Symphony No. 6 in G Major Op. 6

"Synchronize"

(A Neon Genesis Evangelion/Battle Network FanFiction by CyberForte)

Disclaimer

Battle Network and all associated characters, concepts, situations, et cetera are copyright to Capcom. Neon Genesis Evangelion and all associated characters, concepts, situations, et cetera are copyright to Gainax. This is strictly a work of FanFiction and is not intended to violate the aforementioned copyrights, nor to earn any capital for the author. All original characters, concepts, situations, text, and portrayals are copyright to myself (CyberForte), but they may be used by any other wishing to do so as long as credit is given to myself (CyberForte).

Seventh Movement

"Observations"

"How's school coming?" opened the conversation as a quite spent-looking Misato Katsuragi managed to slump into a chair within her apartment, a golden beer can in hand. Her clothing and manner both well-evidenced the fact that she'd been working later than usual, never mind that she'd just now arrived home whilst Shinji was preparing for them breakfast. Definitely too many night shifts; the woman had barely seen her charge since the makeshift 'party' on the night of his first arrival, although she'd come to greatly appreciate his presence. Not only was the apartment actually clean of late, but she had real food, something that might once have been considered a myth in the Katsuragi household.

As for Shinji, he didn't appear to mind the arrangements either; he actually seemed to enjoy cooking, and after tasting Misato's own attempts at such, she had been banned from the kitchen with appropriate haste. Also, despite his initial shock at the existence of a beer-drinking hot-spring penguin living in a converted refrigerator, the two seemed to have hit it off well. That most likely had a great deal to do with the aforementioned banning of Misato from the kitchen, of course.

So far, the only real point that the two had encountered any friction over was her drinking habits; apparently, he wasn't the kind of person who could understand what drove a woman such as herself to be a complete alcoholic, but even then, the boy's somewhat timid nature had prevented any overt fights. He'd get used to it in time, she was certain, though she did note that other potential tensions would likely arrive in the next few days, since she would (hopefully) be getting back to a more normal schedule. But she had no intention of worrying over them just yet; it was enough of a problem avoiding simply collapsing on the table, never mind trying to hold a conversation, so there was no way in hell she going to add anything further to her concerns at present.

At least the food seemed almost ready... And indeed, as Shinji nodded, eyeing his nigh-unconscious guardian with alarm, yet still serving up several pancakes for her as he replied, "It's alright, I guess. It's not really much like school back in Electopia." He might have said more, but he wasn't sure how to say it really, and the question he intended to ask, although by normal standards almost completely innocuous, seemed to him as if it might imposing upon her, especially considering all that the woman had already done for him. So, although he wanted to ask, he decided that it might not be best to do so quite yet. Maybe once things became a bit less hectic for her...

Thus, the rest of the meal was passed in silence, one too caught up in his own introversions and considerations to say anything, the other too tired to do much save ingest her food and take the occasional swig of beer. A rather dull experience, but better than most days; he'd usually just see that she'd come in early in the morning, while he was sleeping, and so leave her a plate of food for whenever she got up, make his lunch, and leave for school. And, since he finished eating long before her, he had mostly prepared said lunch by the time Misato was done, and he was on his way out the door when she seemed to remember something.

"Oh, Shinji... Ayanami's gonna to be returning to school today. Could ya keep an eye on her? She doesn't have any friends, and I don't know if she'd tell anyone if she had a relapse. She really shouldn't be out of the hospital yet, but the Commander was adamant that she be released as soon as they'd allow it..." Well, aside from the wince at a further example of his father's cruel ways, the request seemed to go over without any real problems, so after seeing his hesitant nod, the tactical director of NERV managed to get to her feet, then to stumble unceremoniously to the door of her room.

As Shinji exited the apartment, his last impression of the woman was a lump on the wall fumbling with the door handle, trying without success to open it. Had it not been who it was, the boy might have laughed, but his conscience wouldn't let him as it was; she'd been far too nice to him for him to repay her with such disrespect. Especially if he intended to ask her any favors... So, he refrained from doing so, despite the humorously pathetic effect of the scene, instead closing the door behind him and beginning the rather dull (like the rest of his life wasn't?) trek to school.

Of course, such treks are oft ideal for introspection and internal monologue/dialog, though Shinji wasn't the type to discriminate; he could have fallen into such anywhere, so long as his father wasn't in the near vicinity. Still, it was good to have such an opportune time, and as was his nature, the boy was quick to make use of it. Naturally, considering the situation, the object of his thoughts was one Rei Ayanami, a girl he'd met merely twice, and yet perhaps the one of those he'd encountered to make the most distinct impression upon him.

