EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan

Chapter 170 168. Maybe my pericardium has a hard shell

Daily classes continue.

I don't know what NERV is thinking, but Kirishima Mana still shows no signs of being captured, and smiles every day. Ikari Shinji was originally worried that Kirishima Mana would come to talk to him and continue to spy on the information about the EVA machine, and whether he would reveal any flaws at that time, but she was chatting with the girls enthusiastically and didn't even glance at him. This is also good, he is not a good actor.

A week later.

Shinji Ikari rarely lives a peaceful life.

There is no sign of Ryoji Kaji at NERV recently, but Miss Mary can be seen occasionally. I heard that she will stay in the Japanese headquarters to work and is going through the job transfer process these days.

I guess I'll be transferred to the Ministry of Science and Technology and become a colleague of Ms. Ritsuko.

It’s just that when she was in Europe, she was the Minister of Science and Technology of the German branch. If she stayed in Japan, she might not have such a high position - Ritsuko Akagi is the current Minister of Science and Technology of the headquarters, and we can’t let her abdicate.

He had just finished his school classes that day.

The teacher announced the end of class at the podium, and when we were about to go to the headquarters for training, two friends, Suzuhara Fuji and Aida Kensuke, changed out of their school uniforms and put on other clothes, as if they were going on a long journey.

"Hey, where are you going in these clothes?"

Shinji Ikari looked at the colorful dresses worn by his two friends. They were so flashy as if they were going to attend some grand ceremony. There were Chinese characters like "Shin Kichijoji" and "Taiko" written on the lapels of their dresses. They seemed to be specially customized costumes for the event.

At this time.

Are there any other grand ceremonies to be held in Tokyo?

"There's going to be a festival at Shin-Kichijoji." Kensuke Aida pushed his glasses and waved the drumsticks in his hand, "We're going to practice playing the taiko drums there."

Kichijoji.

A famous temple attraction in old Tokyo, the temple led to a series of shopping destinations in Tokyo. As old Tokyo was abandoned, Shin-Kichijoji followed along with the Third New Tokyo City. When mentioning Kichijoji, the first impression is not the temple, but the large shopping malls nearby, just like when mentioning Las Vegas, everyone's first impression is the casino, not the tourist destination.

By the way, haven’t all the monks in the temple fled yet?
You really love your job and are dedicated to it - not in a derogatory sense.

If you ask where the remaining people in Tokyo usually go for shopping, Shin Kichijoji is definitely one of them. Ikari Shinji was slightly interested when he heard the word "festival", but after asking about the time of the festival, he immediately lost interest, "I have training at that time, so I can't go."

"It's such a shame."

Suzuhara Touji, the bad boy, showed a look of obvious disappointment, but he did not say anything like "It's okay to skip a day of training". After all, Shinji Ikari in front of him was a hero who protected this city, and he could not say such irresponsible words. But Kensuke Aida next to him seemed to have thought of something, smiled and said:

"Since we can't attend the festival, Shinji, would you like to attend the transfer student welcome party?"

"Now?" Ikari Shinji asked doubtfully, "Isn't it a bit too late?"

He has been transferred here for several months.

In the past few months, he has saved Tokyo countless times and stopped the apostles from destroying the world countless times. If everyone holds a superhero welcome party, there will be plenty of opportunities. It is a bit too late to delay it until now, but he can accept it. He can't refuse his fans... But Shinji Ikari immediately realized that he was overthinking.

"It's not for you, it's for Kirishima-san."

"Kirishima-san has transferred here a few weeks ago. We're going to hold a welcome party for her on Sunday. It shouldn't be during the pilots' training time, right?"

Ikari Shinji: ...

He had never enjoyed any welcome party for transfer students. Oh, the welcome party for discharge a few months ago didn't count. Although he didn't care about such things, holding a welcome party for Kirishima Mana...it always felt a little weird.

"I know what you're going to say, Shinji, but since you're a boy, it feels weird for us to hold a welcome party for you... And I can't talk to that young lady Soru. It's more pleasant to be around a polite and gentle young lady like Kirishima-san."

Over there, as Suzuhara Touji was talking, a silly smile appeared on his originally ferocious face.

Shinji Ikari rolled his eyes inwardly.

In the end, I was just attracted by Kirishima's charm. I didn't expect that this girl could get along well with most of the classmates. After having an extraordinary appearance, you only need to work a little bit to get along with most people. The reasons for being unpopular are all the same, and the popular people have their own reasons for being popular. What's more, Kirishima Mana came with a purpose.

"By the way, don't you like Miss Misato?" he asked.

"Alas, although Miss Misato is very nice, I haven't seen her for such a long time. I feel like she has forgotten about both of us."

"Yes, yes, you can't just hang yourself on a tree."

The two boys complained in unison.

