Title: My Teen Transmigration Came with a Free Entry Plug and Existential Dread!
Chapter One: Emotionally Blackmailed to Pilot a, Definitely, Not Sentient Giant Robot.
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A siren howled somewhere in the distance. Again. And again. The kind of siren that warned the people of an impending natural disaster.
The sky held clear, the Japan Summer heat bering down overhead. The atmosphere groaned under the pressure of the incoming destruction. Off in the horizon, a pillar of smoke rose where something unreasonably huge was walking towards his destination…Tokyo-3. Hikigaya Hachiman stood alone at the edge of a bus stop, holding a letter that probably mattered more than it should.
He stared at it with the same dull eyes that he had unfortunately been born with. Ikari Gendou, it said. The name was unfamiliar, yet somehow evoked the kind of cold, bureaucratic weight that made one's soul want to retreat into a fetal position.
"Being called here out of nowhere, by someone I've never met, for a reason not explained," he muttered. "Truly, the hallmark of adult responsibility."
A low rumble shook the pavement. Something massive stomped just past the outskirts of the town. He didn't flinch. He just adjusted his backpack and stared.
"I give it a 75% chance this is where I die," he said flatly.
The siren's continued to wail.
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The screech of tires was the only warning before a cobalt blue car tore around the corner and fishtailed in front of him. The door flung open with the force of a melodrama.
"You Hikigaya Hachiman?!" shouted a woman with violet hair and yellow sunglasses too cool for the current apocalypse.
"…Indeed," he replied, standing slowly.
"Good! Get in!"
He climbed into the car. Because of course he did. Because fate, or whatever cosmic force had stuck him here, apparently had a flair for theatrics.
The woman sped off before he even finished buckling in.
"I'm Katsuragi Misato, but just call me Misato…" she finished that statement with a wink that would've had any other teenage boy's heart flutter. "...operations director under NERV. We've got to get you to HQ before things get worse. And before that Angel gets here."
"…Angel," he echoed. "That's what you're calling it?"
"Big, armored, regenerating, invincible against conventional weapons. Yeah. Angel."
"Interesting theological interpretation. Is there a version of this where I survive, or should I begin praying and prepare my final words?"
From behind them came a shockwave from a downed VTOL rattled the car. Dust and shrapnel cut through the blue alpine.
"Not if we keep moving!" Misato shouted with a grin that suggested she was either very brave or very insane.
Possibly both, Hachiman thought.
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They found another boy not far off, staring numbly at the rising destruction. He was slight, with slouched shoulders and the unmistakable air of someone who had spent his life trying not to be noticed. A fellow loner it seems. Hikigaya mused.
"Hikigaya, this is Ikari Shinji," Misato said. Hikigaya didn't bother to look back, only directing his gaze through the rear view mirror.
"My condolences," Hikigaya said automatically.
Shinji blinked. "Um… w-what?"
"Don't mind him," Misato said. "He's just got a weird sense of humor."
"It's not humor. It's a coping mechanism."
Shinji slowly nodded like that made a disturbing amount of sense.
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A pronounced silence followed the drive, which was broken by Hikigaya as he soon noticed that Misato began to slow down and pull into a hilltop, overlooking the town and the Angel's path of destruction.
"…Need I remind you that you said that you were to bring us to NERV headquarters, and I quote "…before things get worse."?"
"Oh relax, I'm just putting down some observations that could prove useful."
"I doubt there could be anything helpful. You said it yourself, 'operations director,' invincible against conventional weapons…though I doubt it could survive a nuke."
"A nuke huh?"
…
…
"Oh shit." And with that Misato immediately started the engine and floored it. Revitalizing their long journey to Tokyo-3.
Just a few minutes later, a mushroom cloud and a massive shockwave could be seen and heard from miles away.
On top of the pronounced silence, an air of awkwardness followed.
Misato broke the silence with a quiet "good call." Hikigaya hadn't bothered to reply.
