The toilet seat was as comfortable as ever. Combined with the complete silence surrounding it, moments like these once again proved why it had earned itself a place among Hikigaya Hachiman's favorite spots in the entire school. Such were the thoughts occupying his mind as he sat inside a restroom stall, feeling strangely lethargic.
Still, it was a good thing for him that the washroom was completely empty. There wasn't any commotion here. Honestly, that was the entire reason he had walked all the way over to the restroom in the school's second building, even though his own classes were located in the third one.
The moment first period had ended, half of the students of Class 2-F had quietly reached a unanimous conclusion.
Run.
No one had actually said it out loud. They didn't need to. After the little spectacle involving Hayama and that mysterious fruit basket, the classroom had become a little tense and awkward. Even after the lesson started, everyone's attention kept drifting back toward Hayama's group instead of the blackboard.
The math teacher, meanwhile, displayed the admirable professionalism of someone who had long since stopped caring what happened inside his own classroom.
The moment the bell rang and he walked out, students began disappearing one after another.
"I need to buy a drink."
"I forgot something."
"I've gotta see a teacher."
Amazing. Humanity truly displayed limitless creativity whenever escaping awkward situations became the objective. Naturally, Hachiman had joined the evacuation effort without a second thought. Running away happened to be one of the few things he was genuinely talented at.
Unfortunately...
So was everyone else.
By the time he wandered into the restroom of the third building, the place had already become packed.
'Seriously, why the heck did that restroom suddenly become some kind of evacuation shelter?'
So Hachiman had done the only sensible thing and retreated to the restroom in the second building instead.
And now, here he was, sitting on the toilet seat in the farthest stall, trying to enjoy a rare moment of peace while emptying both his stomach and his mind before gearing up for the rest of the day.
He was almost done when voices drifted in from beyond the stall door.
"...I'm not really in the mood."
"I don't care."
Hachiman paused for a second before deciding there was no point abandoning the operation while he was still in the middle of it. Whatever was happening outside wasn't any of his business. Arguments like this happened all over the school every day. If he reacted every time someone raised their voice, he'd probably spend his entire school life playing mediator between strangers.
"I said..."
"...Let go. Let go. I don't wanna be here right now."
That didn't sound like two people having a friendly disagreement.
A brief scuffle followed, shoes scraping across the tiled floor as though someone was trying to pull free.
Then—
"YOU'RE COMING WITH ME RIGHT NOW!"
Well. There went the peaceful restroom.
With a small sigh, Hachiman flushed the toilet before unlocking the stall door and stepping outside.
Near the entrance stood two middle school boys. One was broad-shouldered, dressed in a navy tracksuit, his hand firmly wrapped around the arm of a much thinner boy with dark hair. The smaller one didn't look angry so much as cornered. His shoulders were tense, and instead of looking back at the other boy, his eyes kept wandering around the restroom as if searching for an escape route.
"..."
'Isn't that just bullying?'
"...H-Hey..."
Before the word had properly left his mouth, the two of them had already disappeared through the restroom door.
"At least wait until I finish talking..." Muttering to himself, Hachiman walked over to the sink and absentmindedly washed his hands.
'Maybe I'm overthinking. People argue with their friends all the time, don't they?'
People had some pretty strange ways of communicating these days. Apparently, grabbing someone by the arm and shouting counted as friendship in certain circles, or something like that, judging from what he had seen others doing.
When Hachiman finally left the restroom and stepped back into the corridor, he spotted those two again. For some reason, they were heading in the same direction as him, toward the third building where the high school classrooms were located.
That was strange. Shouldn't they be heading back toward their own classrooms instead? Why were they leaving the second building?
The boy in the tracksuit was still dragging the dark-haired kid along.
"..."
'Don't tell me... he's actually dragging him behind our classroom building to beat him up.'
Hachiman slowed his pace.
'What now?'
He could stop the guy himself, sure. But then what? At best, he'd only postpone today's problem until tomorrow. At worst, the guy would remember his face, and Hachiman would get promoted from random background student to that annoying guy who kept sticking his nose into other people's business. He had absolutely no interest in becoming a recurring character in some low-budget delinquent manga.
'A teacher, then?'
Except nothing had actually happened yet. "Two boys looked like they were arguing" wasn't exactly the sort of thing schools rushed to intervene over.
