EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan

Chapter 9 8. Ayanami Rei

Don't feel guilty.

Like "I'm not angry."

People who say such things usually have negative emotions. "I am not angry" means "I am very angry"; "You don't need to feel guilty" means "You should feel guilty".

The human heart is such a complicated thing.

I am sorry.

Despicable me.

He had already realized that something was wrong with Katsuragi Misato's mood. The female captain was too concerned about him. They had only known each other for a day. Maybe she saw her past in him. However, he was called to open the EVA and suffered such a serious injury - although it was just a mental phantom pain, he still had complaints in his heart.

Venting anger on good people is also a weakness of human nature.

Misato Katsuragi.

He is a very good person.

It's that bastard father.

He was still angry at that time. It was hard to imagine how this guy became the commander-in-chief. Look at our Kassel Academy's Principal Angers. I heard from the senior brothers that as long as it was beneficial to slaying the dragon, the principal would tolerate anything. Senior Brother Chu committed many crimes in the past, and it was all thanks to the principal's secret manipulation that he was saved.

As for not living with his father, Shinji Ikari really didn't think it was a big deal.

If the father and son suddenly lived together, both of them would definitely feel very uncomfortable, and he really didn't know what attitude he should adopt to get along with each other.

That's fine.

Keep your distance for now.

Shinji Ikari walked towards the sixth district. The road was quite busy. The accommodation area at the NERV headquarters had not been destroyed by the apostles. The people who had taken refuge there before were returning home one after another. Looking at a family of three walking by, with the parents looking worried and the child looking excited, he remembered what he had been concerned about before.

It's a bit strange.

At the moment of the explosion, Shinji Ikari did not have the energy to open the so-called AT force field.

He was almost fainting from the pain at that time.

How can there still be the consciousness of protecting oneself?

At that time, he could only vaguely feel that his and Unit-01's five senses were being deprived and interrupted by some existence.

Looking back on it.

It should be that existence that bore the fatal injury on his behalf.

That's why he asked Misato Katsuragi whether there was artificial intelligence in the EVA. But according to Miss Misato, there was no such thing in EVA-01, so what was it that helped him at that time?
Mecha or something.

Are there so-called machine souls?
In order to defeat the apostle, he used the method of exchanging injuries for injuries, and the pain in his body still remained even though he had gotten off Unit 01.

After taking over neural empathy, will that being also feel pain?

Will it hurt?

Ikari Shinji shook his head.

He buried this question deep in his heart for the time being.

When he arrived at the sixth district, he looked around for his apartment, opened the door with his key, and looked around the room.

The electrical appliances and furniture inside were quite complete. Shinji Ikari turned on the air conditioner first, and then put some of his miscellaneous items on the table, such as the black Walkman and ID card. It was a bit cumbersome to carry so many things with him, so he prepared to go out and buy things.

The first thing is naturally to withdraw money.

The password of the bank card was his birthday. He checked the balance at the ATM and found that there was quite a lot of money in it.

I heard that a fixed amount of living expenses and driver wages will be deposited every month, so I won't have to worry about this in the future. However, Shinji Ikari thought about it and felt that he didn't seem to have any big expenses.

I changed some cash at the ATM.

He hasn't eaten yet and has to go to the supermarket to buy some fast food.

You also need to buy a set of quilts and pillows.

Just make do with this for tonight and make plans after your luggage arrives in the mail tomorrow.

Unlike the deserted situation during the day, after the evacuation, the street was filled with a large number of trucks, parked randomly and scattered like garbage. The whole street was brightly lit all night long, and the horns were blaring at a volume that would have been complained about in the past. This was completely different from the usual Japanese habit of not causing trouble for others, but considering today's invasion of the apostles, it was understandable.

Two housewives are chatting.

"Are you really going to move?"

"Yes, I didn't expect this place to really become a battlefield. Although this is a fortress city, it is definitely unreliable. What happened today is scary just thinking about it."

"Alas, my husband also asked me and the children to leave here and seek shelter first."