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The road to NERV HQ was not designed for comfort. Recently abandoned cars flooded the highways, flickering emergency lights, empty streets, and a general sense of eeriness marked the city. Hikigaya kept his arms crossed, his eyes scanning the windows as the group inched closer and closer to their destination.
"So…this is the famous Tokyo-3?" he asked.
"Yes. We're on our way to the geofront." Misato said without looking to her side.
"There's a reason you were called, and you'll find out when we get there."
"I find ambiguity comforting," Hachiman said, deadpan. "It lets me imagine every worst-case scenario at once."
Shinji looked at him oddly. "Y-You… don't seem very scared."
"Oh, I am. I just internalize everything until I inevitably break down at the worst possible time."
Shinji turned back to the window. "…O-Oh."
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As they entered the subterranean elevator system that led toward NERV, Misato seemed to relax slightly, tension draining from her shoulders. Shinji kept to himself. Hachiman, as ever, let silence fill the space between them like the comfortable void it was.
"So, how'd you get drafted into this mess?" he finally asked.
"Drafted…? Um… My father sent for me," Shinji said.
"Ikari Gendo huh…."
"You know father?"
"Nope." Reaching into his breast pocket with two fingers, Hikigaya handed Shinji his summoning letter.
Shinji gave him a look that might have been judgment, scrutiny, or just confusion. Hachiman couldn't tell. Probably didn't matter.
After reading the letter, Shinji felt a slight disappointment, as his own summons held the exact same words. "Come to Tokyo-3" followed by an official summons order from the Japanese government.
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The trio finally reached an elevator lift, after being seemingly lost thanks to the poor navigation of NERV's very own operational director.
As the group prepared to board the elevator, the doors opened. A woman in a lab coat, over a one piece swimsuit with crisp blonde hair and cold eyes, holding a clipboard, was waiting.
"Captain Katsuragi, we are short on time and manpower. And here you are, unable to navigate our own headquarters, you're lucky we still have nearly an hour before the Angel arrives."
Misato could only scratch the back of her head in shame and give a very shameful chuckle. "Sorry Ritz."
The blonde, swimsuit wearing beauty shifted her gaze towards the two teens on each side of Misato.
"So…are these the boys?"
"Yep! One Hikigaya Hachiman, and one Ikari Shinji. The fourth and third children according to the Mardok institute."
"Hikigaya Hachiman and Ikari Shinji," she said. "I'm Doctor Ritsuko Akagi. Follow me." She said with a spine chilling smile. The faux blonde held an air of anticipation around her at that moment.
As the now-named Doctor Ritsuko Akagi turned back into the elevator, waiting for the group to board, then clicked their designated floor. Then Hikigaya spoke.
"So… swimsuit and lab coat? Bold choice. I see NERV's fashion policy is somewhere between 'beach day' and 'clinical breakdown.'"
Ritsuko had no overt reaction towards the sarcastic remark. "Function over form. I was in the middle of maintenance before being interrupted."
"Right," Hachiman muttered, following. "Maintenance…on what? A pool filter?"
Shinji looked between them, clearly unsure whether to laugh or be alarmed.
Ritsuko glanced over her shoulder, her clipboard tucked under one arm. She gave him a once over and responded. "Something like that. And you must be the cynical one."
"I prefer the term 'realist.' Less edgy, more accurate."
"From what I read in your file, it's more like 'socially corrosive with a persecution complex.'"
"Wow," Hachiman said, tone flat. "So the government does read our essays. Good to know."
Misato stifled a snort.
Ritsuko kept forward, the elevator lift quickly descending. "Try not to let that wit get in the way of future briefings. Assuming you're capable of focusing on anything besides a light novel."
Hachiman raised an eyebrow. "That depends. Are the briefings going to try to teach me about the power of friendship and then explode?"
Misato groaned, "You two are already worse than the Angel."
Shinji just muttered under his breath, "I feel like I'm in the wrong anime."
Hachiman sighed. "You and me both, Ikari. You and me both."
