EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan

Chapter 175 173. The Female Spy and the Story That Must Be Told

There was an intense, inextricable melancholy between her brows.

Not only that, Kirishima Mana's cheeks were covered with a little sweat, as if she had just come from somewhere. Ikari Shinji and Ayanami Rei looked at each other, not knowing what her purpose was. God knows he was just going to buy a TV and live a world of two, but he was blocked by his classmates on the way.

He asked:
"Kirishima-san, are you in any trouble?"

"Some bad guys have been chasing me since this morning. I've been running away for a long time. Ikari-san, is there a safer place you can take me to?"

There was anticipation in Kirishima Mana's eyes.

Are people from headquarters chasing her?

Falling into his hands, is this considered walking into a trap? If you don't take the road to heaven, you will throw yourself into hell, girl. Ikari Shinji originally thought so, but when he was in the headquarters today, he didn't receive any news about this. The intelligence department would not say much to the pilots when they arrested people.

But with the two ministers, Katsuragi Misato and Akagi Ritsuko, around, he should have received some information to a certain extent.

A safer place...

That's probably only the headquarters located in the underground city.

As the pilot of Unit-01, many places in the headquarters are completely open to him, and it is not a problem to bring anyone in. It's not that the security of the headquarters is poor, but that he is very important. In addition to his identity as a pilot, he is also the commander's son. What's more, he has not done anything in the past few months. He is a "good student who is loved by everyone."

Anyone who wants to make progress will smile when they see him.

But Shinji Ikari would not bring Kirishima Mana in without knowing why. And who else could be chasing her besides the headquarters? Could it be the military?

"Are the military chasing you?"

"…Well, how did Ikari-san know that?" Kirishima Mana hesitated before admitting it. She was a little confused as to why Ikari Shinji knew who was chasing her.

Ikari Shinji did not answer.

He carefully observed Kirishima Mana's outfit. The girl was wearing casual clothes that were easy to exercise in. The capable feeling broke the gentle temperament brought by the school uniform. The pockets of her top and pants were emptied, obviously she didn't hide any weapons. She also wore a baseball cap on her head to cover her hairstyle. Seeing that she didn't have a place to take out a gun, Shinji Ikari felt relieved. As for suddenly taking out a gun from a mysterious place, such an unscientific thing would not happen in reality.

As for cold weapons, even if Ikari Shinji slacked off for a while, she would not be able to beat him with one hand. After confirming that there was no danger, he chose to show his cards:
"Kirishima-san, I already know your identity as a spy."

……I see.

Kirishima Mana thought bitterly that the doubts buried in her heart were answered. No wonder Ikari Shinji knew at once that he was being hunted by the military. The pilots' attitude towards her in recent times was also explained. Her hypocritical performances might seem like a clown jumping up and down in their eyes.

"……sorry."

She said it subconsciously for some reason.

As soon as Kirishima Mana said this, she laughed at herself in her heart. Sorry... What nonsense was I saying? How could I expect forgiveness? It turned out that I had too many leisurely days recently, which made my brain abnormal. Any rational person would not forgive such spy behavior, and the same was true for Ikari Shinji in front of him. He just looked at me with a calm look.

The only person who could possibly help me has learned my true identity. I am almost out of hiding in this city. I will be captured soon, Kirishima Mana thought, and then asked:
"Are you going to take me away too?"

She couldn't help crying when she asked this question.

She didn't cry because of Shinji Ikari's revelation, but because she couldn't find the way forward, which was already dark. Any adolescent boy in the world would feel sorry for the pitiful scene of a beautiful girl. At this time, he should say "leave it to me" and then perform the classic hero saving the beauty. Even if the one standing in front of him is the Dragon King who once ruled the world, he should show a firm look and cut it in half with a knife. But Shinji Ikari was cold-blooded like an emotionless machine.

He made the same expression that Rei Ayanami had in the past.

Well, expressionless.

"That's the job of the Intelligence Department." Ikari Shinji shook his head, "I won't do anything unnecessary."

He would not be the kind of person who would stand by and watch his companions or strangers die, but the girl in front of him was undoubtedly an enemy. Although her smile when she was communicating with her classmates in the past seemed to be somewhat sincere, Shinji Ikari knew that his kindness should never be put here.

"This is the first good news I've encountered today."

Kirishima Mana, with tears in her eyes, forced a smile at him. Ikari Shinji wanted to continue with his original plan to buy a TV, but seeing the girl just standing there without moving, he couldn't help but stop.

"Aren't you going to keep running?" he asked.

"Without NERV's help, there's no way to escape. The military in this city only fears the existence of NERV."

"How long will it take?"

“They will find me in half an hour at most.” Kirishima Mana lowered her head.