After all, even in this era, features like hers were extraordinary. Blue hair wasn't as uncommon as it might have been in the past, but it was still an anomaly, and coupled with her lighter than normal skin and crimson eyes, hers wasn't an appearance easily forgotten. And whilst, for obvious reasons, she hadn’t exactly come off as beautiful, especially with the circumstances he'd observed her under, she certainly had great potential to be attractive. Of course, considering that she had been in extreme pain and bandaged rather extensively, very little of that potential had been utilized during their encounter. Though the fact that her suit had been extremely formfitting in the unbandaged areas helped a little, but the former aspects had banished any sexual thoughts it might have otherwise inspired, thank God.

But, moreover, what made his thoughts turn to her, aside from the obvious reason involving Misato's request, was the fact that she was an enigma, and so interesting. He hadn't been able to learn much about her, but from what little he had gathered... Rei Ayanami, designated the First Child by the Marduk Report (what this was, he was still uncertain). She was apparently also an Evangelion operator then, and held the same military rank as he did (pilot, as it was the closest classical position that could be applied to their job) in NERV and so presumably the Netopian Army. He'd been able to learn only two things about her past; the fact that her legal guardian was and had been for as long as anyone he's spoken to could (or would reveal, at least) Gendo Ikari, and that she had apparently been injured in an accident a few days prior to the attack, hence her miserable state.

No one seemed willing to give him information on the incident, but he'd heard Misato slip once and refer to it as the "activation test." This obviously suggested something to do with Eva, especially considering that no one would tell him; they were trying to avoid scaring him, or so he deduced. However, this brought to mind the question of, considering that he seemed now to be Eva's operator, what she would do. He hoped she didn't resent him for it now that she was recovering, considering that he didn't exactly adore the situation either...

But, if any of the gossip around school was to be believed, there wasn't much chance of that. He certainly wasn't 'in,' but it was hard not to hear what people said sometimes. Whenever she came up, much of the class tended to act either derisive or pitying. Those exhibiting the former reaction would usually make snide or sarcastic comments, often questioning whether she was even human. The others would often speculate as to what made her as she was, often citing beliefs of a family tragedy, or some other form of severe trauma.

Both groups agreed for the most part on two things, however. The first was that Rei Ayanami could easily be a very attractive person, but seemed to almost purposefully quash that by refusing to take care of her appearance at all and wearing what might be the plainest attire imaginable. Secondly, they tended to agree that she was easily the most withdrawn and anti-social person they had met (often with the added clause that she was emotionless or a "doll"). So, he could see why Misato had said that she had no friends at all. But why then was she returning to school so soon? He couldn't see his father caring enough to make her go to school, even if he had dismissed her from the hospital, and it wasn't like she had much to go back to...

Regardless, though, his musings were required to end at this point; he was approaching the school, and thus the streets were becoming more full of other teenagers. As such, there was a good chance that any encounter resulting from a collision wouldn't end well for Shinji; he was hardly a physically powerful or imposing person, to understate the facts. Thus, it would be quite prudent for him to return his consciousness to watching his surroundings. Besides, he'd hopefully be able to form his own opinion of Ayanami once they had more formally "met." After all, their two encounters thus far couldn't really be considered meetings; not a single word had passed between the two in either.

He gave some thought to waiting for her at the entrance, but a verdict of inaction was quickly rendered. Truthfully, he had no idea what he would do or say, and so it would just be awkward. Maybe he could try to talk to her at lunch hour, or something. Or maybe tomorrow he could bring her lunch. Hopefully Misato knew what she liked; food was usually good for resolving animosity, and it could give him an excuse to talk to her (assuming he could manage to work up the nerve to, which was questionable, much to his internal chagrin)... Anyway, though, Shinji pushed aside the mental deliberations again as he attempted to reach class early enough to avoid the crowds' entries.

After a few minutes of weaving, dodging, and doing his best to reach class without offending anyone in the halls, Shinji managed to achieve this goal, taking a seat at the same desk he'd used since his arrival. For some reason, he liked it, and since he got there earlier than most, he'd managed to procure it every day. Luckily, it was only one seat diagonally away from the window seat which he assumed was Ayanami's, considering that it was the only seat in which no one ever sat, and that people often commented on the girl's apparent habit of staring blankly out the window.

Regardless, it wasn't long before more people arrived. Surprisingly, considering her present status, Ayanami was actually one of the first. As he'd guessed, she took the seat by the window, her form still much bandaged, including one eye. Her hair was not anymore well kept, and her face was blank, much as it had seemed in the hospital. Also as expected, her clothing was extremely plain; a simple blue skirt and white shirt. Thankfully (as Shinji noted with a glance at his own semi-formal outfit, which he had developed a preference for in Electopia, but which thusly now encompassed almost his entire wardrobe), there was no silly school uniform enforced here in New London; his old school and possessed one, and everyone had looked boringly the same, never mind all the complaining...