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The elevator ride continued in silence at first, the soft mechanical hum of descent echoing in the narrow shaft. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered slightly, bathing the trio—and their very obviously underdressed guide—in a sterile glow.
Hikigaya leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, gaze unfocused. The tension in the air felt different now—less awkward, more… expectant.
He hated that.
"So," he finally muttered, eyeing the security camera in the corner of the ceiling, "how far underground are we going, exactly? Is this where you keep the forbidden science? Or the lizard people?"
Ritsuko, without turning, replied, "You'll see soon enough."
"That's what the shady cult leaders always say. Usually right before sacrificing the transfer student." Hikigaya replied slightly irritated.
Shinji looked mildly panicked. Misato tried to hide a grin behind her hand.
The elevator slowed, then stopped with a mechanical clunk. The doors slid open with a hydraulic hiss, revealing a long metallic corridor lit by eerie yellow-orange lights.
They walked once more. Stopping once so Doctor Akagi could change. They continued to a corridor.
The corridor opened into a vast chamber—vast didn't even do it justice. It was cavernous, impossibly tall, and shadowed by interlaced scaffolding and machinery that stretched into darkness. Steam hissed from overhead vents. Somewhere, something sparked.
Within the darkened room, a switch was activated, and the chamber was lit. Ahead of the group was another long walkway that led to another elevator…but that's not what Hikigaya nor Shinji paid attention to. It was the ginormous, mechanical head.
While Shinji yelped in fright, Hikigaya narrowed his eyes as he felt one of his 'very real' 108 loner skills activate, as he felt an extremely eerie gaze…coming from the mechanical beast itself.
"…The hell is that?" Hikigaya said, more to himself than anyone else.
"That," Ritsuko said, her voice smooth and clinical, "is the artificial human, Evangelion Unit-01. Humanity's strongest defense against the Angels. This is what you're both here for."
Hachiman didn't respond at first. His brain stalled.
Misato turned, arms folded. "It's the only thing we have that can stop the Angel. And one of you is going to pilot it." (*)
Hachiman stared up at the towering giant, then slowly turned to Misato. "…I'm sorry, what?"
"You heard her," Ritsuko said. "You've been designated as the Fourth Child. While Ikari Shinji has been designated the Third. This machine requires a pilot to operate, only one of the designated Children can pilot these machines."
Shinji just kept staring at the beast while Hikigaya prepared for an argument.
"You have got to be joking right? Why us? If we're the Third and Fourth, what about the other two 'Children'?"
"…The First Child is currently incapacitated due to an accident. And the Second is stationed in Germany's NERV branch with Unit-02, awaiting approval from the UN to transfer here, to Tokyo-3." Ritsuko replied.
"Oh…how convenient." Hikigaya muttered.
"And why are they coming here? Why would a giant monster be marching down here, to Tokyo-3?"
Before Ritsuko could reply, a dramatic reveal took place above the Evangelion.
"For the Evangelions of course." Commander Ikari has made his entrance. Shinji's face paled even further, and Hikigaya decided to bite his tongue, holding back a sarcastic retort against the obviously false statement.
"…Hello Shinji…it's been a while."
"…Father…" Shinii was unable to keep his gaze on his father. Commander Ikari lightly smirked and began preparations.
"Begin sortie with the Third Child."
"…what…? What?! You want me to pilot that…thing?!?! No! I refuse! Father! Why have you called me here?!"
"Because I have a use for you. Nothing more, nothing less." Gendo's cold voice cut through any remaining rebelion from Shinji.
Great…daddy issues.
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Silence returned to the chamber, but this time, it was heavier—like the air had thickened around them.
Shinji trembled, fists clenched at his sides, his eyes locked on the floor. Misato looked torn between stepping in and respecting the command chain. Ritsuko only stared at Gendo with something unreadable in her eyes.
Hikigaya didn't move. He was still staring at the purple giant, eyes narrowed.
Then he finally spoke, voice low. Dry.
"…And this is where the emotional damage gets weaponized."
