Shinji Ikari, returned from Warhammer

The simulation test experiment mainly tests the latest data of the machine, as well as the harmonic values ​​and synchronization rate between the current qualified user and EVA, and the cooperation with the updated Three Sages System.

At least that's what Ritsuko Akagi said on the phone.

According to the duty roster, Shinji Ikari was in charge of dinner that day, and it was also today that Shinji Ikari saw Asuka, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

Asuka changed into a white beach dress, revealing her shoulders with two thin straps. Her red hair, which had been styled in a bun, was now loose and casually draped over her shoulders.

"It was Lord Misato who called me here. I didn't want to come, you idiot." Asuka said somewhat awkwardly, avoiding looking at him.

Neither Misato Katsuragi nor Rei Ayanami cared about the fact that she had stayed in Shinji Ikari's room. The only one who was truly consumed by inner turmoil was Asuka herself.

"What are you thinking about, Shinji?" Misato Katsuragi could tell that Shinji Ikari was a little distracted.

"It was just that Dr. Akagi's simulation test reminded me of the battles with the Sky Angels," Shinji Ikari said.

"You mean Unit-01? Although it suffered maximum damage, it has been repaired." Misato Katsuragi picked up a piece of beef brisket from the clay pot and handed it to Shinji Ikari's bowl.

However, Shinji Ikari raised his hands, looked at his clean, white palms, and frowned slightly.

"If I remember correctly, when the AT field of the tearing apart the space apostle was being torn apart, I think I saw the bones of Unit-01."

The fervor of war had faded from his mind, and he recalled the scenes of the battle. Stripped of its outer armor, and even its flesh and tissue, Shinji Ikari clearly remembered the stark white bones revealed in Unit-01's hands.

Something he had always wanted to avoid was now laid bare, forcing him to confront it—

If the real Unit-01 beneath that armor possesses a biological structure, can it still be called a machine?

Chapter 91: The Crossroads of the World

—Is it another dream?

This is Shinji Ikari's reflection upon witnessing the expanding landscape before him.

The location is the usual Tokyo Third City.

I was standing at the crossroads of a three-lane one-way main road, near the center of the Third New Tokyo. The crossroads intersected with roads running north-south and east-west. If viewed from above, it looked like a giant cross rising from the city, truly a location in the heart of the city.

However—there's a sense of disharmony.

Shinji Ikari stood in a location even more central than the crossroads in the center of Tokyo.

This is a crossroads at a multi-directional intersection, so it's not a place where you can stand still for long. However, he has been standing there for more than ten minutes.

The traffic light has changed several times.

However, not a single horn sounded around him.

And that's only natural—

After all, in Shinji Ikari's vision, the existence of humans had completely vanished without a trace.

There was no one at the crossroads.

Not a single car was moving.

From the center of the road, one can see the main road, which is devoid of people.

This sense of disharmony stemming from the absence of humanity is precisely why Shinji Ikari feels that the familiar scenery is a dream.

As if sensing something, he turned his head and saw a silver-haired girl standing motionless on the left side of the crossroads, about twenty meters away from him.

The silver-haired girl before them was wearing the white summer uniform of the Third New Tokyo Private High School. Her short silver hair made her resemble Rei Ayanami by a striking degree, but her face was more youthful, while her body appeared more mature, her figure noticeably grown taller beneath the summer uniform. Her long, slender, white feet, which had been calmly etching the rhythm of her journey home, suddenly stopped.

--Snapped!

—The schoolbag fell to the ground.

At the crossroads, still unbearably hot under the setting sun, a girl resembling Rei Ayanami waves at him. The scorching sun burns the air, and the water vapor dances and distorts the light.

The girl's chest heaved violently as she spoke, her breathing unusually disordered.

"Help!"

The girl shouted in a volume that didn't sound like Ayanami's.

—Something dark flowed into her body.

A dark shadow, as if its limbs had been torn off, flashed by, and she vanished abruptly—

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The cell apoptosis process on the three EVA units is scheduled to proceed after the MAGI system is restarted.

[Assignment confirmed, 450 to 670 omitted]

[The command post has confirmed the mission and is awaiting further instructions.]

In the cluttered development department office, a synthesized, mechanical female voice blared from the loudspeaker. Maya Ibuki typed rapidly on the keyboard, countless strings of numbers and symbols incomprehensible to the untrained eye flashing across the screen.

"As expected of Maya, the work progress is so fast." A leisurely female voice sounded behind Maya.

“Of course! I’m your assistant. Under your constant guidance, things are definitely different now than when I first arrived.” Ibuki Maya stuck out her tongue.

Makoto Hinata handed a freshly brewed iced Americano to Shigeru Aoba, who carefully slipped past the haphazardly piled-up documents. Despite the documents and notebooks being scattered everywhere, no one dared to tidy them up.

The things are scattered, but the user knows where they are. But if you tidy them up, it just makes things even more chaotic.

Makoto Hyuga could tell that Ritsuko Akagi was intentionally grooming Maya Ibuki as an assistant so she could slack off, but Maya Ibuki seemed to be enjoying it. He didn't step in to be the bad guy; he simply offered a quiet reminder when he brought the coffee to Ritsuko Akagi.

"Dr. Akagi, Minister Katsuragi and the three qualified candidates have passed through the gate and should arrive at the simulation test site in about twenty minutes."

“You’re right on time. Looks like there’s still time to have lunch.” Ritsuko Akagi raised an eyebrow.

"As expected of Dr. Akagi, he handles even the simulation experiments of three mobile suits at the same time with such ease." Hyuga Makoto gave a wry smile. "If it were me, I probably wouldn't be able to finish just Unit-01 in a day."

