EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan

Chapter 188 186. I know you are at home, do you have the guts to open the door?
After the doorbell rang, Shinji Ikari waited for half a minute.

…The door to the apartment was not opened.

Ding dong ding dong ding dong~
Shinji Ikari pressed the button several times in disbelief, feeling as if it was a prank by a neighbor's kid. But the apartment door was always closed, so he had no choice but to put his ear against the door and hold his breath to listen, but he didn't hear any movement.

Could it be that the address given by the monitor was wrong? Or did I go to the wrong place?

--No.

It could only be that the person inside didn't intend to open the door.

This is a problem. If he goes back home without even seeing the person, Shinji Ikari will not be able to get over it.

"How about just breaking in?"

Shinji Ikari pondered.

He knocked lightly with his index finger, and there was a crisp metallic sound. It seemed that the idea of ​​breaking into the apartment was a bit difficult, and his words were not the flames that could spit fire. He looked around to see if there was a place where he could start, how about the balcony? He climbed in from the air conditioner's outdoor unit there.

"Um...what are you doing?"

A stranger suddenly spoke from behind.

Ikari Shinji: “…”

His body stiffened.

Oh my god, how could there be someone else in such a shabby place? The most embarrassing moment in a person's life is going to the toilet without toilet paper, but Shinji Ikari felt that he was more embarrassed than that. His behavior looked like a criminal with bad intentions, and it was lucky that he was not reported to the police. Shinji Ikari turned around slowly, and for a moment, he wondered if he should knock out the passerby who saw him trespassing illegally.

Asuka, for you, I am about to fall into the abyss of crime.

The stranger was a woman of common appearance.

"Hello, are you a resident here?"

Shinji Ikari asked first.

"Yes, I live upstairs." The woman answered subconsciously, and then reacted, "You haven't told me what you are doing?"

Perhaps it was because of the harmless look of the boy in front of him.

The woman didn't immediately think of thieves or robbers.

"My friend lives here." Ikari Shinji chose to tell the truth. After all, he was not a thief. He also asked for information. "She hasn't been to school for five days. I was worried about her so I came to see her. Excuse me, have you seen a foreign blonde girl about my age recently?"

"Foreigners, blond hair... I've never seen one before."

The woman seemed to have accepted his explanation. She recalled for a while, shook her head and said, and after seeing Shinji Ikari's regretful expression, she showed a considerate smile, "But you really care about your friends. I remember there is indeed a resident here who has not even left the house for five days. I hope nothing unexpected happened inside. In this case, I will go find the landlord to get the key for you."

What a twist!
How can there be such kind-hearted people in the world!

Girl, you are really kind and beautiful. I want to take back the complaints I just made! Ikari Shinji felt that today was his lucky day. He thanked her quickly. The woman said not to worry about it and went downstairs to get the key. There was a lot of dust in the corridor of the apartment. It seemed that no one had cleaned it for a while.

She stepped on it with her shoes without any hesitation.

It's a bit strange... Looking at the back of the woman who was about to leave, Shinji Ikari suddenly spoke up: "Hey, I say... Are you from the Intelligence Department?"

The woman turned her head in confusion.
"what?"

"You're from the Intelligence Department."

woman:? ? ?
She suddenly smiled.
"Is it that obvious?"

"After all, Ms. Misato asked her colleagues for help before, and someone suddenly appeared in such a messy place..." Seeing that she admitted it, Ikari Shinji did not continue to dwell on it. There really is no sudden kindness in the world. Besides, in such a shabby place, Asuka, who ran away from home, could live there, but how could there be normal residents? He turned to ask, "So, Asuka is indeed in there, right?"

"Yes." The woman nodded. "The pilot of Unit 2, Soryu, hasn't eaten for more than two days. Although the monitor shows that he still has vital signs, his condition is not good. If you don't come, I will have to break in."

"Well... Anyway, please bring the key here first."

he said solemnly.

"What I said just now about going to the landlord to get it was just an excuse to avoid revealing my identity. The key has always been with me. Here, it's for you." The staff member from the Intelligence Department took out the key from his pocket and handed it to Shinji Ikari.

The key was inserted quickly into the lock.

The door to the apartment finally opened.

Ikari Shinji rushed in, but stopped immediately.

The living room in front of him was in full view. There was nothing inside except a few scattered pieces of furniture. It was empty and dusty, with no signs of anyone ever living there. As expected, Asuka was an illegal trespasser and had just found an abandoned apartment after the Angel's invasion.

But there was no sign of Asuka here at all.

"Asuka?"