Not long after Ayanami's entrance, Kaede (as he had learned was the name of the tomboyish girl who'd been battling on his first day) made her own, casting a baleful glare at Cynthia (the platinum blonde from aforementioned netbattle). She was obviously still wishing for revenge, but due to the facts that, unlike the previous teacher, Enzan was not lenient with those who he found netbattling when class began and that Cynthia never stayed after school, whilst Kaede usually had at least one athletic activity, she'd yet to extract it. The latter, as usual, didn't bother to even look at her self-declared nemesis, but rather seemed more interested in looking at the blue-haired arrival, perhaps sizing up her injuries.

Ayanami herself seemed oblivious to the direct attention of at least two of her classmates and the glances thrown her way by many others as they entered, though. Rather, she seemed vastly more interested in staring out the window to oblivion, so Shinji decided he'd better get ready for class himself, considering that she'd done so already, and that the rest of the class would be coming in soon. He'd have to try not to look at her too much, considering how fast people were to tease here. It was a real change from Electopia, where teasing had tended to be more among friends only, and since he'd never had any friends, he was having a bit of trouble getting used to the concept.

But even back in Electopia, if you were caught staring at a girl, you weren't likely to hear the end of it soon, and it wasn't like he could tell them the real reason. His father's orders (relayed through Misato, of course) had been explicit on the count that he was not to say, do, et cetera anything which might so much as hint at knowledge NERV's existence or his affiliation with them. Thus, he turned to setting up his desk-based computer for class. Most students would have their navis do it, of course... But, for him, doing that would basically be the same thing, but more difficult.

Naturally, Eva had been disguised as a normal navi, but because it had no AI whatsoever, in order to operate it at all, he still had to have partial synchro, as it would only respond to his thoughts. Needless to say, without the assistance of a synch-plug, trying to operate this way wasn't easy for him. He was consequentially considered one of the worst netbattlers in the class. That was what he had been hoping to talk to Misato about... Apparently, as rumor had it, she'd been quite the hotshot back in college, and so he was really hoping that she could help him improve. But he was a bit worried that it would be imposing, with all she had to do...

Either way, the boy began the process of initializing the programs he'd need for class, as well as uploading his homework from the PET, an arduous task, as it involved controlling the navi without moving his actual body, a feat he still hadn't mastered completely. He'd gotten quite a few laughs during netbattling class for it... As a related thought, he wondered how Ayanami was at netbattles. He's seen the class ranking, and she hadn't even been on it, but that was for out-of-class battling; until Enzan's arrival, they hadn't had much of a netbattling class anyway, and now that they did, those matches often had gimmicks, so they weren't scored on the ranking.

Finally, after a few minutes, during which most of the rest of the class made its entrance, he managed to mostly finish the preparations with a minimal amount of real-world movements, though he failed to notice that almost every one of those which were in fact made fell under close surveillance. By whom, one might ask? Well, that information is still on a need to know basis, and I don't think you need to know just yet... Either way, once Shinji plugged-out his navi and relaxed, with a slight glint of light on glass, the observer turned away, seeing to his own preparations with relative Godspeed.

Once the last few had straggled in, all having made it on time, a fact which might have been shocking were it not for the fact that, as he had every day, Enzan’s arrival was perfectly synchronized with the ringing of the tardy bell. With most teachers, this wouldn’t have made much difference, of course, however it had become obvious in the last five days that the “skunk-head,” as he was referred to when out of earshot, was not the type of teacher one could cross lightly. Frankly, most of the class was extremely thankful that New London schools didn’t allow physical pain as punishment...

Regardless, once said bell tolled (they had the novelty of an actual bell, something which was quite the oddity and rarity among schools in this era) and the teenaged teacher had made his entrance, class began. For the most part, it went as normal, though Shinji noted more that one slightly annoyed glance fly in Ayanami’s direction during the course of the day; apparently, Enzan was not used to people appearing to blatantly ignoring him. And yet, he couldn’t really make a point against the girl, for whenever he attempted to catch her spacing out by throwing a question her way, she would state the correct answer in dull fashion, almost sounding bored. Shinji quickly came to the conclusion that she was either a genius or she had better listening skills than her manner would indicate.

Whichever of these she had, however, did not seem to provide her with much help when it came to netbattling class. Rather, when she made no move to join the rest of the class in the commune to the netbattle lab and failed also to respond to the expectant looks she was cast, she was approached by a quite irked Enzan, who almost demanded to know why she wasn’t joining the others. Very rarely had the class seen the boy so annoyed, and even Cynthia had been forced to back down the previous time that it had occurred...