Still... waiting wasn't much better either. If a fight really did break out, both of them would probably end up getting dragged into the staff room together regardless of who started it. Worse, if the smaller kid panicked badly enough, there was no telling what he'd do. Fear had a funny way of making people stop thinking. Corner someone badly enough and there was no telling what they would do.
If things went that far, what had started as simple bullying would turn into a violent incident.
"..."
'Damn it.'
He didn't have his phone anymore after it broke, so calling a teacher wasn't an option. Which meant he'd have to go find one himself. The faculty room wasn't that far away. If he moved quickly, there was still a decent chance of catching up.
'Just don't take things too far before I get back with a teacher...'
Hachiman instantly broke into a light jog toward the faculty room.
________________________________________
Inside the faculty room, Hiratsuka-sensei was leaning over a desk. Sitting opposite her was a girl with light brown hair wearing the expression of someone who had probably never once admitted she was wrong in her life.
Knock. Knock.
"I'm telling you, Isshiki," Hiratsuka said, tapping the desk for emphasis. "If you don't apologize, those girls are going to start gunning for you."
"It is not my fault Miki-chan got herself suspended," the girl replied in a bratty voice. "She was the one who tried to shred my homework assignment."
"So the rumor that her boyfriend broke up with her and confessed to you is completely unrelated?"
Knock. Knock.
"Eh? A middle-aged teacher keeping up with teenage gossip? How creepy. I mean—no, that's just a rumor."
"I second that. Creepy," a third voice commented from the doorway.
"The school gossip is the second reason I teach at this school."
Isshiki twirled a strand of hair around her finger, completely unfazed.
"But anyway, I just asked Takamine-kun to help me with the assignment so I could get a good grade. It's not like I led him on that much just because they broke up. Besides, what's the first reason you teach here?"
"Don't change the subject, Isshiki. Wait... so you did lead him on?"
"Eeeh? That's totally mean, Sensei!" Isshiki's tone did a complete U-turn. Tilting her head, she looked up through her eyelashes with wide, innocent eyes and a helpless little smile. "I really didn't mean it like that. I was just trying my best, that's all."
BANG! BANG! BANG
Both of them flinched.
"...Would you look at that," Hiratsuka muttered, finally turning toward the half-open door. "Apparently someone's been knocking for a while."
Isshiki blinked innocently. "Really? I thought it was coming from outside."
"...How exactly do you mistake a door for outside?"
Only then did both of their eyes finally settle on the figure standing in the doorway.
"..."
"Hikigaya? ...How long have you been standing there?"
Hachiman lowered the hand he'd been using to knock. The moment his familiar dead-fish eyes met the girl named Isshiki's, she immediately pulled a visibly creeped-out face.
'Oii. What was that look? We made eye contact for all of half a second. If anyone had the right to look uncomfortable, it was me. I'd just listened to someone casually admit to leading a guy on and act like she'd done nothing wrong.'
Scary... No wonder Dad always says cute girls are terrifying.
"Uh… Sensei," he said, jerking a thumb back toward the corridor. "Got a bit of a situation."
________________________________________
The path behind the third building near the gymnasium was almost completely deserted. Only the distant chatter of students changing classrooms drifted faintly across the campus before fading into the morning air.
Toji finally came to a stop. Shinji stopped several steps away from him, instinctively keeping his distance.
For a few moments, neither of them said anything. Then Toji suddenly turned around, closed the distance between them in two quick steps, and grabbed the front of Shinji's shirt. Before Shinji could react, Toji shoved him back against the wall with enough force to make his shoulders thud lightly against the concrete.
"..."
"Put your fists up,"
"...What?" Shinji stared at him blankly.
"You heard me. Put 'em up."
"J…just leave me alone," Shinji muttered as he tried to step around him.
"Oiii! Toji!" a voice called out as Kensuke came jogging around the corner of the building. "There you are! The heck are you doing?"
Toji didn't even bother looking back.
"I knew it..." Kensuke sighed as he hurried over, his camera still hanging around his neck. "You're really not gonna listen to me, are you?"
"I already told you, Kensuke," Toji replied without taking his eyes off Shinji. "Don't try to stop me."
Kensuke scratched the back of his head helplessly. "...Yeah. I figured."
