Shinji Ikari's Peaceful Collapse Diary: NERV, Chaos as Usual
Deep beneath Tokyo lies NERV, a secret base meant to protect the world. But today, as usual, everyone is just lazing around.
The protagonist is Shinji Ikari, pilot of Evangelion Unit-01. At 14, he carries the fate of the world, but his biggest worry right now is "my sortie rate is so high I can't finish my homework." One morning in the command center, Misato Katsuragi is passed out hungover, and Rei Ayanami informs him, "Today's school lunch is bread" (which is completely irrelevant). A peacefu
Shinji Ikari's Peaceful Collapse Diary: NERV, Chaos as Usual - School Lunch, the World, and Lunch Break
"...My head hurts."
A hoarse voice fell into the command center. Seven-thirty in the morning. Shinji Ikari stepped into NERV's central command center as usual, and sighed at the usual sight.
His guardian, slumped messily over her desk. Her waist-length black hair was spread out in a tangled mess. Two empty beer cans beside her.
(Again.)
Shinji silently headed for the kitchenette. He filled a cup with water and took a sheet of headache medicine from the shelf. His body had already memorized these motions. He did this three times a week.
"Misato-san, water and medicine."
"...Thanks."
Misato lifted her head. Her large black eyes, usually so strong-willed, were only half-open now. Shinji felt a little sad that he'd already grown so used to seeing his guardian's face like this.
Shinji bent his slender, delicate frame and began tidying up around Misato's desk. Empty cans into the trash, scattered documents into one pile. His slightly long bangs fell over his eyes, annoying him. He blew out a breath to push them aside.
Maybe it was because of his habit of always walking with hunched shoulders, but crouching down like this didn't really bother him.
The atmosphere in the command center was as relaxed as always.
The thirty-meter-diameter hemispherical screen reflected the morning light, glowing faintly. The operators were at their respective stations, sipping canned coffee from the vending machines, chatting idly or staring at their screens.
This was the Geofront, one and a half kilometers beneath Tokyo-3. The headquarters of NERV, an organization meant to protect the world from the threat of a secret society called SEELE.
(Even if they say "protect the world"...)
Shinji thought to himself. No matter how you looked at it, this was just an ordinary company. And a pretty lax one at that.
"Ikari-kun."
A voice spoke, and he looked up.
Before he knew it, Rei Ayanami was standing there. A beautiful light-blue short bob. Her bangs were cut straight across, and from beneath them, crimson eyes gazed steadily at Shinji.
She was 150 centimeters tall, a little shorter than Shinji. Her usual white blouse and navy skirt. A face that gave absolutely no hint of what she was thinking.
But that inscrutability, for some reason, calmed him just a little.
"Today's school lunch is bread."
"...Huh? Oh, yeah. Thanks."
Having said only that, Rei turned on her heel and walked away. Even her gait was without wasted motion.
Watching Rei's back, Shinji thought the same thing he always did.
(Why does she tell me the school lunch menu every single day?)
She barely talked about anything else. Rei probably paid more attention to her surroundings than anyone. The date, the time, the school lunch menu. But she surely had no reason to tell anyone about it.
Shinji returned to Misato's desk.
"Misato-san, she said lunch today is bread."
"...Bread, huh. Our fridge is completely empty, you know."
"I know."
The apartment Misato, Shinji, and their housemate Asuka lived in was on the sixth floor of Comfort 17. The rent was treated as official quarters, twenty thousand yen a month. Eighty percent of the fridge's contents were Yebisu beer, and the rest was just condiments.
Taking out the trash was always Shinji's job.
"Sorry I couldn't even get you breakfast. I'll make it properly tomorrow."
Misato said apologetically.
("I'll make it properly tomorrow," huh...)
Shinji didn't say it out loud, but that "tomorrow" had rarely ever come. Still, Misato's words always carried a genuine kindness, so he couldn't bring himself to dislike it.
At fourteen, he'd been burdened with the fate of the world, piloting Evangelion Unit-01. Fighting unidentified giant lifeforms called Angels.
But right now, his biggest worry was having too many sorties to finish his school homework.
(...Why has it come to this?)
Shinji turned his deep brown eyes toward the floor. Whenever he was troubled, he always ended up looking down.
Nine in the morning.
The air in the command center suddenly went cold.
"Service notification."
Five small-statured figures entered from the doorway. All in black suits. Expressionless faces, thick binders in their hands.
(Who are these people?)
Shinji instinctively straightened his back. A bad feeling crept over him.
The leader of the fairies continued in a monotone voice.
