EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan

Chapter 152: Ikari Yui's Death Anniversary and the Story of Persimmons

"You're here."

Ikari Gendo said.

This is a white cemetery with many tombstones. If it were a normal cemetery, there might be green plants such as trees as embellishments, but here it is bare and you can see the whole picture of the cemetery at a glance. It was the scorching sun in the afternoon, and the hot wind passed through the gap between the father and son, leaving a lingering heat. On this hot day, just standing there is enough to make ordinary people feel dizzy.

But Gendou Ikari was still wearing his commander's outfit of a long coat and trousers, as if he was completely unaware of the warmth from the outside world.

Is this guy too heat resistant?

Ikari Shinji thought.

Today is my mother's death anniversary.

Although the hospital wanted to keep Shinji Ikari for observation, he chose to be discharged temporarily for the anniversary of his death. Of course, after being discharged, he bought a pair of colored contact lenses and put them on, so he still looks normal now. It was quite a hassle to get there. More and more stores are closing down in Tokyo, and maybe there will be no place to buy colored contact lenses in the future.

At this moment, the father and son were standing in front of a tombstone.

This is a very simple tombstone, engraved with the name of the deceased and the time of his death.

【Ikari Yui】

[1977-2004]

That's all, there is no description of personal experience. Life ended at the age of 27, which is really too short.

"It's been three years since we last came here together."

Standing in front of the tombstone.

Even the usually arrogant Ikari Gendo relaxed a lot.

Perhaps the person standing here at this moment is not Commander Ikari, but a father. Three years ago, the father and son also had a big quarrel in front of this tombstone, but for Ikari Shinji who has been to another world, that was actually more than ten years ago. The anger did not remain much, and even the content of the quarrel was vaguely remembered. People always forget memories as time goes by.

I was angry at that time and never came to this cemetery again.

This visit to the Third New Tokyo should have been a good opportunity for the father and son to mend their relationship, but they were still in a cold war, the kind of cold war where they didn't even say hello to each other when they saw each other even at the headquarters. Rather than a father-son relationship, these two were perhaps more like strangers.

"Three years... I will come here often to pay my respects."

Shinji Ikari said sincerely.

It really shouldn't come once every three years.

But his mother died too early, and he was in a sensitive period at that time. After his mother passed away, he rarely had family members to accompany him. This is how children are. But when Shinji Ikari gradually matured, he realized what mistakes he had made in the past.

“…That’s not necessary.” said my father.

"how?"

"After all, it's just a cenotaph, used as a decoration, there's nothing inside."

My father said calmly.

As for where the body went, both of them knew it. Ikari Shinji knew that his mother had dissolved into Unit-01 due to an experimental accident, and now existed as the "machine spirit" of Unit-01. If he really wanted to pay tribute to her... he stopped thinking.

Ikari Shinji was silent for a while before he said:

"So...can you tell me something about your mother?"

Miss Mary Makiba, who came to Japan before, was a good friend of his mother. She told him some things about the past. But Shinji Ikari was unable to draw a picture of his mother from her few words. He tried to learn more about the past, not for anything else, but just to make up for some regrets as a son.

"Why?" asked the father.

"After all, my mother left when I was very young. I don't remember anything at that time. It would be inappropriate for a son to know nothing about his mother, right?"

"..." His father was silent for a long time, thinking about something. It was so long that Shinji Ikari thought he didn't hear him at all. When he tried to repeat himself, he finally uttered a word:
"persimmon."

"what?"

"Something that happened in the past. At that time, Wei and I were eating persimmons together." The father said slowly, "At that time, Japan was a little hotter than it is now and a long time ago, but the persimmons grew well. We had agreed to have half each, but she gave me an extra one..." He stopped here.

"that's it?"

"Ah."

“I have no impression of that at all.”

"You were still in her belly at that time."

Shinji Ikari had a moment of doubt whether this was a joke or not, wondering whether he should smile in response. This was indeed about his mother, but it was completely incomprehensible what was happening in the story. However, his father did not realize that he was telling a joke. The middle-aged man stared at his wife's name on the tombstone, as if he was recalling something important, and even his stiff tone softened a lot.

"Are your eyes okay?"

Father suddenly asked.

"It's okay, nothing happened." said Shinji Ikari.

Then this sudden concern dissipated like bubbles. Shinji Ikari suddenly realized that this was the rare time his father showed concern since his mother's death. Was it because of the scene in front of the tombstone?
The two fell into silence.

"Anything else?" Ikari Shinji tried to ask.

"what?"

"My mother's story."

"…When I was in college, it snowed once… well, snow was something you had never seen since you were a child…" said the father, "I took Wei to class on my motorcycle. She said she had never experienced the feeling of skipping classes, so I took her all the way from school to Hokkaido. I originally planned to stay there for a day or two, but the motorcycle broke down on the way…"

"Stuck on the road?"

"Yeah. But luckily there was a B&B on the road that took us in." He seemed to open up, not like the silent commander-in-chief at all, like another person, "The B&B also provides skiing services. I didn't learn skiing at that time, so it took Wei a long time to teach me. She also gave the broken-down motorcycle a name..."

He was talking on and on when suddenly the roar of a machine was heard.

buzzing-

It was the sound of a helicopter propeller stirring the air, interrupting what he was about to say.

It was a helicopter from the headquarters, slowly descending from the sky onto the open space outside the cemetery. It came here only to pick up the commander-in-chief of NERV, and it also indicated that this memorial service was about to come to an end. The father and son had been here long enough. The father turned his eyes away from the tombstone and said calmly:
"It's time. I'm going back now."

He turned around, like Commander Ikari standing on the podium as always. Shinji Ikari looked at his back, and for the first time felt that this man had indeed had a love story like a normal person. The man and woman walked hand in hand on the university campus, occasionally playing and joking, showing a sincere smile. Then they got married like normal people and had a child.

...Maybe children are superfluous.

The child was not mentioned in either story. The story he told was far away from the child, as if it was in another world.

But that was a story that happened in this world more than ten years ago.

A woman named Ikari Yui remained in the body of Unit-01 forever, and her husband, a man named Ikari Gendo, seemed to be planning something shady and wanted to involve everyone.

"Hey, Dad." For the last time, Ikari Shinji asked his back, "Will everything be over after defeating all the apostles?"

My father paused.

"..."

He did not leave any answer, and this time Ikari Gendou did not stop and walked onto the helicopter with the cabin wide open.

Like a mountain, there is no turning back.

(End of this chapter)