Ritsuko raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Nothing," Hachiman muttered, then glanced sideways at Shinji, who was clearly in no condition to stand, let alone pilot a living war machine.
Gendo's voice sliced through the awkward air again. "If he won't do it, prepare the First Child."
Ritsuko looked startled. "She's in no condition—"
"Then do what is necessary to get her in the entry plug," he said without flinching.
Within minutes, the elevator door directly across from them opened.
A pair of nurses wheeled in a gurney. On it lay a girl—bandaged, bruised, and frail, she was closer to death then the pinnacle of health. Her pale blue hair clung to her cheeks, damp with sweat. One of her crimson eyes blinked slowly at the light.
Hikigaya stared.
The so called First Child.
Even he, someone completely new to this world, could tell that she was not meant to be standing, let alone fighting. (**)
He exhaled through his nose and muttered, "Oh, come on…"
The girl tried to sit up, body trembling with the effort. A sharp wince broke through her blank expression, and a soft noise escaped her lips before she collapsed back into the gurney.
The nurses hovered beside her, unsure. Misato took a step forward, about to protest—but then stopped.
Everyone watched in tense silence as the girl struggled to breathe.
Something ugly twisted in Hachiman's gut.
It was a feeling he hated. The same one that crawled in his chest when he saw someone suffering, alone, pretending it didn't hurt…just like him.
This was unacceptable.
He closed his eyes. Clicked his tongue.
"…Alright. Screw it."
All heads turned toward him.
"I'll do it," Hachiman muttered, walking forward. "I'll pilot the damn thing."
Ritsuko blinked. "You're serious?"
"No," he replied flatly. "But apparently, I'm the only one here who isn't having a full existential breakdown or dying of internal bleeding, so I guess that makes me the best terrible option."
Misato stepped forward. "Hikigaya… you don't have to—"
"I know I don't." He didn't look back at her. "But if the other option is pushing a girl with cracked ribs into a death machine, then yeah—fine. I'll take the nightmare fuel."
Shinji looked up, stunned. "But—why…?"
Hikigaya glanced over his shoulder.
"Because unlike you, I don't have a dad to disappoint. And someone here has to do the dumb, irrational, self-destructive thing."
He paused. And shifted his gaze onto Unit-01 once more.
"…Might as well be me."
Ritsuko gave Misato a wary look. Misato nodded, slowly.
"Alright. Prepare the Fourth Child for entry."
Technicians scrambled into motion.
As the platform rose toward the entry plug, Hachiman stared down at Unit-01 one last time. The artificial eye on its face almost seemed to meet his gaze.
He frowned.
"This is probably a bad idea," he muttered, eyeing the machine with open suspicion.
A beat passed, and he let out a small sigh.
"Yep…this is a terrible idea."
The cockpit opened its maw.
And he stepped into the beast.
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End Chapter One
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(*) Since Misato was unable to have a full conversation with Shinji, I felt that it would make sense that she had no clue that Shinji would be incapable, she would've thought that as the chosen Third Child, he would be able to pilot.
(**) Hikigaya has been transmigrated into the world of Evangelion, he is not aware of the plot, he does not know how he got there or why he is there.
Also some things I wish to inquire about. Honorifics? Yes? No?
How should I be referring to Hachiman? Hikigaya? Or Hachiman? Doubt it would be pleasant to read if I kept switching between the two.
Same with Doctor Akagi, besides some dialogue, I'm leaning on just referring to her as Ritsuko.
Oh also in case you couldn't already tell. Yes there is some tool assistance within this Fic, mostly to help with structure and details.
Also this story will definitely not be perfect, some context will probably be missing, I just plan to focus on the POV of Hikigaya, the rest of the pilots and maybe some extra scenes with the rest of the characters.
Uhhhh…Chapters will be a little slow to release, so I'll be putting this first one out on WebNovel and FF.net. Then stock up some chapters after some feedback. Just a bit of warning I very much tend to leave stories, I'll try to reach a certain point, and if I end up giving up, the story is more than open for adoption.