Chapter Text
The sky was a bright orange as the sun set on Tokyo-3. They were far enough from the city where the cicadas weren’t deafening at the time. Towards the more suburban area, two teenagers were waiting in a street corner, looking bored and a little impatient.
“So, who do you think this new guy is?” asked the one to the right, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose, a video camera in the other hand.
“You’ve only asked like five times, Kensuke.” said the boy to his left, rolling back in forth in his wheelchair. Kensuke looked over at his friend, his eyes lingering where his left leg should be.
SIlence took over for a few more minutes. The cicadas screeched faintly in the background, and the train could be heard in the distance.
“How’ve you been holding up since the… uh... well, you know.” Kensuke asked finally, breaking the tension in the air. The other boy, who was leaning back in the wheelchair remained silent, he seemed to be a little lost for words.
“Sorry.” Kensuke apologized. “I can understand how difficult it would be, Toji.”
Toji shifted his gaze towards the ground.
“Well obviously I could be better, but I’m not too bad right now.” Toji said, moving the wheelchair ever so slightly. “It’s gonna take more getting used to.”
Silence returned for another moment, only to be broken again.
“My dad said we’d be able to get a prosthetic by the end of the month, then it’s just learning to walk again.” Toji said, sounding a little hopeful.
“How’s the class rep been since?” Kensuke asked, subtly changing the topic.
“She’s been visiting me every damn day.” Toji said in a falsely angry tone. Kensuke saw right through the act, he probably couldn’t be happier with all the attention he was getting.
“Nearly died of a heart attack when she heard the news.” He continued. “Spent a few weeks visiting me in the hospital.”
“She’s a keeper, that one.” Kensuke joked, receiving a light punch on the arm from his friend. Before the two could continue bantering, they saw two people walking down the street.
“Kensuke! Toji!” Shinji yelled, and the two waved back at him. Shinji took the other boy’s hand, running over to the street corner.
“Sorry we’re late, it took a while to get done with the sync tests.” Shinji said, not looking Toji in the eyes. He never liked mentioning anything about the EVA to Toji after what happened. Shinji still had nightmares about it, though it wasn’t the worst of them anymore.
“I should be apologizing.” said the new boy. He was slightly taller than Shinji, though of the same build. He was very pale, with a full head of light grey hair and bright red eyes. If anything, thought Kensuke, he looked like a male version of Ayanami.
“I’m Nagisa, Kaworu Nagisa.” He said, introducing himself to the two.
“I’m Kensuke Aida, and this is Toji Suzuhara.” Kensuke said, reaching out to shake Kaworu’s hand. Kaworu looked confused at his hand, briefly looking over to Shinji for help. Kensuke gave him a curious look as he managed to shake his hand, albeit awkwardly.
“How do ya do, Nagisa?” said Toji, shaking his hand as well.
“Call me Kaworu.” He said with a smile. Both Kensuke and Toji looked a little uncomfortable with this, but Shinji looked as happy as he could be. Kaworu eyed the wheelchair with suspicion.
“What is the device you’re sitting in?” Kaworu asked, squinting his eyes at it. Suddenly, he spotted what remained of Toji’s left leg, and he stared at it.
“You’re missing a limb?” He asked, Shinji, suddenly realizing what he was getting at, stepped in quickly.
“Kaworu, it’s a little rude to be so blunt about it.” he said quickly, a hand of Kaworu’s shoulder. Kaworu looked surprised, looking between Shinji and Toji.
“Sorry, Toji…” Shinji said apologetically. Toji shrugged, not seeming to care a whole lot.
“So Lilim don’t regenerate limbs…” he thought aloud. “But they build devices to overcome their obstacles. The Lilim are inventive creatures, that is all too true.”
The three others looked at him dumbfounded, though he turned back and smiled at them.
“Where’d you find this guy, Ikari?” Toji whispered to him. Shinji gazed at the boy, who was seemingly deep in thought about his new discovery. “Also, what’s a lilim?”
“We met a few days ago. He’s a pilot, he’s here as a reserve in case we need him.” Shinji explained. Toji looked a little disheartened, but understanding all the same.
“Well, I guess we can go now. Anyone have any ideas?” Shinji asked.
“I’m curious to learn what the lilim do for enjoyment.” Kaworu said with a smile. “Do you all have activities like that?”