While the two of them were talking, Shinji quietly tried to slip past them, but he had barely taken a single step before Toji grabbed him by the shoulder. Shinji instinctively turned around, and the next instant a fist slammed into his face. His legs gave out beneath him almost immediately, and he collapsed onto the ground with a pained groan.
"...Ah... uggh..."
Toji rubbed his reddened knuckles before looking away. "...Sorry about that, new guy. I just had to punch you. Couldn't live with myself otherwise... so consider that settling the score."
Kensuke hurried over and crouched beside Shinji, raising one hand in a sheepish, apologetic gesture. "Ah... sorry about him. His little sister got hurt pretty badly during that battle, so he's just way too emotional right now."
With that, Toji turned on his heel and began marching away, Kensuke quickly falling into step behind him.
"Are you satisfied now, Toji?"
"No," Toji answered after a brief pause. "But I can live with it."
Shinji remained sitting where he had fallen, one hand pressed against his aching cheek. "...It's not like I pilot that thing because I want to. If you've got a problem with it... then you can pilot it yourself."
The words had barely left his mouth before Toji stopped walking. For a brief moment, nobody said anything. Then he slowly turned around. The anger that had only just begun to settle returned to his face almost immediately.
Without another word, he shoved Kensuke roughly aside and strode straight back toward Shinji.
"W-Wait, Toji!"
Ignoring him completely, Toji grabbed Shinji by the front of his shirt and hauled him back onto his feet with a violent jerk.
"...What did you just say, new-guy?"
Shinji couldn't bring himself to look him in the eyes. Instead, he turned his face slightly away, staring somewhere off to the side with an almost resigned expression.
"You've got some nerve saying something like that."
His fist slowly drew back once more. Unlike before, however, it didn't come immediately. His hand remained suspended in the air for a moment, trembling ever so slightly as though he was wrestling with himself before finally clenching it tightly.
"Alright, alright. That's enough."
Toji's eyes widened. "...Hiratsuka-sensei?"
Standing quietly beside her was a high school boy with perpetually messy hair and the familiar pair of dead-fish eyes.
"Suzuhara," Hiratsuka said evenly. "Disciplinary office. Now."
Toji's jaw clenched and for a moment, it genuinely looked as though he might ignore her. Then, with obvious reluctance, he slowly released Shinji's collar. Shinji stumbled backward, lost what little balance he had managed to regain, and fell back onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Hachiman quietly walked past her and stopped a short distance from the boy sitting on the ground. Shinji was already trying to push himself back up with one hand, wincing every time he shifted his weight.
"...Need a hand or anything?"
Hachiman held his hand out. Shinji looked at it for a brief second before clicking his tongue in annoyance and batting it away.
"...What's the point of coming now?" he muttered, rubbing the side of his face. "They were already done. They'd already hit me."
"..."
Hachiman looked over his shoulder toward Toji before returning his gaze to Shinji.
"So they hit you before too, didn't they?"
"But..." Hachiman glanced back again. "They didn't look finished. It looked like the next punch would've been a lot worse."
Shinji bit his lip and looked away. "...Y-Yeah."
Before either of them could say anything else—
"He is absolutely, sincerely sorry for his display, Sensei!" Kensuke shouted, bowing dramatically toward Hiratsuka-sensei.
Toji slowly turned his head to stare at his friend in disbelief.
"My friend's already limited IQ took a catastrophic nosedive after his little sister was injured during the Angel attack. Therefore, suspending him from school would only make the educational recovery process even more difficult."
"I'll punch you too, Kensuke,"
"I was about to scold Aida for making the single most obnoxious argument I've heard all week," Hiratsuka said flatly.
She pointed at Toji.
"But after watching you threaten violence in front of the teacher who's currently deciding whether to suspend you for violence..." She gave a small shrug. "…his reasoning has somehow become a lot more persuasive."
"..."
Toji's shoulders immediately stiffened.
"You two," Hiratsuka continued, pointing at both boys. "Stay exactly where you are."
Leaving the two of them where they stood, she walked over and crouched beside Shinji. "Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah... I think I'm okay now." Shinji nodded slowly, though he still winced as he touched the side of his face. "Thank you... both of you."
Hachiman, who had remained standing beside him the whole time, simply gave a small nod in response.
