EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan

Chapter 185 183. Asuka and Unit 's Synchronicity

...Christmas.

Shinji Ikari thought of the story of Santa Claus and reindeer. When Asuka first came to Tokyo, he once served as Santa Claus to distribute gifts. She suddenly mentioned this holiday. Was there any hint? For example, he had to give her a gift on that day?
He also wants to make a wish.

God, please give me a beautiful girl named Ayanami Rei wearing a reindeer costume on that day.

But that was just what he thought.

After Asuka finished saying this, she stared at the ceiling without blinking. The topic of EVA machines mentioned earlier made her exude an inexplicable emotion. Although it was faint, it was a bit depressing. Ikari Shinji couldn't explain what this feeling was. At this time, the blazing sunlight outside poured in from the other side of the mountain, reflecting a large bright red shadow on a billboard in front of the hospital.

"…Asuka, don't you believe in Unit 2?"

he asks.

Stupid Shinji, what nonsense are you talking about? Of course I believe it. Ikari Shinji thought she would respond like this, but the German lady who always showed a proud attitude did not respond like this. She just said "hmm" very quietly, neither denying nor agreeing.

"I've finished visiting, and I don't have anything else to do. Shinji, please leave quickly."

Asuka said again.

She certainly looked fine.

When they first met Ikari Shinji, they were still able to bicker with each other, but now Asuka looks lonely, not because of the pain, but because she feels lonely because of something else. This feeling of not being able to find people like her is so familiar that Ikari Shinji wanted to leave, but had to stop.

"What?" she asked.

"You don't look okay," he said. "It looks like your period hasn't ended yet..."

"Pervert, idiot, go to hell."

Asuka said.

She turned over and stood up from the bed nimbly. Anyone who saw her would praise the girl for her great skills. But at this time, Shinji Ikari had already left the ward, leaving Asuka with no place to vent her anger. Even the phantom limb pain in her neck that she had suppressed recurred.

"Don't come!"

she shouted.

Shinji Ikari pretended not to hear it. The angry Asuka looked much better than her previous depressed performance. He walked past her in the corridor, wondering why she was like this.

——So it’s because of Unit 2 after all.

But the soul inside this machine is Asuka's mother.

Presumably, this mother loved her daughter deeply in the past, so the relationship between Asuka and Unit 2 would never be easily interrupted. So what is she worried about?

wrong.

Shinji Ikari suddenly woke up.

For him, who knows the truth, the EVA body is where his mother's soul resides and it is an existence worthy of trust.

But for those who don’t know the truth, perhaps their thoughts are completely opposite to his?

Asuka...

Are you rejecting Unit 2?
He looked back at the girl's ward and fell into a long silence. Besides, Asuka always thought that she was selected as the pilot of Unit 2 because of her own excellence. She was proud of this fact since she was a child. It was like a spiritual pillar. If Asuka knew at this time that the pilot position had already been decided, and the excellence was a joke...

This is a dead end.

When Shinji Ikari learned about the past experimental accident of Unit 02, he had anticipated Asuka's reaction after learning the truth.

"It's really troublesome."

He had a headache.

Is there any way to have the best of both worlds, so that Asuka can accept Unit 2, not know the truth, and still be proud of her identity as a pilot?
Shinji Ikari thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a good idea.

The best of both worlds never existed from the beginning. He left the hospital hesitantly and returned to his daily life. Unit-01 had been repaired. Shinji Ikari went to the hangar to take a look. The parts below the severed right forearm had been restored to their original state. Even the outer purple-green armor was tightly fitted, and there was no trace of the cut at all.

…The maintenance personnel at our headquarters have really good skills.

Next comes daily training.

When he has time, he will go to the hospital to visit Asuka.

Although she yelled at him not to come, Asuka didn't do anything to drive Shinji away when he came again. Occasionally, he would bump into Miss Misato or Hikaru Torumi, who would look at him strangely, and even Shinji Ikari was a little embarrassed. After all, you always visit a beautiful girl in the hospital, even if you think it's not something you can't show to others, but it does look a little ambiguous.

Fortunately, this embarrassing daily routine soon ended.

Today is the day Asuka is discharged from the hospital.

Misato Katsuragi and her good friend Hikaru Toraki are here. Asuka puts on a beautiful dress and turns from a patient back into the proud young lady. The boring days of hospitalization are finally coming to an end. She packs up her things and gets in Misato Katsuragi's sports car. Tonight, the three of them will hold a discharge celebration party at Misato's apartment.