Right.

Not like those retarded NPCs in those monster movies.

If normal people knew that this city was invaded by a giant monster and a disaster had occurred, and that there was no way the monster would come again in the future, they would probably wisely choose to stay away. Only those who had no choice but to stay in order to survive would stay.

After checking out from the supermarket.

With a "pop" sound, he opened the can of ice cola, tilted his head back and took a big gulp. He felt much more energetic, and the feeling of heat, hunger and sleepiness disappeared a lot.

Is this place really Tokyo?
It's too hot.

Carrying a large bag of things, he walked back to his apartment. The street lamps on the street emitted a dim light, flickering and panting weakly. The laid power system was damaged by the battle. Shinji Ikari looked at the bright moon in the sky, watching the halo of the moon illuminate the earth bit by bit, and he sighed.

Looking around, there are still some lights in the distance of the city. I'm afraid that most people in Tokyo will have to spend a sleepless night tonight. So many people have fled overnight, and more people will probably leave in two days.

After all, he didn't know why the apostles wanted to destroy humanity.

In today's battle with the apostles, the enemy did not deliberately destroy those tall buildings. It seemed more like these things were blocking the road so they had to be cleared away.

In that case, it would be better for everyone to leave here.

just.

If everyone moves away.

Is there anything else that needs to be protected in this city?
Is there any point in driving EVA to fight against the Apostles?

He chose to drive Unit-01 only because he didn't want those who were taking refuge to suffer a catastrophic disaster.

With such doubts in mind, Shinji Ikari was about to reach the apartment.

Someone called him.

"you…"

Like the sound of greeting a stranger.

In the NERV headquarters, everyone called him Shinji-kun, calling him by his first name, so much so that he almost got used to it. When he heard the direct "you" by chance, he felt a little unfamiliar for a moment.

He turned his head.

There was a beautiful girl in front of me.

Under the moonlight, her hair was blue like the color of the clear sky, her skin was white to an unhealthy level, reminding people of the pure snow that had not melted in early spring, and her eyes were red like the vampires in the legend who came out at night to prey on humans.

Blue hair and red eyes.

She looks like a fairy. What is she? Is she a doll created by collecting human impressions of beauty?

Wrapping her slender body was a white short-sleeved top and a Prussian blue sailor skirt with a crimson ribbon on the collar. It should be a girls' junior high school uniform. None of these things could compare to her own beauty, but when worn on her, they made her inhuman radiance even more dazzling.

pity.

This amazing beauty is temporarily only half gone - her head and right hand are wrapped in white bandages, and in the silent night her whole body exudes a sense of fragility, making one suspect that a gust of wind could blow her down.

Shinji Ikari's heart skipped a beat, and he felt as if he had seen this girl before.

But he knew that it was impossible for him to know such a girl. Whether here or in another world, he had only seen a handful of blue-haired girls.

Yes.

Those images suddenly flashed through my mind when I was driving Unit-01.

Is it someone related to EVA?
Then he remembered what Katsuragi Misato had said before, the pilot of Unit 00 who was seriously injured and unable to attack, and the other qualified person in Japan, a girl, whose name was...

"Ayanami Rei?"

"Yes."

There was no fluctuation in her voice as she stared at Ikari Shinji calmly, like a robot that only followed lines of code, reminding people of something inorganic.

On the street late at night, this is a conversation between only two people.

"What do you find me for?"

It couldn't be that another apostle had arrived, right?

It would be better to destroy Tokyo as soon as possible. Now he just wants to go back to sleep. Ikari Shinji feels that he has yawned several times.

"Thank you."

The girl's voice was so soft that it would be easily overlooked if one wasn't paying attention.

But he still caught the passing wind.

"Oh, thanks? Why?"

Although he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity towards her, Shinji Ikari was sure that this was the first time he met her. The two had no interaction before today, and they didn't even know each other. If they had to say there was something in common, it would be that they were both pilots.