"half an hour……"

Ikari Shinji looked thoughtful.
"Would you mind taking a few minutes to explain the whole story?"

"Ikari-san?"

"I'm not trying to help you. You can probably tell from my attitude. I just want to know what's going on. To be honest, I want to learn a little bit about other forces."

"Well...okay, do you mind buying me a snack?"

"Of course I don't mind." Ikari Shinji apologized to Rei Ayanami who had been listening for a long time, "Sorry, Ayanami, I may be able to go back a little later." Rei Ayanami naturally shook her head without minding, and followed him closely.

"You two have such a good relationship."

"uh-huh."

His humming meant that there was no need to say more.

This place was close to Shin Kichijoji, where Shinji Ikari wanted to buy a TV. The three of them quickly found a dim sum shop that was still open on the roadside. The taste of the dim sum was only mediocre, far inferior to the dim sum that the girls had specially purchased for the welcome party.

But Kirishima Mana seemed to be enjoying the meal.

Next, Kirishima Mana told him everything in detail.

A few minutes later.

"In other words, your companion couldn't stand the harsh training and the death of another companion, so he drove away the robot developed by the military and defected. Now he is hiding in Lake Ashi. The military wants to capture you and use you as a hostage to force your companion to surrender?"

Ikari Shinji concluded.

"Yeah." Kirishima Mana nodded, "So, I must not be caught by them."

No... Is this the military's only solution?
Shinji Ikari was too tired to complain. He thought there was a deeper reason, such as Kirishima Mana was not doing a good job and just slacking off in New Tokyo, not doing any real work, and his boss couldn't stand it anymore so he arrested him, but he didn't expect it was because of the robot. He felt that this solution was full of absurdity, but he had to say that this hostage threat method was really effective, although it didn't sound like a formal organization.

The only thing to consider.

The driver of the robot was wondering if he would take this kind of threat. At first he thought the robot was unmanned, but he didn't expect there was actually a driver inside.

"If you defect, what will be the consequences if your companion is caught?" asked Shinji Ikari.

"…It should be… direct execution."

Kirishima Mana's tone trembled slightly.

Shinji Ikari was also somewhat infected by her emotions. He couldn't help but imagine that if he drove Unit-01 and rebelled against the headquarters, and then smashed the headquarters, and then asked Gendo Ikari to confront him, wouldn't he be executed directly? Well, what about the Human Completion Plan? He still needs to think about it carefully. He is not a coward, but he has his family around.

"—he is committing suicide."

Ayanami Rei suddenly said something.

This was an extremely rare thing. She seldom spoke, unless the topic was about her, or Ikari Shinji was playing a trick on her. Otherwise, most of the time, she was a quiet listener in the conversations between Ikari Shinji and others. When Ikari Shinji heard her words, he started to think. Indeed, defecting without any preparation like this was a revenge suicide. If he defected, he would at least... cough cough, why did he think of this?

"It's impossible. He won't commit suicide... We agreed on this when we were kids..."

However, Kirishima Mana immediately rejected her words.

This girl, who has no place to stay in this city, spoke with such determination, so much so that if the things she insisted on disappeared, her belief would probably collapse in an instant. But the girl's expression was obviously not as determined as her tone, and soon she seemed to doubt her life.
"Could it be... Musashi really..."

As the three of them talked, more than ten minutes passed in a flash.

Shinji Ikari glanced at the clock hanging on the wall of the pastry shop. In ten minutes or so, he might run into someone from the military. Although he was the pilot of Unit-01 and Ayanami was the pilot of Unit-00, the military certainly wouldn't dare to do anything to the two of them, but it was best not to take the danger lightly.

time to go.

Kirishima Mana was still sitting on the chair in a daze, not even eating his snacks. If the classmates who didn't know the truth saw him, they might think he was bullying a girl.

Ikari Shinji paused, and suddenly said coldly:

"You're going to be caught anyway, so I have another way to go."

"…Ikari-san?"

Kirishima Mana looked over.

Her bright eyes seemed to light up again, and Shinji Ikari had to personally break her remaining illusions.
"I can help you contact the head of the headquarters' operations department and have them arrest you first, and then negotiate with the military. At least there is still some room for maneuver in using you as a hostage to threaten the pilot. Maybe without you as a hostage, your companion would have escaped. But you'd better not hold out any hope. But there is no better choice than this, right?"

"Thank you."

Despite this, Kirishima Mana still showed a sincere smile, which was so similar to the smile she showed when she was communicating with her friends at the welcome party.

"Ikari-san, you are so gentle."

she said so.

Shinji Ikari called Misato Katsuragi.

While he was on the phone, he was thinking, Hey, originally I just wanted to buy a TV.

(End of this chapter)