Shinji Ikari, returned from Warhammer

"As a new member of the class, please get along well with Ikari-kun. There will definitely be many things you're not used to, so please help each other out. During this special time, I hope everyone can help and support each other. Anyway, let's welcome our new classmate with applause." Yokoshima-sensei's tone made one wonder if she would pull out a cigarette at the end. But as soon as she finished speaking, thunderous applause resounded throughout the classroom.

There may be curiosity, excitement, or hostility.

However, for ordinary teenagers, having a classmate who pilots an 80-meter-tall ultimate war machine is something to be proud of.

However, there is one exception.

In the morning, there was a foreign language class taught by Mr. Yokoshima, a music class taught by Mr. Yamanaka, and then a class taught by the frail and sickly physical education teacher.

Ms. Yokoshima's English class was as bland as she was. Her tone and wording were unchanging. Although she explained things in a simple and easy-to-understand way, perhaps she lacked leadership or her teaching wasn't engaging enough... In short, it was unremarkable.

Of course, Shinji Ikari knew he couldn't just show a bored expression here. It would have a terrible impact on both the teacher and the students. He tried to recall what had happened the night before while looking at his brand-new textbook. Then, during the fourth period, physical education class, two classmates blocked Shinji's way as he was looking for a place to cool off.

One was a tall, short-haired boy who, despite his best efforts to hide it, couldn't conceal the malice that emanated from him. The other was a refined-looking boy wearing glasses.

"Hey newbie, come here for a second." The buzz-cut boy beckoned to him.

Looking at the boy in front of him, who was trying his best to hide his malice, Shinji Ikari's drowsiness dissipated a little, and even a joy he hadn't felt in class lingered in his heart. Just as he expected, the moment he approached, the classmate he had never met before suddenly swung his fist at him.

The short-haired boy was very confident in his fists, partly because of the difference in physique, and partly because he often got into fights at school. Obviously, this little guy in front of him was no match for him.

However, the transfer student in front of him seemed to have foreseen this, turning to avoid his outstretched fist, then grabbing his wrist and pulling him forward forcefully.

The tall, strong boy still wore a fierce expression, but he lost his balance and fell forward. Just as he was trying to right himself, the transfer student kicked him in the ankle, sending the boy, who had lost his footing, flying into the air.

He spun 365 degrees in the air before crashing heavily to the ground. Even though he landed on his back, the jagged rocks still made him cry out in pain.

"You damned brute... Ugh!"

The short-haired boy's harsh words were completely cut short because Shinji Ikari stomped viciously on his face without any mercy, and the terrifying sound of bones colliding could even be heard.

In just a few breaths, the situation reversed instantly.

The bespectacled boy next to him, who had been watching his friend vent his anger on the transfer student with amusement, was soon knocked to the ground by the same person. The sound, like bones shattering, made his expression change drastically, and he quickly stepped forward to pull the two apart.

"Wait, don't fight! Let me... say something first...!"

Before he could finish speaking, Shinji Ikari delivered a powerful knee strike to his cheek. The dizzying sensation, as if the world were spinning, completely threw the bespectacled boy, who had never experienced such a blow, into disarray. After crashing heavily to the ground, he vaguely heard footsteps approaching him.

"Hey, friend, you're trying to break up a fight, huh?" Shinji Ikari grabbed his hair with a smile, forcing him to look him in the eye. "Why didn't you try to stop this guy when he was throwing a punch at me?"

Shinji Ikari smiled and patted his dusty cheeks, as if he were a student life committee member trying to reason with him, rather than a thug in the guise of a student.

"No, we just wanted you to take a punch..." The bespectacled boy, spitting out blood and saliva, tried to explain vaguely, but a roar filled with barely concealed rage came from behind Shinji Ikari.

It was a boy with a buzz cut. Although Shinji Ikari showed no mercy in that kick, his body was indeed somewhat weak, so it wasn't a heavy blow to the boy with the buzz cut.