"Effective today, NERV Work Regulation Article Seven has been revised. All personnel lunch breaks are abolished. Additionally, the documents required for equipment requisition will be increased from the previous twenty-four pages to forty-eight pages."
The command center buzzed.
"What?! Hold on just a minute!"
Operator Makoto Hyuga stood up.
"It was twenty-four pages until now! What do you mean, doubling it?!"
"This will grind operations to a halt. Lunch breaks are supposed to be guaranteed by work regulations."
Another operator, Shigeru Aoba, also raised his voice.
But the fairy leader's expression didn't change.
"This is a formal directive bearing the UN seal. Should you refuse, NERV's annual budget of one trillion two hundred billion yen will be frozen."
The documents presented indeed bore the UN seal.
"...Tch."
Misato bit her lip in frustration. Her hungover complexion flushed red with anger.
Shinji could say nothing, just standing there frozen.
(Worse than the Angels.)
Those words spun round and round in his head. The Angels, at least, were opponents he could face head-on. But these fairies were different. With paperwork and regulations, they slowly, steadily wore down people's spirits.
(What are we supposed to do about this?)
Just before noon.
The harassment got even worse.
"You're kidding! There's no coffee!"
Hyuga returned from the vending machine corner on B2 floor—commonly known as the "Caffeine Desert"—and let out a scream-like cry.
"Only the coffee buttons have been completely removed! They've been replaced with more energy drinks!"
The command center erupted in commotion.
This was the heart of NERV. Annual operating budget: approximately one trillion two hundred billion yen. Number of personnel: approximately 2,600. Daily canned coffee consumption from vending machines: approximately 400 cans.
Coffee was the lubricant of operations.
"Don't screw with us!!"
Misato slammed her desk and stood up. Her headache had already blown away.
But the fairy leader didn't even look up from the mountain of documents.
"This is also for operational efficiency. Excessive caffeine intake reduces work efficiency."
Shinji watched the operators standing helplessly in front of the vending machine.
(Just because they can't drink coffee...)
A part of him thought that.
But no.
(That's not it.)
Unreasonably taking away someone's small pleasure.
That, slowly, so imperceptibly little by little, wears away at people's hearts.
Shinji understood for the first time. The enemy wasn't just the Angels.
No, perhaps there was an enemy far more troublesome than the Angels.
Twelve noon.
Normally, it would be lunch break.
Shinji left the command center to head to school.
In the hallway, he passed Rei.
"You're going to school today too, Ikari-kun."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I have to eat lunch, after all."
(And I have to turn in my homework.)
He added in his mind.
"School lunch is eaten in the classroom."
At that single statement, Shinji's eyes widened.
(Right. NERV's rules and the school's rules are separate.)
He felt relieved. But at the same time, he felt a slight unease at how Rei was as eerily calm as always.
As she was leaving, Rei murmured quietly.
"SEELE is an organization that is trying to destroy our daily lives."
"SEELE...?"
It was a word he'd never heard before. He tried to ask for more details, but Rei had already disappeared down the hallway.
(SEELE.)
A restlessness stirred deep in Shinji's chest.
An unknown enemy.
An invisible enemy, different from the Angels.
An existence trying to destroy daily life.
(I wonder if Rei knows more about it.)
Shinji stepped into the elevator.
His personal terminal in his pocket vibrated. A message from Misato.
'Sorry I couldn't get you breakfast today. I'll make it properly tomorrow. But I'll definitely get our lunch breaks back, so make sure you eat your school lunch properly.'
Shinji stared at the screen and smiled a little.
(Misato-san is sloppy, but...)
She seriously thought about him and the other personnel.
Even if "I'll do it properly tomorrow" was never kept.
Shinji had a premonition that getting their lunch breaks back probably meant an even bigger, more troublesome fight lay ahead.
But for now, that was fine.
The elevator arrived at the surface.
The doors opened, and the morning sun over Lake Ashi streamed in.
This was Tokyo-3. Population: approximately 30,000. A fortress city built around Hakone and Lake Ashi, whose local specialty was the lakeside "Miso Ramen Hikari"—680 yen a bowl.
Seventy percent of the residents were NERV-related, and at the First Municipal Junior High School that Shinji and the others attended, school lunches alternated between bread days and rice days.
(First, go to school and eat lunch.)
Shinji resolved in his heart.
Protecting the small, everyday things.
That might be the first battle a fourteen-year-old pilot could fight.
The lake's surface glittered brightly.
His shoulders still hunched, Shinji began walking the path to school.
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