Hiratsuka studied Shinji for another second before speaking again. "Are you sure, Ikari?"
"I'm sure. I'll... be alright. "
The moment Hachiman heard that surname, his eyes widened ever so slightly.
"Hey, Sensei... is this him? The new transfer kid you were talking about?"
"Oh, right. I never actually introduced you two, did I?" She gestured toward the boy sitting on the ground. "Hikigaya, this is Ikari Shinji. I'm sure you already have some idea who he is."
Then she turned to Shinji. "And Ikari, this is Hikigaya Hachiman."
At the sound of Hachiman's full name, Shinji quietly repeated it to himself as though searching his memory.
"Hikigaya..." A moment later, recognition flashed across his face. "Oh... are you—"
Before he could finish, Hiratsuka turned her head toward the two boys who were quietly trying to slip away. "Where do you two think you're going?"
Both Toji and Kensuke froze mid-step. Somehow, while everyone's attention had been on Shinji, the two of them had already managed to inch several steps toward the corner of the building.
Kensuke slowly turned around first, letting out a nervous laugh as though the whole thing had been one enormous misunderstanding.
"Ahaha... We weren't going anywhere, Sensei. Right, Toji?"
"..."
Toji remained completely silent. Kensuke hurriedly stepped in before that silence could become even more incriminating.
"Actually, Sensei, what happened was—"
Hiratsuka folded her arms. "I'm listening. Tell me everything. And I mean everything. Understood?"
Kensuke nodded immediately before recounting everything that had happened from the beginning, leaving out neither Toji's anger nor the reason behind it.
Hiratsuka listened silently until he finished and then looked at Toji directly.
"Suzuhara," she said evenly. "I understand why you're angry. I understand your sister being hospitalized hurts. But directing that anger toward the one person most responsible for your sister ending up in a hospital instead of a cemetery…" She shook her head. "…isn't a particularly well‑thought‑out argument."
Toji's expression immediately darkened.
"So, I'm supposed to thank him haah?" Toji shot back, his voice rising. "My sister would've died if some crazy bastard hadn't ridden a motorcycle through a war zone carrying enough medical supplies to treat her!"
The high schooler standing beside Hiratsuka suddenly began coughing.
"Cough... cough..."
Toji jabbed a finger toward Shinji. "I don't owe him anything."
Shinji quietly lowered his eyes and turned his face away, offering neither an excuse nor an argument in his own defense. The silence that followed only made the atmosphere around them feel even heavier.
Hiratsuka rubbed the bridge of her nose before speaking again.
"Suzuhara, we are going straight to your homeroom teacher and then the disciplinary office."
Then She turned to Kensuke. "Aida. You're coming too. If he starts talking again find a way to shut him up before I do."
Kensuke saluted dramatically. "Understood, ma'am. I'll sacrifice myself for the greater good."
"I appreciate your courage,"
"But I don't," Toji muttered under his breath.
Ignoring him, Hiratsuka turned back toward Hachiman and Shinji. She jerked a thumb toward Toji and Kensuke. "Hikigaya, look after him for me, will ya."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Hachiman immediately protested, waving his hands. "Why do I have to—"
But Hiratsuka had already started walking away. Without even looking back, she casually raised one hand and gave it a dismissive wave over her shoulder.
"You're the one who got involved with him, so at least see it through to the end!"
And just like that, she continued toward the main building, dragging the thoroughly defeated Toji along while Kensuke hurried after them. Hachiman watched them disappear around the corner before letting out a long sigh.
"..."
"And there she goes..." Hachiman muttered under his breath, "...Seriously. What rotten luck. I mean, not even half a day has passed and somehow I end up getting mixed up with the son of NERV's commander, of all people... Ugh."
"Um... did you say something?" Shinji asked, unable to make out what he had been muttering.
"Nothing that concerns you, just talking to myself."
An awkward silence settled between them. After several long seconds, Shinji hesitantly broke it. "...Your name is Hikigaya Hachiman... right?"
Hachiman looked over.
"I heard about you from Hiratsuka-sensei and Misato-san. They told me you're also a candidate to pilot, and that you work in NERV, so does that mean you're—"
Before Shinji could finish the sentence, Hachiman closed the distance between them and clamped a hand firmly over Shinji's mouth.