Anger surged through him, his adrenaline coursing, and an unprecedented rage filled his mind. Saliva mixed with dirt clung to his lips as he glared at Shinji Ikari, who was grabbing his hair, and shouted angrily.

"You idiot! You bastard who pilots a robot, I'll make you pay the price!"

Chapter Twelve: Rei Ayanami

"You idiot! You bastard piloting a robot, I'll make you..."

Perhaps blinded by anger, even though it was a sneak attack from behind, the short-haired boy Suzuhara Toji still threw out his fist without hesitation.

However, it was too clumsy! So slow that even before Shinji Ikari turned around, he could judge the distance between them just by listening to the other's shouting.

Shinji Ikari turned and delivered a precise side kick to Suzuhara's chest. Suzuhara Toji's saliva and dust flew everywhere, his face contorted in excruciating pain as if his internal organs were being twisted by a pile driver. Accompanied by a feeling of floating away from gravity, he crashed heavily to the ground.

"Toji!" The bespectacled boy, whose hair had just been grabbed by Shinji Ikari, exclaimed in surprise. He saw his best friend curled up in a ball, trembling, like a shrimp that had been pulled out of its shell.

Shinji Ikari calmly walked up to him, this time grabbing his hair and forcing him to look him in the eye.

"Why did you attack me, Toji?" Shinji Ikari asked with a calm smile.

From the insults uttered by the boy named Suzuhara Toji, Shinji Ikari finally understood the whole story.

It was nothing more than this: during his battle with the apostle, the younger sister of this male classmate named Suzuhara Toji was caught in the aftermath of the fight and was currently hospitalized. So, she wanted to beat him up to vent her anger.

"Idiot! If it weren't for you, you bastard piloting a robot, Sakura-chan wouldn't be..."

"Your Sakura-chan will be killed by the apostles, and then you can wail and cry at her grave, right?"

Before Suzuhara Toji, his face bruised and swollen, could finish speaking, Shinji Ikari shoved his face into the mud and stomped on it again. This time, he held nothing back; blood could be seen seeping from the soil.

"I was wondering what the reason was, and it turns out it's this ridiculous excuse." Shinji Ikari couldn't help but chuckle. "Instead of hating the alien that hurt your sister, you're trying to throw a punch at me who's protecting you. Toji, you really are... a complete sword grave!"

After stomping on him one last time, Suzuhara Toji, the boy who had been stubbornly roaring until the very end, finally fainted.

Shinji Ikari stepped on his back, wiped the edges of his shoes, which were stained with his saliva and blood, with his white shirt, and then turned to look at the dumbfounded bespectacled boy.

"Kensuke Aida, right?" Shinji Ikari asked, though his tone was one of certainty.

"Ah, yes!" the bespectacled boy named Kensuke Aida answered loudly.

"Take him away and send him to the hospital. If anyone asks, say I hit him," Shinji Ikari ordered.

Faced with the transfer student who had brutally beaten him and his friend, Kensuke Aida didn't utter a single harsh word. He wasn't one to resort to violence anyway, and he quickly carried Toji Suzuhara towards the infirmary.

Shinji Ikari, who was witnessing all of this, noticed the gazes around him. Although Toji Suzuhara had chosen a spot far from the crowd, the continuous screams still attracted the students' attention. However, seeing the ferocious Shinji, none of them dared to utter a sound.

Shinji Ikari followed a certain gaze and his eyes met those of a short-haired girl by the window on the third floor of the school building.

A rare smile appeared on the boy's lips as he strode over the railing with one hand toward the school building. Two minutes later, in the short-haired girl's class—Shinji Ikari's second-year Class A—he looked at the only girl who hadn't attended gym class.

She was a quiet-looking girl, sitting in the corner, gazing out the window. She wore a standard blue and white school uniform, and had short, blunt blue hair without any of the accessories a girl her age should have. Her long neck was exposed, and her skin was unhealthyly pale. At a time when everyone else was sweating it out on the playground, she seemed even more like a ghost from another world.

