EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan

Chapter 173 171. New Apostle? No, It's a Robot!
"This... won't work."

Kirishima Mana muttered.

When they were young, the children thought that the world was only as big as their imaginations. With such a powerful robot, becoming a king in a fairy tale book would not be a problem. They could even go south to find an island and establish a country - the three of them had imagined such a future in the past.

But when you grow up a little, you will realize that robots are not omnipotent.

Fuel, logistics... these were not things that the two young soldiers could handle. There was no robot in the world that could function forever without fuel - even the EVA body, according to the limited information she had obtained, needed power.

Drive away the robot and defect.

It sounds like a simple thing, but if you defect, then what?

Kirishima Mana knew that this was a naive and stupid idea, but Musashi in front of him didn't seem to think so. He said excitedly: "Let's defect and drive the robot to the south to find a small island... Just like we agreed when we were kids, Mana, you will be Queen Elizabeth, I will be the president, Keita... he will be the vice president... Let's create a new country like this."

When he said Keita's name, he sobbed.

"I told you, this won't work!"

She suddenly shouted loudly.

Those were just beautiful fantasies of childhood. Even those "classmates" living in ivory towers knew that such outrageous wishes could not be realized. When she grew up, she had to face the cruelty of reality. Kirishima Mana's heart suddenly became angry. Of course, she wanted to use robots to punish all the injustices, but her reason told her that such a stupid approach would not be able to avenge the murderers at all.

…Two customers seemed to be arguing.

The bored employees of the snack shop acted as qualified spectators, looking in this direction with curiosity. So the two of them lowered their voices involuntarily, and Musashi asked with some disappointment:

"why not?"

"What about fuel and logistics? We can't solve these problems at all," she asked.

"Then is there any good solution? I can't stand it anymore..." Only then did Kirishima Mana notice the tears in his companion's eyes. It seemed that he himself knew that this idea was unreliable and he just wanted to vent his emotions by defecting.

"...Anyway, no means no."

Of course, she couldn't think of any good solution. This was not something that two people of this age could solve. But Kirishima Mana knew that they had to stay alive first. Defection would only lead to death. She didn't want her companion to face such a desperate future.

In other words.

Musashi had to go back and continue his six years of hellish training.

"Ok."

Musashi said with difficulty.

He seemed to be reluctant to agree with her opinion. Kirishima Mana breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that this was not easy. When they were young, Musashi was always the leader among the three of them, like a child king, and she and Keita usually listened to his opinions. But this time it was a matter of life and death, and it would be best if Musashi could listen to her advice.

"Are those murderers the same people who often secretly bully Keita?"

"Ah."

Kirishima Mana held back her tears and wrote down the names of those people.

There is hope as long as you stay alive. I must avenge Keita sooner or later, but not when I am so weak.

Both of them were very sad about the death of their companion and had no desire to reminisce. Besides, the vacation time was very short and Musashi had to go back soon after arriving.

After exchanging some daily trivialities, the two said goodbye.

"Musashi, hold on a little longer."

Before leaving, she still felt a little worried.

After her companion Musashi nodded to her, indicating that he understood, Kirishima Mana finally felt relieved. She had to quickly improve her position in the intelligence department, so that she would have a chance to transfer Musashi from training to another department. She had to go to Matsushiro next week. What secrets did the EVA machine hide? Especially the AT force field that was put first in intelligence. She had to understand what it was.

We need to get enough information from Shinji Ikari, the pilot of Unit-01.

Now is not the time to be shy.

A third party is a third party! I'm sorry, Ayanami-san!
Kirishima Mana thought.

She lay on her bed in her makeshift apartment, looking at the white ceiling.

The night was getting darker, but Kirishima Mana still couldn't sleep because of Keita's death. It might take a long time for her to get over the grief. Just when she was about to fall asleep, she heard the sound of a fighter jet whizzing past. The decibel was not high, but it disturbed her sleep.

After she was woken up, the sleepiness she felt immediately disappeared. She probably wouldn't have a good sleep tonight.

"Another apostle?"

But there was no earthquake tonight.

Kirishima Mana got up and looked at the scenery outside the window. This time, it should be Ikari-san's Unit 01. Thinking about it carefully, it was really inexplicably ironic. Ikari-san was obviously a hero who protected the city, but she had to obtain information from him and send it back to the military to transform the robot.