“Well, we usually just hang around and talk. Sometimes we visit some of the shops around here, but most of them are closed nowadays.” Kensuke said, pointing his camera at the sky, following a few helicopters that flew by.
“We could see if that old ice cream shop’s still open.” Toji suggested. The summer heat was sweltering, and ice cream sounded great.
“Yeah, that sounds like fun.” Shinji said, looking over at Kaworu. “What do you think?”
Kaworu looked a little confused, but smiled when Shinji spoke to him.
“I’ve never had ‘ice cream’ before, but I am interested.” he said, speaking a little slowly as he judged it in his mind.
“You’ve never had ice cream before?” the three of them all said in unison. Kaworu looked around somewhat confused, though he regained in demeanor rather quickly.
‘No, it must have been pretty scarce where I’m from.” He said. The three continued to give him a look, but he continued. “So where do we go?”
The four of them headed off into the streets of Tokyo-3. Kensuke and Toji brought up the front while Shinji and Kaworu walked together behind them. They were silent for a while, before Kaworu began.
"What is 'ice cream' like?" He asked.
"Well, it's a cold and sweet food, usually served on a cone or on a stick." Shinji started explaining. "It comes in a bunch of flavors, so you'll probably find one you'll like."
"There's also popsicles." added Kensuke. "Those are the best, especially the blueberry ones..."
"What's the difference?" Kaworu asked.
"A popsicle is flavored water, and ice cream is made from milk." Toji added. "I used to always get strawberry ice cream with my sister since it was her favorite."
Kaworu seemed like he had a few more questions, but remained silent. They soon found themselves in front of a small shop, decorated with large menus showing the array of flavors they could pick. A neon OPEN sign flashed brightly in the window.
"Ha ha! They're open!" Toji yelled, wheeling himself up the window. Realizing he wasn't quite tall enough sitting down, he rolled back a little, a saddened look on his face.
"Hey, Kensuke, order me a cone of strawberry." he said, thrusting a handful of coins at him. Kensuke nodded and went up to order. Shinji watched, and couldn't help but feel awful about Toji.
"Are you alright, Shinji?" Kaworu asked, lowering his voice so that the others couldn't hear.
"... I guess." he said, though his face spelled a completely different answer. Suddenly he felt Kaworu's hand on his shoulder, making him blush a little.
"You shouldn't feel bad. You know well you couldn't do anything to prevent what happened. Do not blame yourself for something out of your control."
Shinji gave him a weak smile, which Kaworu returned. Gazing back up to the menu, he looked for something he liked.
"I think I'm gonna go with a chocolate ice cream. Do you see anything you want?" Shinji asked. Kaworu looked at the board intently, before speaking.
"Ice Cream looks like a bit too much for me. I think I might try a strawberry popsicle."
After a few moments of ordering and waiting, the four of them found themselves walking/rolling down the street, devouring their treats.
"I do not understand why the Lilim eat flavored water..." Kaworu said, eyeing his popsicle with suspicion.
"It's gonna melt if you don't eat it soon." Toji reminded him. Kensuke was helping him steer his wheelchair, both having a hand taken up with holding their ice cream.
Looking fairly surprised of that fact. Kaworu tentatively took a bite of the popsicle. He immediately cried out, though the piece of popsicle soon melted in his mouth.
"That was very cold!" he said, holding a hand to his mouth. The others laughed a little, but Kaworu stopped suddenly, finally tasting the popsicle.
"Amazing... the Lilim have somehow managed to flavor water deliciously, and then froze it to carry around! It is supposed to be so painful every time, though?" he asked, eyeing his popsicle again.
"No, you're supposed to suck on it, not bite straight into it!" Shinji explained, chuckling a little.
"Oh," Kaworu said, placing the popsicle in his mouth. He looked extraordinarily happy, and he gave Shinji a huge smile. "I've always considered singing to be the Lilim's greatest invention, but this is worthy of an honorable mention!"
Shinji laughed again, wrapping an arm around Kaworu, who had gone back to eating his popsicle. In front of them, Toji and Kensuke looked back, surprised.
"A little intimate, the two of 'em." Toji said. Kensuke chuckled under his breath. "Look's like Ayanami's got a little competition."