Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Practice ❯ The mall, the Meeting and The Planets ( Chapter 3 )

“I'm going to shop for a while here, Shinji. I'll meet you and Asuka at the food court at one.” Misato said to Shinji as they stopped at the entrance to a clothing store.

“Hai.” Shinji replied as he walked off to find a music store.

Shinji was glad to be left to his own devices for a while. Asuka had already gone to another part of the mall, having met Hikari by chance as they were walking in the main entrance. He began to worry about Motowa again. Asuka's and Misato's jokes made him forget temporarily about her predicament, but now that he had some time to think he had nothing else, really, to think about. He pictured her, sitting in the prison that was that practice room, crying, wondering why Shinji didn't—

His depressing train of thought was derailed when he bumped into someone. “Gomen nasai.” both people said at the same time.

Shinji then realized who it was. “Motowa!”

“Hey, Shinji, how are you doing?” Motowa said back, smiling.

“Good. How did you get out of that practice room after Mr. Akagawa locked it?”

Motowa blinked. “Those doors are made so they only lock one-way. You can still open them from the inside.”

Shinji paused for a second, then slapped his forehead and started laughing to himself. “And here I was, thinking that you were trapped in there.”

Motowa laughed, lifting Shinji's spirits even further. “Is that why you weren't watching where you were going? Because you were worried about me?”

“Well, actually... yes.”

“Aw, that's so sweet!” Motowa said, stepping forward and hugging Shinji.

Shinji was taken aback by this sudden show of affection, and froze. His heart began to race. Upon noticing his reaction, she let go of Shinji. “Oh, sorry for making you uncomfortable. I'm kind of the touchy-feely type.”

“I gathered.” Shinji replied dryly, then blushed at her inadvertant pun.

Motowa just giggled at Shinji's response. “You can't get that out of your head either, huh?”

“Uh-well-I— wait, either?”

“Well, to tell the truth that's the first time someone's walked in on me, uh, doing that. Something like that tends to stick with you.”

Shinji was about to reply when he heard Asuka's voice behind him and he cringed. “Shinji!”

Motowa looked past Shinji to who was speaking to him. “Oh, you know Asuka as well?”

“Unfortunately...” Shinji said as Asuka came up to the two of them.

“Find anything at the— Oh, I didn't know you were talking to your girlfriend...”

“She isn't my girlfriend!” Shinji said.

That raised Motowa's eyebrows. “Of course she isn't. What chance do you think you have with her?” Asuka replied in her usual impish tone.

“Whoa, easy girl, what has Shinji done to deserve that?” Motowa interjected.

“He's way too perverted for his own good, so watch out.” Asuka stated simply, prompting Shinji to look up to the heavens through the skylight they were under and think What did I do to deserve this?

“That seems untrue from what I've known of Shinji... and besides, I like `em with a little ecchi in them.”

That took Asuka back somewhat, and so with a harumph she stormed off. “I was going to ask why you said `unfortunately', but now I know. Considering her popularity, she's not very nice.”

“Maybe the school is populated by masochists.” Shinji said, making Motowa laugh again.

Shinji resolved to make more jokes around her, because he was quickly getting addicted to the sound. “How do you know her, anyway? In a class with her?” Motowa asked.

“More than that. I not only go to school with her, I live and work with her.”

“...Oh wow, you're the Third Child everyone's talking about. You seem so... normal.” If this had been anyone else speaking, Shinji would have taken it as a bad thing, but Motowa's tone of voice said that it was actually a plus. “You're a real role model.”

“What? I am?”

“Sure! You're just like everyone else, but you have the courage and the ability to pilot a skyscraper with legs and save the planet! You're kind of a modern-day Superman, a high-school-aged Clark Kent of Tokyo-3.”

“I never thought of it like that.” Or rather, nobody would let me be positive enough to think that.

“You don't like living with Asuka, do you?” Motowa asked.

It was less a question than confirmation on an educated guess. “Well, no, not really. Around Misato she's not too bad, but she's at work for most of the day and... well, you saw how she is with me in public. She's worse at home.”

“`My grief lies all within, and these external manners of lament are merely shadows to the unseen grief that swells with silence in the tortured soul.'” Motowa quoted solemnly as they started to wander.

“That pretty well sums it up. The quote sounds like Shakespeare.”

“Richard II, in fact.”

“It's very pretty, considering its subject.”