"Shut your mouth, you idiot!" Hachiman hissed, frantically glancing around the courtyard. "Why are you talking about stuff like that out in the open? Especially where anyone could hear us. If this is how casually you spill secrets, I'm surprised all you got was one punch."
"Mmph?! Mmmph!"
Hachiman ignored the muffled protests altogether and instead narrowed his eyes, glaring intently over Shinji's shoulder. "Hey, you there. Why are you still here?"
Still standing directly in front of Hachiman, Shinji instinctively followed his gaze as best he could. Only then did he notice her. 'I... didn't even notice her...'
"..."
"Mmph?! Mmmph! Mmmph!"
Standing several meters away was the same light-brown-haired girl from the faculty room. One hand held what looked like an empty can, while the other was full of crumpled papers and discarded wrappers. She had apparently been standing there the entire time.
Caught completely off guard, Isshiki visibly flinched beneath his stare.
"U-Umm... well..." she stammered, pointing awkwardly toward the direction Hiratsuka had disappeared. "Hiratsuka-sensei never actually told me to leave during our counceling session, so I just... kind of followed along because I wanted to know what was going on."
"..."
"Mmph?! Mmmph! Mmmph! Mmph?!"
Hachiman continued staring at her without saying a word.
Unable to bear the uncomfortable silence, Isshiki hurriedly added, "A-And then Sensei dismissed me just now, so I thought I'd stay for a little while..."
"So why are you still standing here?" Hachiman asked flatly. "Shouldn't you be on your way now?"
"I-I was just concerned..."
Before she could say anything else, her eyes drifted toward Shinji. They widened.
"Ah! Senpai! You're going to kill him!"
"Mmph?! Mmmph! Mmmph! Mmph! Mmmph?!"
Hachiman frowned. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm barely holding him and don't Ignore the—"
"...Then why's his face turning red?"
"..."
Hachiman blinked and slowly looked down.
"...Eh?"
Shinji was indeed looking considerably less healthy than before. His cheeks had gone noticeably red, his eyes were watering slightly, and he was weakly patting Hachiman's wrist while letting out increasingly desperate muffled noises.
"...Mmm... mmph..."
"..."
"...Oh."
He immediately let go. Shinji bent over at once, taking several deep breaths before coughing repeatedly. "Cough... cough... cough..."
Hachiman scratched the side of his cheek awkwardly. "...Sorry. I didn't think I was holding you that tightly."
"...Guess I was a lot more tense than I realized," he muttered to himself.
Isshiki visibly relaxed before making her way over to Shinji. Crouching down until she was almost at eye level with him, she tilted her head ever so slightly and looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. A soft, reassuring smile naturally found its way onto her face.
"Are you alright, Kouhai?"
"Y-Yeah... I'm okay."
Hachiman quietly watched the exchange for a few moments before meeting Shinji's eyes. When he finally spoke, there was a faint but unmistakable coldness in his gaze.
"Listen that place has nothing to do with me anymore. So, there's no need to talk about it ever again."
Yet there wasn't a trace of hostility in his voice. If anything, it sounded more like a warning than a reprimand. Without waiting for a reply, Hachiman turned around and left without looking back.
"..."
Shinji silently watched his retreating figure until he disappeared around the corner of the building. The girl beside him frowned ever so slightly as she watched Hachiman leave.
"He's kind of a jerk, isn't he?"
Shinji wasn't quite sure how to respond, so he simply remained silent.
"...Well, never mind him." She quickly let the matter drop and turned back toward him with a warm smile. "Anyway... You're Ikari Shinji, right?"
"...Y-Yeah."
"By the way, I'm Isshiki Iroha. Nice to meet you."
It took Shinji a second to respond. "...Nice to meet you too, senpai."
Isshiki smiled pleasantly before glancing around the courtyard as though making sure nobody else was close enough to hear. Satisfied, she took a tiny step closer toward him and lowered her voice.
"...Can I ask you something, Ikari-kun?"
She leaned in just a little.
"...Is it true?"
"...What's true?"
"That you..." She briefly looked toward the direction Hachiman had disappeared before lowering her voice even further. "...and that gloomy looking senpai really are the pilots of that giant robot?"
Shinji's body stiffened almost immediately. "...I..."
Seeing his hesitation, Isshiki hurriedly waved the hand holding the canned drink.