Just thinking about this made her feel suffocated.

But there was no other way. What was the point of being jealous of those pilots? Identity and position determined everything... Kirishima Mana looked at the fighter plane going away, returned to the bed, and tried to wake up from the sleepiness. At this moment, the phone in the room suddenly rang.

Is there a new mission from above?

Kirishima Mana answered the phone curiously, and after listening to the call, her cheeks turned pale.

Musashi him.

——Or he defected.

The second day of the welcome party.

It was Monday when Shinji Ikari, who was sleeping soundly, was woken up by a phone call from the headquarters. He couldn't help but feel disgusted with the coming of the angels. You know, it had been less than two weeks since the last attack of the twelfth angel. Was it the next angel's turn so soon?
At least give me more rest time!

At least like dealing with a mysterious man without a nose, after defeating a Horcrux... an apostle, he can relax for a whole year. When he and Rei Ayanami arrived at the headquarters, the people in the command room were staring at a photo on the screen.

"Is it an apostle?"

Misato Katsuragi asked the staff who were detecting energy reactions.

Photos taken by our headquarters' helicopter show that in a remote area of ​​New Tokyo City, at a place called Lake Ashi, a giant robot several dozen meters tall is running along the lake and heading towards the center of the lake.

After seeing the helicopter from headquarters circling in the distance, it took a special look over here.

People in the command room looked at each other.

Is this the apostle?

It doesn't look like it no matter how you look at it.

This huge robot is a completely mechanical structure, not a "fake" replica of an Angel like the EVA body. It looks like a robot from a third-rate science fiction movie. No matter how you look at it, it is a product made by humans themselves. Can it be considered an enemy?
But it appeared around Tokyo without any notification or warning, so the headquarters had to deal with it.

However, Shinji Ikari, who was watching the show nearby, thought that this robot was just right.

Look at our Unit-01. This kind of organism is not even worthy of the proper noun "machine". It is simply covered with a layer of armor to scare people. But now is not the time to think about these things. He has already prepared to attack. As long as it is not an apostle, the EVA machine with AT force field is invincible against such things.

"No high-energy reaction from the apostles was detected. The target should not be the apostles. There is no sign of attacking the city. It is not clear if we are the enemy or not at the moment."

"Another out-of-control JR robot?"

Katsuragi Misato said with a headache,
"Then let's let Unit-01 take off first."

The last time the JR robots were dealt with was with Unit-01. Katsuragi Misato wanted Unit-01 to attack again out of path dependence. Besides, Asuka looked uninterested after hearing that it was not an apostle. But at this moment, someone interrupted her order——

"retreat."

"Yes!"

The staff immediately canceled the attack order of Unit-01, and the conveyor tracks that were about to start stopped.

"what?"

Misato Katsuragi was stunned for a moment. Someone in the command room actually issued an order that was completely opposite to hers. This was a challenge to her authority as the director of the Operations Department. But when she saw who was giving the order, she understood why her subordinates were so obedient. Because that person was her immediate superior, Commander Ikari.

Although he rarely takes charge of things, the commander is the commander.

"I said let Unit-01 retreat and let the military handle this matter themselves."

Ikari Gendō repeated it again.

military……

Based on the little information leaked by Commander Ikari, Katsuragi Misato guessed the whole story. It seemed that the military had caused trouble again. However, since the military was left to handle it, there was no need for the three pilots to be on standby. She looked at the pilots.

"Shinji, Rei, Asuka, please go back to class."

"It's a waste of time." Asuka complained.

Despite all the complaints, the three drivers finally went to school. The headquarters sent a car to take them to school. Asuka sat in the front passenger seat, and he and Rei Ayanami sat in the back. On the way, he saw Asuka took a nap and looked very sleepy. The headquarters car arrived on time for the first class... Shinji Ikari felt that sometimes it was not necessary to be so punctual, since he was studying on his own in class anyway.

But there is one student missing in class today.

After the first class, Ikari Shinji heard the girls discussing:

"Hey, why isn't Kirishima-san in his seat?"

"I heard from the teacher that he asked for leave."

"are you sick?"

(End of this chapter)