“Most of shakespeare's quotes are.” Motowa thought a moment before speaking again. “`I count myself in nothing else so happy as in a soul remembering my good friends.' That's Richard II, as well.”

“I'm a good friend?”

“Well, you have to be that before you're my boyfriend.” Motowa said, making Shinji blush.

She laughed as they walked into the music store, and both made their way past the top-40s and rock sections to Classical and Jazz. “And I thought I was the only one who listened to this stuff.” Shinji said.

“My tastes in music are all over the place. Classical, Jazz, Electronica, Metal, Ambient...”

“Wow. I've never seen someone's taste in music so eclectic.”

“That's what most people say. I find that I can pick out the good qualities of each type of music. Classical and Electronica, for example, can evoke emotion without the need to dumb them down into language. Jazz is completely freeform, without a real need for structure, and so a lot of new styles of music can come of it. Metal and Trance music are both good for waking one up and giving them energy, while ambient and some classical music is good for the opposite, putting people to sleep and drawing off excess energy. Pop music... well, it makes people happy.”

“You don't like sappiness for the sake of sappiness either.”

“Not on such a broad scale, no. So who's your favorite composer?”

“I don't really look at who the composer is, I go for what sounds good.”

“Good answer, but you must have a favorite from your collection.”

Shinji thought for a moment. “Holst.”

“Ooo, The Planets. Good choice.”

“You?”

“Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring. Hands down.”

“You know, I never got that one. I really should.”

“Well, we are in a music store.”

“Oh yeah...” Shinji said in an exaggerated tone, as if Motowa had just helped Shinji solve some grand enigma.

They browsed in silence for a while, moving from section to section. finally, they both made their way to the register. “What'd you pick up?”

“Rite of Spring, and a soundtrack to the anime Serial Experiments Lain.”

“It has a soundtrack?” Motowa asked in amazement. “What's on it?”

“Lain's theme, the opening theme, TV and Cyberia Edit... that has to be a typo.”

“What does?”

“Well, let me put it this way, I have to spell it. “s”peEd.”

“What the... that doesn't sound right at all.”

“Yeah, there are some weird names here. How about you? What'd you get?”

“Planets and an album by the psychedelic-rock-techno band Massive Attack.”

“Heh, you never got Planets?”

“Well, I'd been meaning to, but kept forgetting, and I don't have a lot of time over the week to go to malls and hang out.”

“Don't worry about it, it's not like I'm any better when it comes to things like that.”

“But you'd rather be alone?” Motowa said as they paid for their SDAT tapes and walked out the door.

“Close. I'd prefer to do things with really close friends, people who I can open up and talk about things.”

“Like you're doing now?”

“Like I'm doing now.” Shinji reached into his bag and pulled out The Rite of Spring, changing it with the current tape in his SDAT player. “You seem to know a lot about me.”

“It's kind of a hobby of mine. I'm usually a good judge of character, and I believe that's one of the best skills one could have. So I constantly hone said skills, figuring out what makes the people around me tick. Like that man over there.” Motowa pointed out a stressed-looking businessman. “I'd bet that he's expecting someone to meet him here soon, but he can't find the place they're supposed to be meeting him at, due to the fact that he's constantly checking his watch, and the fact that he's looking around everywhere after he does so, in an effort to gain his bearings. This also tells me that either he's meeting someone very important, or he gets stressed out easily. It's the latter, because of the extensive wrinkles on his face.”

“Impressive... you're very observant.”

“Thank you. I try to be.”

---

“Enjoy your time with your girlfriend, Shinji?” were the first words out of Asuka's mouth when Shinji got to the table that Misato and Asuka were sitting at.

Shinji had decided that he had enough with Asuka's teasing and replied “Yes, I did, actually.”

“Hmmpf. I can't figure out what she sees in a baka like you.”

Shinji decided to cease his pointless bickering with Asuka, a gesture Asuka took as surrender. A smug grin on her face, she resumed eating. Shinji sat down with the plate of sushi he had ordered.

“So it's official, then?” Misato asked from across the table around a mouthful of noodles.

“Hmm? Oh--er--no, I was only joking.”

“Playing it cool, are you? I'm sure that if she's the one for you, you'll know soon.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Love doesn't usually wait around for something to happen.” Misato said simply, apparently in a rare philosophical mood as she stared off into space. “It instead goes out into the world and grabs whatever it wants.”