Shinji Ikari was speechless for a moment, thinking to himself, Miss Misato, you can't do this. Even if you have a cat, you still need to pat its head. Oh no, she has a penguin, and that pet penguin named PENPEN seems to have no sense of existence most of the time. But the principle is always the same. If he has to choose between Miss Misato and Kirishima-san to cause trouble... to capture the heart of his classmates, then he would rather choose Miss Misato. Well, it seems that the two cannot be compared.

"So Shinji, are you coming? Most of the class is coming."

Suzuhara Touji asked.

"my words……"

Shinji Ikari couldn't help but guess the purpose of Kirishima's spy.

What kind of welcome party did they suddenly hold? Did they want to get something from these students? But what valuable things could they have? There was a lot to say. Most of these students were relatives of NERV's internal staff, and they knew some internal secrets. They couldn't really want to make friends, right?
If he didn't know Kirishima's real name, Ikari Shinji might have refused this welcome party. Wouldn't it be good to stay at home with Rei Ayanami on Sunday? But after knowing this, he couldn't help but worry about these classmates.

"Sunday? Then I'll go too."

Said Shinji Ikari.

Let's see what this spy is going to do. The intelligence department is too slow, isn't it? Is it playing the long game? Ikari Shinji couldn't help but think of all kinds of spy movies. He wondered what Kirishima Mana's code name was.

"By the way, Shinji, Fuuji." At this time, Kensuke Aida suddenly said, "I want to take a day off next week."

"That's rare, Kensuke, what are you going to do with your leave?"

"I'm going to Matsushiro. I heard that Unit 3 is coming over. There are also American warships and fighter jets to see. I want to go over and take a look."

"Uh, you know?" Shinji Ikari couldn't help but ask in a completely unexpected tone.

"Of course, Kensuke is most concerned about this news." Suzuhara Touji patted Kensuke Aida's shoulder, looking proud.

Shinji Ikari remembered.

Kensuke Aida, the boy who always wears a pair of glasses, is very interested in military affairs and is an avid military fan. He also likes to take pictures with a camera - compared to Mana Kirishima, he is more like a spy. If his family members were not in NERV, he would probably be targeted by the Intelligence Department.

"...Don't tell anyone." Ikari Shinji reminded.

Kensuke Aida immediately put his hands on his lips and made a zipper motion, indicating that he would keep it secret, and saluted politely, "Yes! Commander Shinji, I promise not to tell anyone!"

"Very good, Corporal Aida. As a reward, I will run around the drill ground a hundred times."

"Ah? One hundred laps? Someone will die. Why is the reward just running laps? I want to complain to my superior!" he shouted.

So Ikari Shinji immediately pretended to think for a while and said,

"... Then ten laps?"

"I won't run even one lap."

"Do you still consider me your superior?"

"Then today I will defeat the strong."

While they were playing, two girls, Asuka and Hikaru Tomoki, passed by. The German lady saw him and his two friends playing together and looked at them strangely, as if she was looking at a few bugs. Shinji Ikari hadn't seen her look like that for a long time. Suzuhara Touji and Aida Kensuke were stared at like that, like mice being stared at by a cat, and they didn't even dare to breathe. Fortunately, Asuka left without saying anything.

The squad leader, Mitsuru Tomaki, who was standing next to him, took another look and cast a reproachful look at him and Suzuhara Touji.

"Soru has been in a weird mood lately."

"After all, the German branch disappeared. I remember this young lady came from there, right? It's normal for people to be like this after their hometown is gone."

Shinji Ikari: ...You even know this.

"Hey, she looks like she wants to kill us. So what if we lose our hometown? We didn't provoke her."

Two friends were complaining.

Shinji Ikari watched her leaving.

This girl had praised his beautiful eyes. He was different from those people who feared the golden eyes and regarded them as the corruption of the apostles. However, he was not the kind of person who would be moved by a few words of praise. It was just that they were friends after all, and it was painful to think about the feeling of losing his hometown. Besides, he told Asuka this news personally. Miss Mary asked him to be the villain. It was really...

Asuka and Unit 2's synchronization rate has been a bit low lately.

Seeing that Miss Misato was also troubled, Shinji Ikari couldn't help but pay more attention to Asuka. But compared to Rei Ayanami, it was just a trivial point.

Perhaps my pericardium has a hard shell, and only a limited number of things can break through it.

he thought.

After Asuka and Hikaru Tomoki left, most of the people in the classroom had left, but Rei Ayanami was still waiting for him to finish chatting with his friends. It had been a while since class ended, and if they continued chatting like this, not only would he be late for his training, but his two friends would also be late for the drumming at Shin Kichijoji.

So the three of them soon parted ways.

"Remember to come on the weekend. It's at the only karaoke bar that's still open next to Kichijoji. We've also ordered desserts." Kensuke Aida reminded, "By the way, Shinji, remember to bring your share of the money. We have to pay our share."

"Well, I'll take Ayanami with me, and I'll pay her share as well."

Said Shinji Ikari.

Hearing what he said, Kensuke Aida and Suzuhara Touji looked at each other, then looked at him, and suddenly said in unison:

"... Or you should just not come at that time."

(End of this chapter)