"Hello, I'm Shinji Ikari." Shinji Ikari sat on the desk in front of her and handed her a piece of chewing gum from his drawer.

“I know, but your chewing gum belongs to Hirasawa Yui.” The blue-haired girl pointed out the origin of the chewing gum in his hand.

"Don't worry about such trivial matters." Seeing that she didn't take the chewing gum from his hand, Shinji Ikari casually unwrapped it and threw it into his mouth. "Rei Ayanami, the First Child, there are even rumors that you are the illegitimate daughter of the Commander-in-Chief of NERV."

“So it’s just a rumor,” Rei Ayanami replied.

"I feel the same way. After all, someone like him would probably be indifferent even if the child was really born out of wedlock."

Rei Ayanami narrowed her eyes. This was the first time Shinji Ikari had seen Rei's face clearly, as she was also a Child of the Sea. She was as transparent as a phantom, even giving off an ethereal quality that seemed to belong to another world. Yet, in her anger, she somehow made Shinji feel as if she were alive.

Although Rei Ayanami's emotional fluctuations were subtle, Shinji Ikari keenly noticed them, and he smiled as he curiously examined the girl in front of him.

"You didn't react when I talked about you, but you got angry when I mentioned him. I'm starting to believe those unreliable rumors now."

Shinji Ikari jumped off his seat, leaving behind a 100 yen bill before casually stuffing the box of chewing gum into his pocket.

"Spicy lobster flavored chewing gum is quite unique. We'll have many more opportunities to cross paths in the future, Rei Ayanami."

…………

…………

"I heard you got into a fight with your classmates? I never would have guessed that someone with skinny arms and legs like you could get into a fight."

At the dinner table, Misato Katsuragi suddenly brought up the matter. Although she was not Shinji Ikari's guardian, she had always considered herself his guardian, but looking at the boy's delicate and frail appearance, he didn't seem like someone who could fight at all.

“It’s quite normal for nobles to have some knowledge of martial arts.” Shinji Ikari skillfully squeezed lemon juice onto the foie gras.

Misato Katsuragi pursed her lips. She had heard these kinds of things far too many times these past few days. Things like, "It's normal for nobles to know a little about cooking," or "It's normal for nobles to know how to drive." But the truth was, he really did know how.

She claims to have some culinary skills, yet she can make very authentic French foie gras; she claims to be a driver, yet she managed to avoid the aftermath of an apostle's attack and successfully reach headquarters on her first drive.

This boy, who was clearly only fourteen years old, was shrouded in mystery that she could not understand.

As for the antics between Shinji Ikari and his classmates, Misato Katsuragi didn't pay much attention to them, feeling that Shinji should enjoy his youth as a student. She then brought up another matter, "On the day of the moon, we'll have a simulation training exercise specifically for the mission. I'm letting you know in advance so you don't have trouble getting up that day."

Chapter Thirteen: Simulated Training Against the Apostles

"A simulation training for the battle against the Angels?" Shinji Ikari narrowed his eyes.

When he defeated the Water Angel, it was his first time piloting Unit-01. NERV really trusted him enough to entrust the safety of all of Tokyo to a middle school boy. Weren't they afraid that he would be no match for the Angel, leading to the destruction of all of Tokyo?

Or is it that NERV headquarters still harbors a trump card that could turn the tide after its failure?

However, this simulation training reminded him of the incarnation ritual he had undergone.

There's a secret, both a secret and not a secret, among the nobles and knights. The mechanical throne connecting the knights and their mechs is actually altering their minds, instilling powerful concepts of loyalty, responsibility, and conservatism. Their strict rules make these knights more resistant to new technologies and psionicists, which ironically allows their knightly world to escape the demons and monsters of the long, dark night.

The defenses of the Knights World allowed them to survive those terrible times, which has allowed the Knights World to maintain its original appearance for hundreds and thousands of years.