“It’s mainly thanks to the help of excellent assistants like you,” Ritsuko Akagi said. “Just like fighting against the Apostles, it’s never just a matter for the chosen ones; we also bear a heavy responsibility.”

Ritsuko Akagi stood up, drank her coffee to the bottom of her cup, and gently swirled it. "Speaking of which, shouldn't we buy a new coffee machine?"

After swiping their access cards, Shinji Ikari and his two companions parted ways with Misato Katsuragi and, following the instructions of the voice assistant MAGI, took the A52 elevator to their assembly point as chosen ones.

Similar to previous visits to the Japan Ecosystem Marine Conservation Organization, washing, rinsing, and disinfection were essential procedures before entering. The process was even more stringent; even spare clothes were not permitted.

As Shinji Ikari underwent his seventeenth disinfection and rinsing process, he closed his eyes and recalled his dream from the previous night. Because of repeated reflection, the events in the dream remained vivid in his memory.

In a moment of belated realization, Shinji Ikari understood that he had been to that crossroads three times, each representing a different dream.

Directly ahead of the crossroads is a crimson world where the Hope, known as the Serpent of Gods, floats. To the right of the crossroads seems to be the dream where I'm choking Asuka. And behind me on the left is a world where a bunch of mechs are flying around.

The three directions at the crossroads represented three different worlds, Shinji Ikari realized. If he were to turn back, that was the only direction he hadn't yet traveled.

Shinji Ikari instinctively wanted to grip the rosary around his neck, but then he realized that the rosary and his personal electronic devices, such as his cell phone, had also been stored together in a locker and securely locked.

This is not just a simulation experiment, but also a major update to the entire NERV headquarters.

With a ding-dong notification sound, a synthesized mechanical female voice responded over the development department's loudspeaker.

[MAGI system updates complete, now entering self-diagnosis mode.]

The 127th check revealed no abnormalities.

At the same time, all three qualified candidates in the disinfection room had finished rinsing, completing the seventeen-step process. Asuka looked at her slightly flushed shoulders and pouted unhappily.

"What the hell? My skin is practically bleeding from all the water, it's all wrinkled. Why do we have to do this for autonomous driving tests?" Asuka complained, instinctively looking to her left, because Shinji Ikari was being washed right next to her, his body below the shoulders completely obscured by the glass, only his outline barely visible.

But this close-up scene, like a couple showering together, made her heart race.

This idiot wouldn't be thinking about Fei Fei, would he?

Chapter 92: The Strongest Corruption Apostle

Shinji Ikari, of course, wouldn't. When he's thinking seriously, women are just a piece of meat to him.

"Time is not passing by in vain. EVA's technology is also being updated and improved. Even the Angels are learning and progressing. What reason do we have to stand still?" Ritsuko Akagi's voice rang out from the broadcast in the upper right corner.

“Speaking of Angels, the Angel with the strongest learning and adaptability is Sandon, right? After hatching, it quickly evolved the ability to survive in magma and fly.” Asuka said this, she looked at Shinji Ikari next to her. “How cunning. He actually killed an Angel by himself while we were swimming.”

That being said, Asuka also knew that Shinji Ikari was hiding his whereabouts because he wanted to have fun.

Shinji Ikari witnessed all of this.

For teenage girls, falling in love with a boy is all too easy. As long as he's handsome, there are a thousand and one reasons to develop feelings for him at first sight. Those reasons might be a fleeting glance near the end of class, a boy's agile figure on the sports field, or a boy's unintentional display of loneliness that evokes maternal instincts. Of course, all of this is predicated on him being good-looking.

Moreover, many girls, before they've even grown up, will unknowingly fall for boys older than themselves. It's like how many beautiful girls in class get tricked by seemingly low-class thugs. This is because these guys are shameless and will even show the girls the outside world.

Some things are perhaps destined from the very beginning, like that casual glance in the arcade in Yokohama that day. The gears began to turn the day we first met, an unstoppable premonition of losing something.

Asuka sometimes wonders what would have happened if she had stopped instead of accepting his invitation, and instead taken off her sandals and slapped them in his face.

"We cannot predict the Apostles; they may become stronger or weaker. Perhaps the next Apostle to appear will possess learning and evolutionary abilities that surpass those of the Fetal Apostles. All we can do is hone your weapons, my dears," said Ritsuko Akagi.

With the sound of gears turning, the silver iron door at the front, painted with CAUTION-3, slowly opened.

"The three of you can come out now. Go through this door and directly into the insertion bolt," Ritsuko Akagi instructed.

"—Huh?!" Asuka drawled out her words.

"Don't worry, the audio and video monitoring equipment has been turned off. We absolutely guarantee your privacy," said Ritsuko Akagi. "This experiment is mainly to see how you can generate harmonic synchronization data using your bodies directly, without the aid of combat suits."

"That's not the point!" Asuka gripped the blue railing. "It's, it's, it's because I'm an idiot..."

Asuka wanted to give the real answer, but she felt that if she spoke, it would make her seem insecure, dishonest, and guilty.

"Anyway, we're all friends, we're all comrades in battle, we've all slept together... It's okay, it doesn't matter..." Asuka tried to convince herself.

Just as she was stammering, she saw Shinji Ikari's back as he walked towards the open silver door. Asuka screamed and covered her eyes with her hands, but her eyes were visible through the gaps between her fingers.

"I'm off now, see you later." Shinji Ikari waved his hand.

After a long while, she finally let out a long sigh of relief. Just as she was about to get up and leave, she met the gaze of Rei Ayanami standing next to her.

“H,” Rei Ayanami said.

Asuka opened her mouth and gestured meaninglessly with her hands, but in the end, she didn't say a word.

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[All drivers are ready and awaiting instructions.]

The mechanical female voice of MAGI rang in someone's ears, and for that person, this ordinary mechanical synthesized voice brought a different meaning.