EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan

Chapter 177 175. Unit 's Startup Experiment
"Before we part, I still want to say thank you to you, Ikari-san."

"You're welcome."

"I really envy you guys." said Kirishima Mana.

"There's nothing to envy. We all have our own difficulties. You just see our glitz and glamour on the surface."

“Is that so…” The girl smiled bitterly, “It seems like you have no fewer worries than I do. Anyway, I wish you all the best in the future.”

Looking at his "former" classmate being taken on the plane, Shinji Ikari recalled what had happened in the past week.

Time flies.

Just another week passed.

Before leaving, Kirishima Mana proposed to the Intelligence Department that she wanted to meet him. After all, her situation was special, so the Intelligence Department still reported it. Ikari Shinji wanted to refuse, but thinking that this might be the last time they would see each other, he still came to the appointment.

Do not misunderstand.

Kirishima Mana is not going to die.

After the military dealt with the robot, they completely withdrew from Tokyo. As for the spy who escaped capture, it seemed that they had forgotten about him. According to Miss Misato, they didn't seem to want to negotiate with the headquarters to get the spy back. For a while, how to deal with Kirishima Mana became a problem for the headquarters.

If the headquarters follows its usual practice, Kirishima Mana's fate will definitely not be good.

Misato Katsuragi finally came up with a solution.

The intelligence department of the headquarters will send her to another city in Japan and arrange a fake identity for her. She will probably spend the rest of her life in that city. Or maybe after this wave of hype has passed and many years have passed, she may have a chance to return to Tokyo.

It was the best possible outcome for a spy.

The school's public statement was that Kirishima Mana had transferred to another school.

This made some classmates who had a good relationship with her feel very uncomfortable. After all, the welcome party had just ended not long ago, and they thought that they would get along with such an approachable beautiful girl for a long time, and the school would finally not be ruled by the devil lady Asuka. But she transferred to another school after just a few days. Was it because the welcome party was not good enough for Kirishima-san?
"Shinji, please help us find out about Miss Misato."

"Ms. Misato is still the best."

These are the two friends who have returned from prodigal sonhood.

Shinji Ikari patted their shoulders pitifully, and asked, "Miss Misato, you might not even remember that there are two fans here." Then he looked earnest.

"Hey Shinji, what does that expression mean?"

"Why are you looking at us like that?"

In short.

This matter came to an end.

Shinji Ikari knew that it would be difficult for him to see this classmate again. There should be no organization that would repeat the same mistake and arrange for a new transfer student to come. That would be too stupid. If there is a transfer student next time, it must be a spy!

And this Sunday.

That is the start-up test date of Unit 3.

Shinji Ikari thought about the control system of Unit 03 again. He was a little uneasy about who was inside. Could it be a relative of either him or Asuka? So he couldn't help but ask Miss Ritsuko this week.

"From Unit 3?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"I don't know who's in it either. After all, it was developed in the United States, and the information there has always been kept secret from us." Akagi Ritsuko shook her head, took a sip of coffee, and glanced in the direction of the command room. "Perhaps the commander knows who controls the system inside."

"Is there any danger?"

"It's hard to say." Her eyes seemed to be smiling. "Why? You want to replace the experimenter midway? Asuka won't thank you. Besides, if that happens, many of the experimental plans that have been formulated will have to be changed. The staff who are in charge will complain bitterly. Even Commander Ikari might ask about it."

After all, it was just Shinji Ikari's guess, so the matter had to be put aside for the time being.

high altitude.

A helicopter from headquarters was heading to the experimental site in Matsushiro, leaving a clear trail in the sky.

The airflow outside was quite strong, but I didn't feel it much inside.

Three pilots were crowded in this special plane.

Misato Katsuragi also thoughtfully prepared a brochure of attractions near Matsushiro. Shinji Ikari carefully browsed the promotional pictures of these attractions. After all, it was just a small city, and there were actually no good attractions, but there were some places worth visiting. Rei Ayanami was reading a biology book. Asuka on the side kept shaking her feet. Not only did she not read the book, she also stared at the two of them like a squirrel.

…If I had known, I wouldn’t have taken the same plane.

Asuka felt a little unhappy when she thought of this. Why did her own experiment create a date opportunity for the top student and Shinji? Could it be that these two guys came here on vacation to date under the pretext of caring about her? That kind of thing was not allowed!

But I'm still unhappy.

Asuka wouldn't lose her temper at the two of them.