Could it be that…

What did Shinji Ikari think of?
"Are you thanking me for taking over your seriously injured self and piloting the EVA to defeat the Apostle?"

"Yes," the girl said softly, "So, thank you."

The calm tone never changed, making people doubt whether this girl had human emotions. However, Shinji Ikari clearly felt the loneliness and sincere gratitude slowly flowing from her body - he thought of the high window corners piled with dust, the yellow fallen leaves in the lake, and the unreachable raindrops on the countless eaves.

This girl seemed so unreachable.

But this thank you brought her back to the human world and turned her into a touchable human being.

How difficult it is.

The expressionless girl came over and said thank you to him, just for such a small thing that no one would care about. If she hadn't come today, he would never have cared that fighting against the apostles was originally the responsibility of the pilot of Unit 0.

original.

My battle is not unknown.

There are still people who remember and are kind, and some even come to express their gratitude in person. In fact, he doesn't care that much. After all, many people who know him are worried about whether he is injured or not. That's enough, and he doesn't lack praise. But it's not a good feeling to be a hero but no one cares about him.

He felt a little itchy in his heart for a moment, and wanted to say something casually, but he felt that it was not very solemn.

"I want to thank you, too."

Ikari Shinji smiled.

This smile was extremely pure and warm, but it seemed to bring trouble to the girl named Ayanami Rei.

She lowered her head and remained silent for a while.

Her short blue hair covered her eyes when she lowered her head. A strand of hair passed over her temples and touched her cheek. She stretched out her fingers to lift it behind her ear, tilted her face back and gathered her hair, as if she was thinking about something extremely important, a more important issue than eating, drinking water and sleeping, but she had not found the answer.

After a long time.

Only then did Ayanami Rei respond to his thanks.

"Why, thank you?" she asked, "Did I do anything to help you?"

"Yes, it helped me a lot."

The other person looked like someone of the same age, and Shinji Ikari didn't use any strong honorifics when addressing her. Facing such a three-no girl, he even softened his voice. However, even if he yelled at her rudely, the girl in front of him would silently endure it.

"What about you, Ayanami? Why did you come here so late? You must be injured, right?"

Look at this girl.

It was estimated that he had just been discharged from the hospital and his injuries had only been bandaged not long ago.

Normally, she should have stayed in the hospital to recuperate at this time, instead of running out in the middle of the night like a bad girl who ran away from home.

"Because Commander Ikari said a long time ago that when you receive help from others, you should say thank you," said Rei Ayanami.

He actually came here specifically to say thank you.

But this response really sounded like a robot that only knew how to follow orders.

but.

She would come over to thank him, because he knew that even a doll girl like this had feelings.

Although that is something that cannot be touched by just a pair of hands, it takes a long time of getting along to touch that fragile nature. Perhaps by that time, the girl in front of me will become a lively girl of this age and show a more beautiful side.

but.

Even a short period of time together will come to an end.

Because he yawned, which ruined the mood, and his body couldn't control its instinct at all.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sleepy."

The girl looked a little confused.

It seemed that he was thinking that this person was so strange, thanking him one moment and saying sorry the next, damn it! Ikari Shinji also admired himself for being able to see so many things from those calm red eyes. Was he some kind of humanoid emotional receptor?
In short.

The sky is big and the earth is big, sleeping is the biggest.

Ikari Shinji waved at her and walked forward alone.

Judging from the uniform she was wearing, it should be the uniform of the school he was going to transfer to, which meant that they would be classmates in the future? Probably in the same class. Oh, by the way, he would have to see if he could try to skip a grade and finish his studies quickly. He really didn't want to be a well-behaved junior high school student. In another world, he was already in college.

"Bye, see you tomorrow."

"..."

The moonlight and starlight were quietly hanging down in the deep night. The boy was walking in front. Occasionally, Shinji Ikari would look back and see the slender figure with blue hair.

She followed behind, taking one step at a time.

Although I have said it several times, I have to say it again.

——It really looks like a doll.

(End of this chapter)