EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan

Chapter 158 156. The Twelfth Apostle Attacks!

The vein on Asuka's forehead popped out.

Could this guy be here to deliberately provoke her? She knew that there were often people who would casually pick on other people's scars and then say that they were careless. The villains in third-rate TV series often acted like this. At this time, the heroine usually perfunctorily dealt with it with a calm appearance, but Asuka didn't want to deal with it anymore. This was not a TV series, and she was not someone's heroine. There was no need to wrong herself like this.

She put down the shopping cart, folded her arms and said coldly:

"Hey, are you a spy? Are you here to gather information about EVA?"

“…Soryu-kun… that’s too much!”

Hearing her words, Kirishima's eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of mist.

That lively and lovely face also dimmed, and any polite gentleman who saw this pitiful look would feel sorry for what he had just said.

But Asuka has a heart of stone.

She looked at Kirishima Mana's aggrieved look and not only did she not intend to apologize, on the contrary, she even wanted to laugh.

That's right, even if the girl in front of her died right in front of her, she would remain indifferent. She, Soryu Asuka Langley, thought she was such a cold-blooded woman. Asuka had witnessed someone else's death once in the past, and since then, she would only let down her guard a little with people she approved of.

But could this transfer student be one of them?
——She is not.

"I'll just say it straight."

Asuka spoke frankly:
"It's impossible for you to get information about EVA from me. Not only that, I have to report this matter. Instead of trying to find a solution from me, you might as well continue to pester Shinji... No, I suggest that you better flee this city right now."

At this point, she vaguely realized why this transfer student came to her.

Did he run into a wall with Shinji?

——Then am I a woman who is easy to talk to? Asuka would never admit such a thing. Her eyes became more and more hostile. Kirishima Mana's tears were already flowing. The beautiful girl's crying was lovable, but it was useless. This scene looked like a bad girl in the school bullying a good student. Some decent character should rush out to protect the weak girl - but Asuka was that bad girl.

"Do you think you can please me by saying that Shinji likes me?" Asuka continued with a cold face: "It's impossible. Even if he came to say this in person, I wouldn't feel happy at all. Such low-level tricks are completely useless to me."

“…I’m sorry.” Kirishima Mana bowed and apologized with sobs, “Soryu-kun, I misunderstood. I didn’t mean it that way at all.”

After she said this, she didn't give Asuka any chance to continue speaking and ran away as if she couldn't bear it anymore.

Watching Kirishima's receding figure.

Asuka felt that her conscience had no pain at all. She even had the leisure to put the ice cream that had melted a little due to the time wasted chatting back to the shopping cart, and then picked out several more ice creams to replenish it. Then she paid the bill and prepared to go back to the apartment with the shopping bags.

Before leaving, she glanced again at the direction where Kirishima Mana left.

"I'll ask Misato about the new transfer student later."

Asuka thought.

With this thought in mind, when she returned to the apartment, she found that the lights in the apartment were on.

Apparently Misato Katsuragi is back.

"Ah, Asuka, out to get ice cream again."

"Miri? Weren't you going to attend a classmate's wedding? Why are you back now?"

"Don't mention it," Katsuragi Misato stretched, and it seemed as if she could hear the crackling of bones, "There was an explosion in the suburbs, and I came back to work overtime again."

"Is it an apostle?"

Asuka's eyes lit up.

"Of course—" Katsuragi Misato met her expectant gaze, smiled slightly, and then said disappointingly: "No."

Watching Asuka's expectation turn into disappointment, Katsuragi Misato, who had just transferred the pain of her overtime work, snorted softly. She thought to herself that she had been working so hard in the past few hours, analyzing various data, and was worried for so long, fearing that an apostle would come, and was even about to face a crisis that would destroy the whole world. She wished she could spend every minute of her time in half.

As a result, not long after I returned to the apartment, thinking that I would not have to face the apostles, a guy who was watching the fun and eating ice cream asked me if an apostle had come.
——Who understands!

"But we can't completely relax." Katsuragi Misato helped Asuka put the ice cream into the refrigerator and took a can of beer from the upper shelf. "I heard that it was a trick by the military. I'm afraid it's another JR robot."

"JR...what is that?"

"Have you forgotten? It was the meeting in old Tokyo City. The original intention was to release an unmanned robot that could fight against the apostles, but it went out of control, and in the end it was Unit-01 that solved it." Misato Katsuragi took a sip of beer and hummed comfortably.

“I didn’t attend that time…”

Asuka said unhappily.

I didn't participate, so I didn't know anything about it.

But after the meeting, Shinji gave her flowers. Even after several months, she still had a deep memory of the fiery red irises. Thinking of this, Asuka had some impression of that time.

Out of control again...

Asuka suppressed this thought. A machine should act like a machine, obeying the orders of its master. Why would it always lose control?

"By the way, Misato, I have a question for you. Did you know that there's a new transfer student in our school?"

"Oh?"

Misato Katsuragi suddenly perked up.

She should have just laid down on the sofa after drinking the beer, but looking at her current energy, it seems like she wouldn't care even if she had ten more cans of beer. I really don't know what she is focusing on.

"Boy or girl?"

"Girls." Asuka paused and asked, "So you don't know?"

"I'm very busy," Katsuragi Misato rubbed her face vigorously to relax her muscles, "and things like a new transfer student won't be reported to me."

"Don't you find this suspicious, Misato?"

"Uh...what's the suspicious point?"

"Isn't it suspicious to transfer to this school at this time?"