"Ah, don't worry. You don't have to explain everything. I already overheard the two of you talking just now, so... it's not exactly a secret anymore, right?"
"...Yeah," Shinji admitted quietly. "It's like that... at least for me. I don't really know about him, but he used to be there too."
"Ooh, that's so amazing, Ikari‑kun."
For some reason, hearing someone say that made the ache in Shinji's cheek feel just a little less noticeable.
"...Thank you."
"Hehe."
Isshiki smiled before suddenly linking both of her index fingers together in front of herself.
"Actually..." she began somewhat sheepishly. "Since Ikari-kun seems so dependable... could you do me one tiny favor? Pretty please?"
"Eh? What is it?" Shinji asked, caught off guard.
"You see..." Isshiki let out a dramatically aggrieved sigh. "When Hiratsuka-sensei and I were coming over here, some students threw all of this out of one of the classroom windows."
She puffed her cheeks ever so slightly. "And can you believe it? Sensei just looked at me and said, 'Isshiki, since you'll be of no use over there, why don't you pick all of that up and throw it in the trash?'"
She lifted the hand holding the canned drink along with the other carrying the crumpled papers and discarded wrappers, presenting them to him with a helpless smile.
"I mean, seriously... doesn't that sound a little mean?"
As she spoke, her eyes drifted toward the far side of the courtyard, and Shinji instinctively followed her gaze. A trash bin stood near the edge of the building. It wasn't particularly far away, but it wasn't exactly close either.
Isshiki let out a nervous little laugh as her gaze drifted back toward the trash bin.
"So..." She smiled at him hopefully. "Do you think you could throw these away for me? I really have something super important I need to take care of right now."
Shinji looked toward the trash bin once more. It wasn't just the distance that caught his attention. Near one of the benches beside it, several girls from the high school division stood together, chatting among themselves.
His eyes moved from the trash bin to the can and crumpled papers in Isshiki's hands, then back toward the group of girls. For some reason, the side of his cheek where Toji had punched him began to ache again.
So that was why she had stayed behind. Not because she had been worried about him, but because she had needed someone to throw away her trash. The realization stung far more than it probably should have. For a brief moment, he couldn't help feeling a little irritated. Maybe... he had read too much into her concern.
And yet... he still couldn't bring himself to refuse.
"Yeah. Sure. I can do it," Shinji mumbled as he held out his hands.
"Wah! Amazing! You really are the best, Ikari-kun! I'll owe you one, okay?"
Before he could respond, she had already placed the empty can along with the crumpled papers and discarded wrappers into his arms.
"Thanks! See you later!"
Without waiting another second, she turned on her heel and jogged back toward the school building, her light brown hair swaying behind her.
"..."
He glanced down at the pile now resting in his arms. It still felt a little strange. The trash bin wasn't even that far away. If she had already picked everything up herself.
"Why didn't she just throw it away?"
A dull pain shot through his bruised cheek as he absentmindedly rubbed it. Carefully balancing everything in his arms, Shinji began walking toward the trash bin. As he got closer, his eyes drifted toward the nearby bench.
Several girls from the high school division were gathered there, chatting amongst themselves.
Could it be that she was avoiding them? He couldn't think of any other reason. Then again... maybe he was only thinking that because he would've done the same thing.
Before he could dwell on it any further, a light breeze swept through the courtyard.
"...Ah!"
Because he hadn't been holding everything very tightly, several of the crumpled papers slipped free from his grasp and scattered across the ground.
Shinji hurriedly crouched down. "S-Sorry..."
Even though there was nobody to apologize to. One by one, Shinji gathered the discarded wrappers and crumpled sheets of paper scattered across the ground. He had already picked up most of them when only a single, tightly crumpled piece of paper remained near his shoe. He reached down and picked it up. But just as he was about to crumple it back into a ball, his eyes caught a glimpse of faded ink visible through a small tear in the paper.
Misa—
His hand paused. Only a few letters were visible, but they looked strangely familiar. Feeling a quiet curiosity, Shinji carefully unfolded the crumpled paper.
"...Eh?" His eyes widened almost immediately. Instead of a piece of paper, he found himself staring at a photograph.
"...Misato-san?" He stared at it in disbelief.
