Art by MRA_Artworks, commissioned by RLLRRR
Asuka & Shinji's Infinite Playlist is a Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic by RLLRRR set after the Third Impact, following the manga continuity.
Shinji Ikari bumps into a stranger girl at the station and finds himself feeling the strangest sense of familiarity to the red-haired German. At the same time, he starts behaving oddly, remembering conversations which never happened and failing to remember specific details of his own life.
Meanwhile, his broken SDAT plays songs that Shinji never recorded, but apparently only he and Asuka Langley Sohryu can listen. And Shinji has the weird feeling that those songs are hiding a secret message, the key to unlock a shared past.
This fanfiction can be read in FF.net
and AO3. The one-shots can be read here and here.
It has a crossover of sorts with Rise of the Minisukas in "Minisukas' Infinite Playlist".
Tropes:
- Apologises a Lot: When Shinji and Asuka meet each other in the dream world, with no memory of their formers lives, the former instinctively starts apologising for any little thing. When Asuka remarks how weird it is, Shinji wonders why he keeps doing it."Shinji Ikari? Nice to meet you," and she pumped their hands up and down. "Now, you can let go again."
Shinji pulled his hand away and rubbed his head, blushing again embarrassedly. "I'm sorry."
Asuka looked at him. "You don't need to apologize every other sentence."
"I'm so-" he stopped himself and took a deep breath, collecting himself. Shinji's voice was suddenly calmer as he put his brain back together, "Sorry. I don't know why I keep doing it. I usually don't. Today's been a lot." - Canon Immigrant: Mana Kirishima, a character of the Girlfriend of Steel game who never showed up in the manga, is one of the students in Myojo Academy.
- Continuation: The story picks up right where the manga left off.
- Cue the Sun: As the dream world begins vanishing, the sun sets, the stars twinkle and fade, and everything becomes a black void."What is this place?" Asuka asked breathlessly. The fog danced around her ankles as she cautiously walked through a twilighted sky, faint glimmers of stars fading in as the sunlight dissipated.
The cool, calm air continued to settle below them, kicked up by their gentle steps as they explored the setting. The music continued to build, continuing its powerful pull on them. The predictable curiosity began to arise in her, as Shinji knew what questions were to come.
"Is that where we just came from?" she asked, looking at the ground below them, shrinking away. They were being whisked somewhere far away from here.
"Yes," Shinji replied without looking down. "This is the sunset of that world: it's fading away, back to the nothingness it came from." - Doorstopper: 158,617 words spread over eighteen chapters as of November, 2022; plus, the one-shots total 8,186 words as of September, 2022.
- Dream Apocalypse: When Shinji and Asuka walk out of his apartment together, after the former has gotten his memories back, the dream world begins fading into blackness and going back to the nothingness whence it came.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Shinji reflects about the need of going through rough times in order to find true happiness as walking towards the Myojo Academy to take his exams.I will do my best. I will find my own path. It may be rough and winding, with driving wind and rain, and some days may be freezing cold. But, I know the sun will light the way, Shinji philosophized to himself. The road to here was long and arduous, but he had made a promise that he'd give his all for this exam.
- Gratuitous German: When Asuka sees Horaki talking to Suzuhara, she mutters for no particular reason: "Liebe ist in der Luft." (Love is in the air).
- Have We Met?: Shinji and Asuka lose their memories during the Third Impact and end in a dream world created by Instrumentality. When he bumps into Asuka for the "first" time, Shinji has the strange feeling that he has met her before, despite being certain that this is the first time he has ever seen her.
- I Miss Mom: Shinji will not replace his deceased mother's broken SDAT, even though he cannot switch tapes, and he will not even listen to another kind of music.Shinji's preferred genres weren't always as outdated as they'd become in the last year, but now it felt as if he wouldn't move on in fear of moving on from her. There was a fine line between honoring someone's memory and living with a ghost in the past, and oftentimes it seemed Shinji was unable to tell the difference.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Non-romantic variant. Toji asks Shinji to tell him about Hikari. Shinji tells she is like a brother to him, and if Toji ever hurts him, he will be beaten."And that leaves me," Shinji said, staring directly into Toji's eyes. "I trust Hikari more than I trust anyone, and I know she can take care of herself. But, if you hurt her-"
He paused, watching the jock squirm a little.
"I will crush you." - Jaw Drop: Shinji's jaw drops open and he stares at his nearer friend when he finds out that neither of the four hundred children taking the Myojo Academy's entrance test will be allowed to leave temporarily due to a sudden and dangerous blizzard.
- Like Brother and Sister: Although Shinji and Hikari grew up together, they would never consider a relationship. Hikari bluntly tells Asuka he is like a brother she never had."Spend an entire childhood together and I'm 'not the right girl'," Hikari pouted, sticking her lower lip out in a dramatic way.
"That's not what I meant!"
Hikari giggled again, "Shinji, it's fine. You're wonderful, but I couldn't… you're like a brother."
He was like a brother, a brother Hikari never had. In over a decade of friendship, he'd stuck up for her, listened to her, picked her up when she'd fallen, all while actually being four months younger. And they'd cried on each other's shoulders after that long day in the cemetery. A dark day for the Ikari family. - Lotus-Eater Machine: During Instrumentality, Shinji loses his memories and finds himself living in a dream reality: the world has not been broken by the Second Impact, there are not humongous mechas fighting eldritch creatures every week, Gendo behaves almost like a normal father, Rei is his little sister, Hikari is his childhood friend, and he is an ordinary middle-school student. Though, he gradually notices something is not right: his SDAT plays songs only he and Asuka can hear, he has a sense of déjà vu when Asuka tells specific sentences, neither he nor Asuka can remember the last it snowed despite living in regions with snow and frost in wintertime) …
- Love Makes You Dumb: Hikari is a reasonably intelligent young girl, but her brain cells tend to turn off when she is around a jock.Shinji couldn't help but smile at Hikari, knowing where this was likely heading. He watched as every brain cell immediately disappeared from his best friend, turning her into nothing but a pile of hormones.
- Mistaken for Romance: When Shinji mentions he is supposed to meet up with a friend in the Myojo Academy's lobby, Asuka mischievously asks what kind of "friend" that person is. Shinji replies she is only an old friend, denying that she is some kind of girlfriend.
- New Transfer Student: The story begins with Shinji, Asuka, Hikari and other characters arriving in Tokyo to take the entrance exams for Myojo Academy.
- Ontological Mystery: Shinji and Asuka find themselves in a strange reality with no memories of their past life. Whenever someone asks them something about their lives or mentions some past event, no matter how trivial, both children struggle to answer, since their minds are trying to remember something which never happened. Finally, Shinji discovers they are in a dream which only began existing when he bumped into Asuka at the station.
- Redheads Are Ravishing: Literally the first thing Shinji notices about Asuka is her fiery, beautiful red hair.
- Shout-Out: At one point, Masaru tells Shinji: "Even in Shakespeare's greatest work, everyone dies. But do you ever wonder what would have happened had the Montagues and Capulets first settled their feud?", referencing William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Having forgotten her past life's traumatic memories, Asuka is friendlier and has a better mastery of her temper.
- Tragic Keepsake: Shinji carries around her late mother's SDAT. Even though it is broken, he refuses to replace it or try to get it fixed out of fear to break it.
- Watching the Sunset: As Shinji and Asuka watch the world's final sunset, Shinji reassures Asuka that as long as they are together, everything will be all right.
