Mom

Tokyo-3 First Municipal Middle School, Class 2-A.

Although this school did not belong to NERV, it was affiliated with the Marduk Institute, which was responsible for training and screening the Eligible.

Like NERV, the Marduk Institute answered to the Human Instrumentality Committee, so Shinji Ikari's transfer had gone quite smoothly.

Shinji Ikari followed his new homeroom teacher, Ginpachi Sakata, to the classroom door. The teacher gave a lazy yawn before pushing the door open and walking inside.

The noise inside the classroom sounded like something out of a children's amusement park. As soon as the students saw Ginpachi Sakata enter, the room fell silent.

"Stand, bow, sit."

Ginpachi Sakata lazily rummaged in his pocket for a while, then deftly pulled out a lollipop and stuck it in the corner of his mouth.

He opened the attendance register in his hand, then swept his dead-fish eyes carelessly over the students sitting at their desks.

It was no different from an ordinary school. Shinji Ikari had always attended school regularly, and his other schools had felt much the same.

He had thought an institution dedicated to training the Eligible might have a steel fortress inside, with students running around in combat suits.

"All right, everyone, I assume you've settled back down after that unexpected break caused by the unidentified life-form invasion. Today, we have a transfer student to introduce."

Clearly, Ginpachi wanted to liven things up, but his slow drawl made it impossible to muster any enthusiasm. He spoke as casually as if he were announcing a day off for a typhoon.

As the chatter gradually died away, the whole classroom became exceptionally quiet.

At that moment, every student's attention converged on Shinji Ikari, who stood quietly beside the teacher.

Perhaps they had already heard some rumors about the mecha pilot, because every pair of eyes in the class held a look that was hard to read.

There was admiration, longing, and, strangest of all, even hostility...

A more sensitive, introverted, withdrawn child would certainly have felt awkward and uncomfortable under those gazes.

But Father Shinji Ikari was clearly used to it. With a benevolent, fatherly smile, he said, "Hello, everyone. I'm Shinji Ikari."

Shinji Ikari gave that brief introduction and wrote his name on the blackboard. That was all he said.

The existence of EVA pilots was public knowledge. NERV's publicity portrayed them as heroes who saved humanity, though most of their information still had to remain confidential.

Of course, Shinji Ikari had little to say anyway, and Ginpachi offered no further introduction of the new transfer student.

He rather liked students who did not make things difficult. With the lollipop still in his mouth, he gave another careless yawn before drawling:

"Hmm... well then, make sure you all help each other out and get along!"

"Ikari, your seat is the empty one by the window in the back row."

"All right, let's begin class."

Shinji Ikari followed the direction of Ginpachi's finger with his eyes, and finally understood why he had kept dreaming lately about his mother, who had died young.

The reason was sitting one row ahead of his assigned seat, also right beside the window: a quiet, blue-haired girl.

Shinji Ikari gazed at the girl. Seemingly sensing his gaze as she looked out the window, she turned toward him.

The blue-haired girl still had bandages wrapped around her head, covering one eye, so only three eyes met.

Of course, Shinji Ikari would not have stared so intently at an otherwise unremarkable pretty girl. That would have been rather rude.

Rei Ayanami

Shinji Ikari simply could not quite stop himself from looking, and his gaze was drawn to the mysterious girl.

The reason was that, after taking a couple of proper looks this time, he realized she bore some resemblance to his mother.

Perhaps seeing her before was precisely why he had kept dreaming about his mother these past few days.

Rei. That was what Shinji Ikari had heard Gendo Ikari call the girl on the day he first piloted Unit-01.

This brought back a childhood memory for Shinji Ikari. Apparently, if he had been a girl, that would have been his name too.

Shinji Ikari could only marvel at how strange coincidence-or fate-could be, letting him happen upon a girl with that face and that name.

Though the coincidence amazed Shinji Ikari, he was hardly going to say something as rude as, "You're a woman who could become my mother," to her here.

Neither Shinji Ikari nor Rei made any attempt to hide their gazes as they watched each other. Naturally, Shinji had to walk to his seat amid the class's whispers and glances darting between them.

This training center for suitable candidates really was no different from an ordinary Japanese school. There were the same six periods a day, with four forty-five-minute periods in the morning, and the lessons could not have been more normal.

In short, it was an utterly ordinary school life.

As a qualified god-in-training, Shinji Ikari had already studied all the material through high school, though he might never have any use for it now.

So, bored out of his mind, he could only pass the time by recalling the events of the past few days. The whole experience had been downright surreal.

At last, he made it to lunch break. Shinji Ikari bought a yakisoba bun for lunch and was about to seek out the school's only other Eligible colleague so they could get acquainted.

But as he walked along, two classmates suddenly appeared and blocked his path.

One was a boy in a tracksuit, taller and more solidly built than the other students, with neatly cropped hair and a fierce, piercing gaze.

His eyes practically spat fire when he saw Shinji Ikari. Who knew what deep grudge he held?

The tracksuit boy approached Shinji Ikari with clenched fists and a hostile expression, followed by another boy wearing glasses.

The tracksuit boy glared viciously at Shinji Ikari and said:

"Sorry, transfer student, but I won't feel better until I've beaten the crap out of you."

"School bullying?"

Facing the hostile boy, Shinji Ikari swallowed his last mouthful of bread, stopped searching for Rei, and looked at him in surprise.

Sure enough, just as he had expected, the tracksuit boy drew closer and suddenly swung a fist at him, despite being a classmate their teacher had told him to get along with.

The tracksuit boy was confident that a single punch would knock the transfer student down.

His tracksuit alone made it clear he was one of the school's star athletes, so he thought nothing of the delicate-looking transfer student before him.

The mild-mannered transfer student did not move, yet the fist stopped in midair, unable to advance another inch. Shinji's hands were still tucked casually in his pockets as he swept out his right leg.

The tracksuit boy's expression had only just shifted from viciousness to shock when a whipping kick struck his waist, sending his body tipping sideways.

But the instant he tilted and his legs began moving to keep up, he saw Shinji Ikari spin a full three hundred and sixty degrees. A spinning back kick sent him flying in the opposite direction.