But then the driver, Misato Katsuragi, asked curiously,

"Where's Shinji-kun?" "Why ask him?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

Sensing Asuka's bad tone, Katsuragi Misato stopped talking about Ikari Shinji. She thought to herself, Asuka, you really don't know how to appreciate kindness. I'm going to confiscate all your ice cream. Do you understand? I was originally planning to invite Shinji-kun to the apartment to have a celebration.

"After all, it's the day of discharge. If Ikari-san comes too, we'll have to invite him to the celebration. He'll probably feel embarrassed," explained Mitsuru Tomoki.

indeed.

Shinji had told her this before.

Of course Asuka knew that she would not come on the day Shinji Ikari was discharged from the hospital. Perhaps it was because she had clashed too many times with Misato and Hikaru in recent days. Shinji knew that they would definitely meet on the day of discharge, so he did not plan to come. He just congratulated her on her discharge one day in advance.

But she had no intention of speaking out these things.

After not talking about Shinji Ikari, the three women chatted in the sports car and soon returned to the apartment. After opening the door of the apartment, the penguin PENPEN was leisurely watching entertainment programs on TV - I don't know if it can understand this stuff. Seeing Asuka, who hadn't seen her for half a month, came back, it chirped twice and circled around Asuka as a warm welcome.

"Ah PENPEN."

Even though they had only met a few times, Dong Mu Guang seemed to have a very good relationship with it.

The dishes on the table have been prepared. They are so exquisite that they are not even home-cooked meals. At first glance, they are packed meals from high-end hotels. If Misato could cook like this, Asuka swears that she can eat all the ice cream in the refrigerator without stopping.

"Anyway, cheers!"

Misato Katsuragi didn't drink beer, but raised her drink with Asuka and Hikaru Toraki.

After all, the class monitor, Hikaru Tomoki, has very strict parents, and she will have to drive him home later. But she can't drink. Although Misato Katsuragi is very envious of beer.

I’ll drink it after I come back after delivering the gift, she thought to herself.

The celebration for Asuka's discharge from the hospital was simple. After dinner, Katsuragi Misato drove a sports car to send Hikaru Tomoki home. When they returned to the apartment, Asuka had already taken a shower and was ready to go to bed. Katsuragi Misato took a can of iced beer from the refrigerator, took a big gulp, and then reminded her as if she had thought of something:

"Asuka, remember you have training tomorrow."

It's like a parent whose child has been on vacation for the entire summer and is afraid that he will forget that he has classes tomorrow.

"…understood."

Asuka answered from inside the room.

strangeness……

Katsuragi Misato thought, why does Asuka look listless? She should be full of energy at this time of year. She also said some weird things like "Do you look down on me?" and "Who do you think I am?" But she didn't take it too seriously. The beer in front of her was waiting for her to drink. Besides, Asuka had a very hot temper. If she asked too much, she might get angry.

So what happened to Asuka and Shinji-kun?

Misato Katsuragi sighed.

the next day.

Headquarters.

After spending a fairly peaceful morning at school, dealing with a few female classmates with whom she had a decent relationship, Asuka felt inexplicably irritated. This life was obviously much better than the boring half-month hospital stay, but she felt that she might as well stay a day or two longer.

But what needs to be faced must be faced.

After class, she took the train to the headquarters alone. Although she was usually impatient, Asuka was even faster this time.

Even Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami haven't arrived yet.

Normally, training would not begin until all three pilots were present, and Asuka realized that she had arrived too early and wanted to stay in the lounge for a while, but she ended up heading to the hangar of Unit 2 involuntarily.

The giant was quietly buried in the pool.

She squatted in the air corridor and looked at the fiery red machine that she had grown tired of seeing since she was a child. This was the experiment that her mother was in charge of. Her mother became mentally ill during the experiment related to Unit 2. So in order to prove herself, she worked hard and was finally selected as a pilot. She was obviously familiar with all the parts of Unit 2, but after lying in the hospital for half a month and coming back, she suddenly felt that it was so unfamiliar.

"…Asuka, don't you believe in Unit 2?"

Asuka remembered the question asked by Shinji Ikari.

Could the cause of her mother's mental disorder be related to Unit 2? In other words, could it be the murderer? She stayed in the hangar in silence until the other two pilots arrived. Ikari Shinji cast a worried look at her, but Asuka was too absorbed in her own inner world to notice his gaze.

"Let the training begin."

Said the person in charge, Ritsuko Akagi.

Before training.

We need to test the synchronization rate with Unit 2.

Asuka walked forward with her head lowered, as if she was being judged.

(End of this chapter)