And this so-called simulation training, could it also be...?

…………

…………

Inside the cockpit of Unit-01 at NERV headquarters.

Following a brief pause, a strange vibration, sounding like countless metal blocks colliding and being squeezed, echoed throughout the cockpit, accompanied by a female voice prompting from the mechanical electronics.

Red lines, resembling the folds of flesh, extended from Shinji Ikari's feet, covering the surrounding floor and walls. They then rapidly formed the scene of the Third Tokyo that he saw.

In just a few seconds, the previously ethereal view of the cockpit's exterior transformed into a near-realistic virtual scene. It was then contaminated into a vast expanse of organic metallic material, resembling a nightmare conjured by a classic computer traitor writer.

At this moment, a black alien based on the Water Angel appeared before Shinji Yodo.

But perhaps the technical staff in the development department had high expectations for Shinji Ikari, because after one Water Angel materialized, a second, a third, and a fourth one appeared beside him.

This is simulation training, which simulates a virtual world and enemies in the cockpit, much like the Chaldea in Chaldea next door, a cutting-edge technology that allows users to gain experience tips.

"Listen to me, Shinji Ikari. Your goal is to eliminate these virtual Angels." Misato Katsuragi's voice rang in Shinji Ikari's ear through the connection. "Time limit... five minutes."

As the countdown began, both Unit-01 and the virtual apostles started to move.

This time, Shinji Ikari didn't choose anything too violent. He controlled Unit-01, drawing the Vibration Particle Blade that was prepared on his machine, and lunged at the Water Angel at the front. He dodged the Light Lance of an Angel on his right, and then slashed at the crimson core in the Water Angel's chest. A blinding crimson liquid gushed out, and with the force of the Vibration Particle Blade's insertion, tiny cracks appeared in the crimson core, emitting a sharp whistling sound as if blood was leaking.

Without special weapons or an AT field, destroying the core of this Angel would be extremely difficult. As soon as Shinji Ikari inserted his weapon, he felt an unexpected resistance. In actual combat against the Water Angel, he had fully experienced the solidity of its core. The resistance that pushed back from the inside out felt as if it were against the entire world.

But even if it's difficult to move forward, it's not impossible; with a little effort, you can still get in.

With a deafening roar, the crimson core of the Virtual Water Angel shattered under Shinji Ikari's forceful breakthrough. Simultaneously, the platinum-gold beams emitted by the surrounding Water Angels struck Unit-01 in the center.

But when the light faded, Unit-01 was intact, with multiple layers of warm yellow diamond-shaped fields obstructing the advance of these beams.

At this moment, Ritsuko Akagi and Misato Katsuragi, who were watching the battle, shrugged. Although they wanted to reduce the AT field that was beyond the normal range, the strength of this AT field largely depended on the pilot, rather than the piloted machine.

Even the most powerful attacks couldn't damage Unit-01's hull before breaching the AT field, so another virtual Water Apostle, controlled by the technicians, chose to target Unit-01's Type B equipment pack. Golden light appeared above the Water Apostle's head. Unit-01 nimbly leaped backward, abandoning the Water Apostle in front of her and focusing on the other one approaching from her side, its yellow eyes blazing with intense light.

This single movement alone reveals that he is not on the same level as these virtual water apostles. Despite his colossal 80-meter frame, Unit-01, under his control, remains as agile as a cheetah, maintaining excellent balance in the air and landing perfectly poised to strike again. Ordinary virtual water apostles, on the other hand, are merely violent and swift. Even water apostles controlled by technicians may seem to perform seemingly delicate movements, but those movements are formulaic. When asked to react, they reveal the clumsiness of AI.

Silently, the vibrating particle blade that had been attached to the restraints on the left shoulder of Unit-01 extended from its other wrist. This seemingly thin vibrating particle blade had just severed the Angel's left hand as it raised its arm to fire the Light Gun. A follow-up strike viciously plunged into the Angel's chest.