We're meeting at the restaurant at 12 o'clock tomorrow! Remember!" he shouted at the retreating form. Hikari and Kensuke just chuckled a bit at the redhead's lack of reaction.

"She'll be there," Hikari said. The other two boys just nodded in agreement.

THE NEXT DAY, AT LUNCH TIME

Shinji hung up his apron after cooking his last meal for the day and walked out of the kitchen as Maya walked in and prepared herself. He was somewhat surprised to see Hikari, Touji and Kensuke eating and looking at him. "Well, you DID say to come back today at lunch time if we wanted to hear you talk," the bespectacled boy reminded the dumbfounded chef.

"Oh yeah," Shinji remembered, and grabbed a seat. He noticed one person missing. "Where's Asuka?" Just as he finished asking the question, the doors opened and Asuka entered, like a cue from a play.

"Speak of the devil..." Touji trailed.

"Was that meant to be a pun?" Kensuke asked the jock.

"All right, spill," Asuka ordered as she sat down at the table. "What did you do down there? And I don't want minute-by-minute hentai detail."

Shinji just sighed. 'What is with her? First she hugs me, then whacks me and now accuses me.' He then proceeded to tell them their weeklong marooning inside the fortress, skillfully and sensibly leaving out the intimate moments he shared with Rei, during which the group gave him their full attention. After he finished recounting the entire story, Hikari had some thoughts that just hit her.

"So what are you going to do about a place to stay? You weren't around when the workers were scavenging buildings and stuff so you don't have a house at all. Maybe it's a good thing you lived by yourself after all," she asked.

"Well, I'm staying at Rei's for now," Shinji answered. The group gave him a blank look. "Oh! Rei's the girl I was marooned with," he quickly added.

"WHAT??????" the group exclaimed.

"What did you do with that girl???"

"Why her place???"

"Shinji you sly dog!!!"

"Ikari! You live in a world of sin!!!"

"GUYS!!!!!!" he shouted. Everyone shut up. "Asuka, for the last time, I did nothing of that sort with her. I'm staying at her place because her aunt and uncle offered me a spare room and work and some pocket money for the work and I'm also enjoying it myself. Besides, since I don't have my place anymore, I don't have anywhere else to stay," he explained. Then, as an afterthought, "And I am NOT going to try to sleep with her!"

The group finally calmed down after hearing his explanation, even though Asuka still glared at him, albeit with a bit less force than usual. Shinji just hung his head and shook it when he saw her glare. The group chatted around for a while, bringing Shinji up to speed about the town and its differences from South Ataria Island, apart from the fact that they were in space, and later on left the restaurant as Shinji himself headed up towards his room, wanting to go out and explore the new city for a while. He grabbed his wallet and his keys and went out of the restaurant after telling Shigeru about his intentions and started to wander around, taking in the sights. After a while, he saw a music store with a bunch of instruments on display. 'The cello...too bad I lost it in space,' he mused sadly. 'Hope it doesn't hurt to play it a bit,' he hoped as he entered the store.

"Hi there, how can I help you?" the store owner asked with a smile.

"Hi. Can I take a look at that cello over there?" Shinji asked, pointing at the cello on display.

"Knock yourself out," he said as another customer entered the store. Shinji saw a stool nearby and brought it with him to the display. He grabbed the cello and bow and after running a very short piece and tuning it, started a piece himself. It took a few measures for his fingers to remember the cello but after that he was playing it very smoothly. The customer and the shopkeeper stopped for a while to watch Shinji play, stunned at his high skill in playing it. A few minutes later, Shinji finished the piece, and was surprised with the applause he got, even if it were only two people.

"That was a most fabulous rendition of 'Air'," the shopkeeper complimented. The customer nodded in agreement. Shinji just blushed and smiled as he put one of his hands behind his head. "Can you play more pieces?"

"Can I?" he asked, surprised at the shop owner's enthusiasm.

"Please! That was very nice!" Shinji picked up the bow again and played Suiten für Violoncello solo Nr.1 much to the shopkeeper's delight. This went on as Shinji played a few more pieces and customers came and went. Finally, after about a couple hours' worth of playing, Shinji stopped, tired.

"I'm sorry, but I'm tired now," Shinji said, somewhat embarrased of it.

"That's perfectly all right. I really enjoyed your little concert," the shopkeeper said smiling. "Do you have a cello?"

"I used to. It got lost during the fold," Shinji said, a bit sadly, and hung his head.

"Ah." Pause. "I'll tell you what." Shinji looked back up at him. "I'll let you have this cello for free under one condition." Shinji had a big smile on his face. "You come here once every week and play for an hour or two. I like your music. Deal?" he asked as he stretched his hand out.

Shinji was now more than happy. He grabbed the offered hand and shook it hard. "Deal!" Five minutes later, Shinji walked out of the store, cello in hand, happier than ever and headed back to the restaurant.

A FEW HOURS LATER

The restaurant was closed and now everyone has retired to their respective rooms. Shinji decided to play the cello now that it was quiet and picked up the bow to play Bach's "Prelude".

Rei, in the other room, was lying belly down, her chin on her hands in front, thinking. 'Singing. Shinji likes my singing. Does that mean anything else?' she asked herself mentally. Her thoughts were broken by a faint cello playing from next door. Curious, she got up and tried to hear more of it but couldn't make out much. She walked out of her room and approached Shinji's room where the music was coming from. Silently, she opened the door and saw Shinji, playing the cello, eyes closed in concentration as his left hand fingers were gliding across the neck and the bow went back and forth, dipping and raising every now and then. She stood there, captivated by Shinji and his cello, and liking the music it was letting out. She herself tried to take in as much of the cello as she could, just like how Shinji was trying to take in much of her singing some time ago.

The music then ended and Shinji looked up. He was surprised to see Rei in the room, looking down at him as well. "Umm...Rei, is there something I can do for you?" he asked, uncertain.

"No," she said. Then she hesitantly added, slightly blushing, "You play well,"

Shinji blushed at the compliment. "Thank you Rei," Rei then blushed a bit more and left the room. Shinji looked at her as she left, then put the cello away as he got ready to sleep. He lay on the bed, thinking. 'I cannot stay here for too long, it is not what I wanted to do,' he thought to himself. Then he added, 'Just exactly WHAT do I want to do?' He started to have images from the day everything started to today, and saw the pictures of him in the Valkyrie more often than anything else. 'I should become a pilot...yeah, a pilot,' he said to himself. The thoughts of being a pilot circled in his head as he drifted off to sleep.

TBC

A/N -- The first song I had Rei sing is "Ai wa Nagareru" from Macross: DYRL. If you didn't catch it earlier, all the classical pieces I mentioned all come from Eva. Oh well, another chapter done, planning the others. Expect to see the others in action within the next 3 chapters or so.

Ja mata!
-bug-chan