There was no mistaking it. It was the exact same photograph Misato had enclosed with the letter NERV had sent him before he first arrived in Tokyo-3. The one she had included so he would recognize her when she came to pick him up. Even the cheerful handwritten message was still there.
Except this one had been torn in several places, and most of all, its entire right side was missing.
"Why in the world is that photo here of all places?"
Shinji stared at the torn photograph for several long seconds. He clearly remembered seeing the original just two days ago when he used it that night while—
"...N-No. Absolutely not."
His face flushed slightly as he immediately tried not to remember what came next.
He looked at the torn photograph again before carefully smoothing out the wrinkles with his thumb. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to throw it away. Even though it was damaged and incomplete, it still felt… important.
After slipping the photograph into his pocket, Shinji picked up the remaining wrappers and the empty can before making the last few steps to the trash bin. As he threw them away, a few hushed voices from the nearby bench reached his ears.
"...that Isshiki really did Miki-chan dirty. She didn't deserve that..."
"...On top of that? Always acting so helpless around guys..."
The whispers were too quiet for him to make out the rest, and he didn't linger long enough to try. He didn't know the full story, nor did he want to get involved. Still, hearing her name spoken in that tone left him wondering. She had seemed pretty friendly. Honestly, she looked like the kind of cheerful, popular girl who could get along with just about anyone. So why did those girls sound as though they disliked her?
With that question lingering quietly at the back of his mind, Shinji turned away from the courtyard and slowly made his way back toward the classroom, even though he didn't really feel like going back at all.
________________________________________
Lunch break had arrived, and Isshiki Iroha made her way toward the second-year wing. She'd finally managed to make sense of everything that had happened that morning.
...Or so she thought.
'I mean, what the heck even happened?'
Middle schoolers brawling behind the building. A weird teacher stepping in. Getting ordered to pick up the trash some students had thrown out. A poor transfer kid with a bloody nose. That senpai nearly choking the new transfer student. And... something about giant robots?
She wasn't entirely sure whether she'd actually witnessed all of that, imagined part of it, or simply suffered a mild heatstroke.
But more than all of that, she couldn't stop thinking about the rumor she had heard right after returning to her own classroom. Before she could think about anything else, she needed to find out whether it was true.
By the time she reached her destination outside Class 2-F, she casually leaned against the corridor wall and waited. It didn't take long before—
"Irohasu! Sup'!"
Turning toward the voice, she found Tobe enthusiastically waving at her, with Ooka and Yamato trailing behind him.
"Sweet, you're here!" Tobe said. "You've got the soccer club keys, right? That P.E. teacher gives us such a hard time when it's not club time, man."
"I know, right?" Iroha sighed, fishing the keys out of her pocket with a cute, triumphant tilt of her head. "That's exactly why I went out of my way to get them early. It was super hard to convince him, you know?"
"Woah, you're literally the best, Irohasu!" Tobe beamed.
"Hehe, I know," she hummed, "By the way... I actually came over here for another reason. Honestly, it's way more important than the keys."
"Eh? What is it?"
Iroha hesitated for only a second before asking as casually as she could.
"Is it true? I heard a rumor that Hayato-senpai has a secret lover? Like, some older lady who sent him a fancy gift basket, and they're actually dating? What is going on with that?!"
Tobe, Ooka and Yamato slowly looked at one another before letting out awkward laughs.
"Hahaha..."
"N-No..."
"Where'd you even hear something like that?"
"So, it's not true?" Iroha asked immediately.
"..."
"...Come on."
"Please?"
Tobe scratched the back of his head before finally giving in. He began explaining everything that had happened that morning. As he spoke, Iroha could practically feel the weight on her shoulders slowly lifting.
"Phew... okay, that's such a relief to hear! But Tobe-senpai, aren't you exaggerating just a tiny bit? It couldn't have been that bad, right?"
"Nope! It was bad, Irohasu!" Tobe grimaced at the memory. "Yumiko was angry. Like, scary angry. She literally tore that photograph and threw it straight out the window!"
"Yeah, man," Ooka chimed in. "The atmosphere was awful after that. Half the class left after first period, making up excuses. Even that Hikitani guy, who literally never leaves his seat, ran out of there too."
"Yep," Yamato agreed glumly. "You can imagine how terrifying it was."