Wouldn't that make her look guilty? Besides, she had to prepare for the start-up experiment of Unit 3 with all her heart. Recently, her synchronization rate with Unit 2 was getting lower and lower. This was the first time Asuka had received such low data since she received Unit 2-related training in Europe. Unit 2 was her last... well, last retreat.

Asuka would never believe in such weak words as saying that she could be happy without driving Unit 2. If she could successfully synchronize with Unit 3, she would have another choice besides Unit 2.

The three of them didn't say much in the helicopter.

As the plane's landing door opened, Shinji Ikari looked up and saw the sky towards Matsushiro.

It's a sunny day today.

It's a good sign.

From a distance, the city of Matsushiro has very few buildings, but the greenery is well done. This is what Shinji Ikari originally thought, but when he actually arrived in Matsushiro, he found that the greenery in this city is so good because most of its areas are abandoned, and there are overgrown weeds everywhere.

Misato Katsuragi came over wearing a minister's uniform.

Although she was wearing formal clothes, her whole body revealed a sense of relaxation. She even stretched lazily, and then asked Ikari Shinji: "Shinji, have you finished reading the tourist attraction brochure on the way? Let's go shopping together after the experiment is over."

Asuka rolled her eyes.

She wanted to say to Misato, "You should at least respect the experiment. This is not a real trip for you." But then she immediately thought, "What's there to worry about with just a small experiment? Besides, if everyone went out together, they could also ruin Shinji's private date with the top student. Why not do it?"

"I think these places are worth a visit," said Shinji Ikari.

"Oh? Let me take a look."

Several people were walking and chatting.

The staff at Matsushiro were still busy, and after noticing the driver's arrival, not many people turned their eyes.

Asuka quickly separated from everyone else. She was the only protagonist of today's experiment and had to change into her combat uniform first. When she came out of the locker room after changing into her combat uniform, Ikari Shinji and his group had wandered off to who knows where in the experimental field.

This is a completely unfamiliar place in Matsushiro, and it is very difficult to find someone.

But it doesn’t matter.

Asuka was not the kind of child who needed encouragement from others to keep going. She walked nimbly to the hangar's air corridor, where staff were busy. When they saw her and knew she was the pilot for today, no one said anything.

From here you can clearly see the entirety of Unit 3 below.

First up is the black paint job.

She noticed the paint job the first time she looked at it. After all, it was mass-produced, and from the outside it looked no different from Unit 2, except for the paint job on the outside. At first glance, Asuka thought her Unit 2 had changed its color and was shipped to Matsushiro.

If the experiment is successful, change it to red.

Asuka thought.

She had thought about the possibility of failure. In the previous body swap experiment that had an accident, she had synchronized with Unit-01, but the synchronization rate was too low. If it failed, there was nothing she could do. Asuka was surprised for a moment that she would have the idea of ​​failure. In the past, she was so arrogant that she kept strangers away, but she had never thought about this.

But if it succeeds, there will be two EVA machines of the same color.

Would it be hard to tell them apart? Asuka was a little confused. Should she dye Unit 03 a darker color? Dark red?

As for the original Unit 2, Asuka still felt reluctant to part with it.

Synchronization rate...

Asuka has been surrounded by this term for the past few years. She has heard it so many times that her ears are almost covered with calluses. But until now, she still doesn't quite understand what it means. She thought that as long as she performed well in training and combat, Unit 2 has become less and less obedient recently.

Synchronization rate.

what exactly is it?
Even if Asuka asked the researchers, she would only get some vague explanations of terms. How did these people develop the EVA machine when they didn't even understand how the things they created worked?
Really.

She complained in her heart again, the robot should just obey orders, why did it run wild, why did it lose control. Shinji also said that Unit 2 would protect me, but after being trapped in the world of the Twelfth Angel for so long, Unit 2 did not bounce once. In the end, it was Shinji who came to save me.

...It turned out to be fake.

Asuka thought with a bit of annoyance. She sat on the skywalk, stretched her legs, and looked down at the black giant being moved around by busy ants. Looking down from this height, it seemed that nothing mattered. The sound of the mechanical drive quietly blended into the silence of the noisy crowd.

The flow of time became slow, and the huge wall clock on the clock tower in the distance was dragging its feet forward with a dull look.

——It’s time.

She stood up silently, still wearing her iconic fiery red combat uniform.

Somehow, Asuka subconsciously grabbed her wrist with force, and the force was so excessive that the white skin in the combat uniform must have turned red. She felt a little pain on the back of her hand and finally let out a breath.

Unit 3.

Start the experiment and get started.

(End of this chapter)