"…You're right." Katsuragi Misato hesitated. "Besides, she came to Shinji to ask about EVA." Asuka continued.

Katsuragi Misato stood up suddenly.
"I'll check her information right away."

Seeing her nervous expression, Asuka didn't know whether she should be jealous of Shinji. The adults all cared about Shinji, and Misato would definitely pay attention to this matter. The result would surely come out soon. If this new transfer student was really a spy, he would probably be so scared that he would flee the city, right?
Asuka ate ice cream and looked at the scenery outside the window.

at the same time.

There were also people looking at the scenery outside the window like her.

Mana Kirishima inserted the key into the keyhole and returned to her home.

The door was pushed open gently, so gently that it seemed as if what was pushed open was not a door, but some hazy gauze curtain.

She put her things down and looked out the window.

Opposite the door was a surprisingly spacious balcony with small windows that could be opened and closed. She moved closer. It was already dark outside the window. Street lamps were lit one by one, inconspicuously, providing light for pedestrians. However, no pedestrians passed by in the lit areas because there was no one living there.

This was originally a high-end apartment, but during the crisis of the Apostles, the rent was surprisingly cheap, almost like giving it away for free. The furniture here was all left by the original owner, a bed in the corner, a small refrigerator on the right hand side of the entrance, and an air conditioner hanging on the wall. She kept it after cleaning it up, but bought an extra washing machine. That was all the furniture.

…not even a TV.

This is her home now.

She originally wanted to buy some cute little decorations for girls, but when she thought that this was just a temporary place to live and she would have to go back later, she gave up the idea. After all, it would be troublesome to clean up when the time comes, so it would be better not to buy anything in the first place.

She lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling in a daze, and suddenly said to herself:

"There's been absolutely no progress."

That's right.

Just as Asuka thought, Kirishima Mana is indeed a spy.

But she was not a professional spy, so it was so easy to be exposed. After all, she was just a young soldier before this, and she had only been in the army for a year or two. She had never received any spy courses, so it was reasonable for her to be in this situation now. But Kirishima Mana could not accept such a failure.

Insufficient information!

She thought she had figured out the relationship between the pilots, for example, Ikari Shinji and Ayanami Rei were a couple, and Asuka was probably a loser who had a crush on the pilot of Unit-01 but didn't dare to confess. At this time, as long as Asuka's secret crush was revealed, the two of them would surely become friends with a common secret, and then they would share a common hatred for Ayanami Rei, and their relationship would advance rapidly under the same enemy.

Isn't this a perfect plan?

What exactly did she do wrong?

Judging from Asuka's expression, it seems like she has already confessed her feelings...

No.

——The relationship between you drivers is really too complicated.

Kirishima Mana thought distressedly.

But she had no better idea. Her original plan was to become good friends with Unit-01 pilot Ikari Shinji, and then get information from him, but she got stuck at the first step. How could he become good friends with other girls when he already had a girlfriend?

I tried to find a solution from the pilot of Unit 2, but I hit a wall today as well.

His identity as a spy was also guessed.

If I had known this would happen, I would have gone back and continued driving the robot.

That's right.

When she was a young soldier, her main task was to drive robots developed by the military.

The military has many plans for weapons to fight against the Angels. Both unmanned and manned. After the unmanned JR robot went out of control last time, the military overturned the unmanned plan and fully supported the use of pilots. Not only that, they also followed NERV's approach and selected young soldiers of the same age. The only pity is that they still haven't figured out what the AT position is.

Otherwise compared to young soldiers.

Adult drivers are definitely preferred.

But since NERV chose teenage boys and girls, they must have their reasons, so just copy them and that's it.

Finished washing.

Kirishima Mana was lying on her bed, thinking about her plans for school tomorrow, and fell asleep in a daze.

Only this time the sleep was not so restful.

She woke up in the earthquake.

It was still early in the morning, and the sky was still dim. The temperature in the room became quite suitable due to the air conditioning that had been on all night. She was planning to take a nap, but she felt a slight earthquake.

"This country is really experiencing earthquakes all the time."

Kirishima Mana sighed inwardly.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, and she didn't take it seriously at first, but the shaking became stronger and stronger, and even the cup on the table was shaken to the ground - she had to run away, and a nap was not as important as her life. She ran out of the apartment as if she was escaping for her life, and then she realized that there was something wrong with the shaking.

Looking into the distance, Kirishima Mana vaguely saw a dark shadow in the sky covering the area.

“…What is that?”

There is a black and white striped sphere about six or seven hundred meters in size, floating in the sky above Tokyo City.

No one knew exactly when it appeared, but when it appeared, anyone who was still awake immediately noticed its existence. The darkness on it seemed to absorb all the light, like an infinite hell appearing in the world, but at this moment, the target of this hell was the underground city of Tokyo.

Could this be the legendary apostle?

Kirishima Mana had some vague guesses in her mind.

Before this, she had never seen what the apostles looked like. She only knew some information about them from the data. She had had rehearsals in the past, which were nothing more than the two sides going back and forth, you fired a particle cannon and I fired a particle cannon, and if that didn't work, there would be close combat, using weapons over ten meters long to fight to the death.

But what is the current situation of this apostle?
It had neither hands nor feet, only the deep darkness covering everything. Even if a particle cannon was fired into it, there would be no sound. Close combat? That would be even more ridiculous. No smart person would have such a stupid idea.

How can our robots defeat such opponents?
(End of this chapter)