"Eh? who is this "Hikitani" you guys keep talking about?"
"Ah, him? He's the guy from our class. You know, the one who made Sagami-chan cry during the cultural festival," Tobe explained. "And he's also the guy who randomly disappeared from the emergency shelter during that whole battle in the city. Nobody saw him again until today."
A lightbulb instantly went off in Iroha's head. 'Ah, wait... I think I heard a name like that this morning. It was that senpai, wasn't it? What was his name again...? Hikita... Hikigi... Hikigaeru... maybe?'
"By any chance... do you mean that gloomy-looking guy?"
"Yep! That's him," Tobe confirmed.
"Wait... I'm a little curious, Tobe-senpai. When school first started, weren't there all kinds of rumors about why he disappeared? Since he came back today, do you guys know where he actually went?"
"Nobody knows," Tobe shrugged. "He never told anyone. Ooka even tried asking him earlier, but he just stonewalled everyone."
"Seriously, where the heck could he have gone?" Ooka wondered aloud.
"Maybe he was hiding somewhere during the whole thing," Tobe suggested.
Ooka snorted. "Or maybe he just got scared and ran off."
"...Actually. I... don't think that's it."
The three boys turned toward Iroha. "Eh? What do you mean?"
Iroha hesitated for a brief moment before lowering her voice. "Well... I might know why he disappeared."
"No way. How'd you find that out?"
"Because I heard it this morning! He and that new middle school transfer kid are actually the pilots of that giant robot that fought the monster!"
Silence fell over the trio.
"Woah, no way!" Tobe burst out, "That's impossible!"
"It is possible!" Iroha insisted, shaking her head. "I literally heard them arguing about it! Hiratsuka-sensei was right there, and there was this whole confrontation behind the gym. That senpai even got super mad at me for standing nearby!"
"Woah... so that's why he vanished?!" Ooka breathed out, "No way... we will have to definitely go ask him about this!"
"Yeah... we'll definitely have to ask him about it," Tobe said, still looking stunned. He glanced at the others before clapping his hands together. "But that'll have to wait until after club. Come on, we've still gotta go check a few things first."
"Right," Ooka nodded.
"Later, Irohasu! Thanks for the keys!" Tobe waved.
"See ya, Isshiki!" Ooka and Yamato called out as they hurried off down the corridor, still talking excitedly to each other.
"..."
Iroha quietly watched them disappear around the corner. The tension she'd been carrying with her ever since returning to her classroom had finally melted away.
So it had all just been one big misunderstanding. Hayato-senpai wasn't dating anyone after all.
A small smile naturally spread across her face. "I can't wait for club today."
Before long, she found herself happily making her way back toward her own classroom.
She never once stopped to consider what she'd just told them. By the end of the school day, that tiny conversation in the hallway would quietly spread from one student to another until it had reached nearly every corner of the school.
________________________________________
Authors note:
Hey everyone, Chapter 10 is finally done! We hope you enjoyed it.
So, Shinji and Hachiman have finally met, and as expected, their first meeting was anything but simple.
You might have noticed that things played out a little differently from canon regarding Shinji getting punched by Toji. In the original story, the Second Angel attack happens only about two weeks after the First, and Toji returns to school on the very day Shinji gets punched. Right after that, the Angel attack begins, so Shinji never really gets much time to process everything that happened.
Here, however, the timeline is a little different. Because Hachiman rode through the battlefield with those medical supplies, Toji's sister wasn't injured nearly as badly as she was in canon. As a result, Toji was able to return to school about a week earlier, which also means the confrontation with Shinji happened earlier as well.
That small change ends up having a pretty big impact. This time, Shinji doesn't immediately get thrown into another Angel battle. Instead, he has to sit with everything that happened and deal with the aftermath. We'll be exploring how that affects him moving forward. And, of course, Hachiman isn't exactly getting off easy either.
For this arc, we'll also continue what we started in the previous chapters: following Hachiman as he tries to return to ordinary life after everything that's happened, deal with all the changes around him, and slowly find his footing again.
That's all for now. Thank you very much for reading and for sticking with the story so far. We truly appreciate the time and support you've given this project.
As always, feel free to share your thoughts below. We really enjoy hearing from all of you.
Stay tuned for more.
—CacciaFulmini & Raijinmaru_K2