Thus, it was quite surprising that the blue-haired girl didn’t so much as flinch, but rather calmly indicated that she would be unable to participate in the class. Apparently, her PET and netnavi had been damaged in the incident that had led to her injuries, and both were still undergoing repairs. As such, she possessed only a subpet and no ability to netbattle.

To Shinji, more surprising than her seeming imperviousness to Enzan’s anger was the introduction of a new possibility to his thoughts concerning her. Assuming that this story was not a complete farce, a possibility which couldn’t be excluded when his father was involved, then could it be that Ayanami’s experience hadn’t been with Eva as he knew it? He’d never really considered the existence of a second Eva before, though he now wondered why.

For that matter, though, if they could produce more, why only two? Although his designation as “Third Child” seemed to indicate that there weren’t more than three... Then again, if the numbering did in fact go in order, and Ayanami was the “First Child,” then he had to wonder if there was a “Second Child” as well. If so, he’d certainly heard no mention of it, and there hadn’t ever been any other children around NERV...

However, if he was right and Ayanami had been that injured from something to do with Eva... Maybe the “Second Child” had been killed in an Eva-related accident? Especially since his Eva had been designated “Unit-01.” After all, why should the “Third Child” be operating what was presumably the first Eva, assuming there existed more than one...?

But, once again, his musings were interrupted, this time by an outside source, “Ikari, do you have an excuse too, or did it slip your mind that you are still in school?” Well, certainly not a pleasant wake-up call, although quite an effective one. Thus, with a bow and a timid apology, the dark-haired boy quickly rushed off to catch up with the class after one last glance at Ayanami, who hadn’t left her seat and seemed to be reading.

When they returned an hour or so later, aside from being about a fourth of the book further than she had upon their departure, the girl could have been an exact imprint of how she had been upon the class’s exit. It was mildly unsettling, and Shinji was starting to understand why Misato was worried about the girl. And, like much of the class (though the latter had mostly given up ever finding out), he found himself curious about what made the girl tick in the fashion in which she did so. She didn’t seem depressed, exactly, just...mechanical? No, not really that. Empty, maybe? Regardless of what, it interested him, which was surprising; in the past, he’d rarely bothered to care about other people. They were just...there.

Maybe it was because she could be in the same boat as he? Even more rare than being interested in another person had been finding anyone he could associate with or empathize with; even the other social outcasts always had their own groups, and he’d never been invited or had an interest in any (at least he tried to tell himself that. The truth was that he was too afraid of rejection to try to make an entry into any, but he’d run away from that, too). As such, finding someone who was in the same bind as he would be a new experience, if he could convince himself to actually do anything about it. After all, misery loves company.

Speaking of misery, it might be noted that Shinji winced slightly as he took his seat. Even with a low synchronization rate, some of the damage suffered in battle was still transferred to him, and although he’d done better than usual today, his opponent had, unfortunately, been Kaede. As such, he had taken quite the beating, despite the handicap given to him for his lack of skill in the form of several powerful chips. Maybe he should talk to Misato tomorrow morning after all; even with recovery chips easing it somewhat, he could only endure this kind of punishment for so long...

By school’s end, Shinji had seemingly managed to continue watching the quasi-albino without detection, or so he thought, though in this he was wrong. Rather, he himself had remained under observation the entire day, a fact of which he was unaware, and although his watcher was aware of his surveillance of Ayanami, said watcher had made no comment upon this in the name of not tipping his own hand.

After all, a good spy never told the enemy that they were being watched until it was time to properly affect the confrontation and use all that you’d learned. So, with a final glance at Shinji, who was going towards the Katsuragi residence, he then turned his gaze to Ayanami, who’s form was already receding. Yes, defiantly a connection between the two, which was further evidence to support his theory.

Sure, he supposed that it could be a crush or something, but having watched Shinji for the last week, he didn’t think so. No, rather the boy had some ulterior motive, especially since he’d starting watching her as soon as she came into class, yet evidenced no surprise about her appearance or condition. There must be a connection...

Author's Notes

Tch, despite being happy to finish here...my overall mood is fell. You see, I wrote most of this on my compy, but then two nights ago, my screen broke. As such, although I was able to save this onto a disk and transfer it to my mother’s Macintosh before the screen went out, I can’t really do much online, which has really screwed over my life. Bleh. Regardless, I shall endeavor to continue writing—what else can I do?

Anyway, just to note, if Shinji’s musings seem slightly off, do remember that they should be taken as the narrator’s paraphrasing and not a direct account of the thoughts. Such direct thoughts are italicized. Also, I’ve been trying to make the Movements a bit longer, or at least to make them cover more; I think that, for their length, most of the early Movements don’t really cover enough. Did I do better this time? And once again, I self-edited, though I’ll probably ask Lauren to check it quickly also.