He quickly searched the apartment while shouting. He didn't see the girl in the bedroom, kitchen, balcony... Could such a big person have learned some superpower of invisibility? If so, could you teach him... Ikari Shinji checked again. The only thing he hadn't searched in the entire apartment was the locked bathroom.

"In the bathroom," the woman said.

But the bathroom door was locked.

After crossing a mountain, there is another mountain. Is he some Mario who can overcome all obstacles? However, there is really a princess inside, but now Mario is blocked outside. How can he get in and save this princess from Germany?
"Do you have any more keys?"

"No, but there is a solution."

"what?"

"Give."

She handed over an axe from somewhere.
“This is powerful.”

……

Asuka's mind was blank.

Sleep when you wake up, stare blankly when you can’t sleep, and continue sleeping after staring blankly.

I didn't even think about crying.

Just like a scarecrow in the autumn field, fluttering in the wind, driving away the chirping birds. In this situation, people become decadent very quickly. In the first two days, Asuka still had the instinct to eat, but from the third day on, she could no longer feel the existence of her stomach. She didn't need to eat or defecate, and even the acid in her mouth didn't come up again.

The air conditioner in this apartment is broken.

She was always afraid of heat, so she could only lie naked in the small bathtub in the bathroom to avoid being overwhelmed by the heat.

Ding-dong-

Someone is ringing the doorbell.

Is it Dong Mu Guang?
Although that was a good friend, Asuka had no intention of opening the door. She felt like a red mushroom with an umbrella in a corner, just waiting to rot quietly. Her mind gradually emptied, and she didn't think about anything. This was the best. Asuka felt unprecedented relief. She didn't need to think about Unit 2, Shinji, Misato, Hikari, the top student... These people were far away from her memory.

In the past, I seemed to be walking on a single-plank bridge, and I could only survive by walking on it, but suddenly one day the bridge was washed away by the surging river.

So the person named Asuka seemed to be swept into the turbulent river.

She chose self-exile.

When the spiritual pillar of a person collapses, it is easy for him to give up on himself. Asuka did not understand this, but after knowing that her synchronization rate was so low, a certain string that had been stretched in her mind was easily broken. The words of comfort from Guang in the middle of the night had no effect on her at all.

Ding dong ding dong ding dong~
"So annoying."

She wanted to say something, but she didn't.

After sleeping for so long, it was still bright daylight outside. Asuka didn't feel sleepy at all, nor did she have any strength. She lay in the bathtub, staring blankly at the ceiling of the bathroom. It was all dark there, and she was waiting for the next darkness to bring her into a deep sleep.

"Asuka?" someone asked.

It was Shinji's voice.

If he saw her in such a state of disgrace, Asuka's mind unconsciously flashed with such thoughts, and her body involuntarily gained some strength. But she simply blinked her eyelashes and then remained motionless.

Even if Shinji sees it, it doesn't matter.

Nothing matters anymore.

Anyway, she couldn't pilot Unit 2, couldn't be a pilot, and had no value at all. How could such a powerful man like Shinji like her? Besides, he didn't like her in the first place, so why should he care about Shinji's opinion?
When I was in the hospital, I was just dizzy and confused, that's all.

"Click——"

The sound of an axe hitting the door.

Now even Asuka, who was feeling depressed, had to look over there slightly.

An axe was chopping at the door non-stop, with such force that it seemed to split the whole world apart, clear a path, and then pick up the things that were thrown in some unknown place. The dark bathroom was illuminated by the axe that had split the big hole.

The whole world seemed to open up as if by an earthquake.

She saw the light outside the bathroom, so bright that she could hardly open her eyes. Asuka's empty heart also trembled with the repeated chopping, but she didn't even understand why.

The reason why Asuka still remembers such inexplicable feelings is because of what happened more than ten years later.

At dusk she drove to pick up her child from kindergarten.

When passing by the ice cream shop, the child looked at it eagerly, but the car had no intention of stopping. The clouds in the sky were dyed red by the sunset, and the scenery on the roadside kept receding. Large patches of clouds were connected in the sky, like various sundaes. The daughter, who was restricted from eating ice cream because of tooth decay, was sitting in the passenger seat, pointing at the clouds in the sky and acting coquettishly to her.
"Ice cream, ice cream, Mom, there's ice cream in heaven."

Then she suddenly thought of herself at that time, Shinji at that time, and finally her trembling heart at that time. It was the inner world of a girl who longed for redemption and hoped that he would come to save her again.

Shinji Ikari poked his head out from the big hole in the door and met her eyes.
"Asuka, you haven't taken a shower in a few days?"

She heard Shinji ask in a muffled voice, covering his nose.

(End of this chapter)