Shinji Ikari, returned from Warhammer

"Oh, you're not going to fight? Then forget it."

Asuka put down her bowl and chopsticks with a forced smile, then took two steps toward her room before letting out a cold laugh as if unwilling to give up. She shrugged and spread her hands, looking at Shinji Ikari, "Fine, actually I didn't really want to play games with you. LOL, I have online partners, and I don't even like you. Your skills are just average, hahaha, so funny. You're such a show-off, you know that?"

Shinji Ikari took a sip of soup and smiled.

At 9:30 p.m., Asuka, who was holding a pillow in her left hand and a blanket in her right, glanced at the clock in the living room. The weather forecast said it would rain that night, but looking out the window, the moon was bright and the stars were few, and the weather was clear.

Asuka brought a pillow and blanket because she thought she might fall asleep at Shinji's place after playing games and get tired, but she didn't want him to take advantage of her. Of course, if he begged her, she might turn a blind eye.

The living room light was still on, and there was noise coming from the bathroom. Asuka tiptoed to the end of the corridor to Shinji Ikari's room, gently opened the sliding door, and saw the blue-haired girl kneeling in front of the bed, spreading out the bedding.

"Good evening, Soryu-kun," Rei Ayanami said calmly, weaving her words.

"Good evening... What do you mean 'good evening'? What are you doing here?!"

"Go to sleep." Rei Ayanami said simply.

"I know it's for sleeping, but your room is at the very back. This is Shinji's room, you idiot! Shameless!"

"Then what are you doing here?" Rei Ayanami looked up at the panicked Asuka.

This time, it was Asuka's turn to change color, the flush spreading all the way to the base of her neck. "I, I, I came here to play games!" she said, trying to keep her voice cold and speaking through gritted teeth, so as not to make her think that she had some shameless thoughts.

“Shinji rejected you; he needs to sleep tonight,” Rei Ayanami said calmly. “If you’re going to sleep here too, I can move you over here.”

Asuka stared in disbelief as Rei Ayanami actually rearranged the bed, seemingly intending to make room for her to sleep.

"Oh, are you serious? No, I can't believe you're really making the bed. I don't need it!"

"You want to sleep with Shinji, and I want to sleep with Shinji too. It's all about sleeping, there's no difference."

“Ayanami is right, it’s all about sleeping anyway.” At this moment, outside the sliding door, Katsuragi Misato, wearing only hot pants and a tank top, stood in the doorway, drying her hair with a towel. “I could hear you guys arguing in the living room. It’s so boring.”

“Let’s just treat this as a normal evening chat. Asuka, go turn on the projector. Rei, could you please prepare some barley tea? There’s a fresh fruit platter that was delivered tonight on the middle shelf of the refrigerator, bring that over too.” Shinji Ikari walked to the doorway, went straight to the wall, and turned on the button to let the two projection screens hang down from above.

Upon seeing the room full of girls, Shinji Ikari completely abandoned any romantic thoughts.

If it were just with Asuka or Rei, there might still be a chance, but now that all four of them are together, and I'm not one of the Shanxi brothers, I might as well just go to sleep.

"Really just playing games?" Asuka asked, her teeth aching. Just after Shinji Ikari gave the order, Rei Ayanami had already headed to the living room to make barley tea and get a fruit platter.

“Anyway, it’s just casual conversation at night, and we can tell ghost stories,” Shinji Ikari said.

“Ghost stories are great! I’m really good at that!” Misato Katsuragi’s eyes lit up, and she turned and walked towards the door. “In that case, I’ll bring my bedding too.”

"Misato is coming too?" Asuka's toothache worsened.

"Of course, if I'm the only one who didn't participate, it would make me seem like a loner, my friend." Misato Katsuragi waved her hand and disappeared out the door.

Rei Ayanami went to make tea, and Misato Katsuragi went to get the bedding, leaving only Asuka and Shinji Ikari in the room. Asuka felt she should be angry, but feeling the warm, home-like atmosphere, she thought it was fine this way.

"With so many girls around, you're not going to get any funny ideas, are you?" Asuka kicked Shinji Ikari's shin.

"With four people, what wicked thoughts could I possibly have?" Shinji Ikari raised an eyebrow.

“You can’t say for sure. You boys all have images of sleeping together under the same covers and female bodies in bed in your heads.” Asuka stared intently into Shinji Ikari’s eyes, carefully observing the changes in his expression.

Footsteps echoed in the living room, one light and one heavy, indicating that Misato Katsuragi and Rei Ayanami were about to arrive. Shinji Ikari turned off the bright overhead light first, then turned on the table lamp in front of him, adjusting it to a pink light that created a ghost story atmosphere. After sitting on the bed, he finally answered Asuka's question.

“Three people are Silver Party, five people are also Silver Party, but only four people are not Silver Party,” Shinji Ikari said seriously.

"What else should we call it if not a silver party? A Promiscuous party?"

"Call me Jinpa."

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A long, sharp sound, like the chirping of cicadas in summer, echoed in Shinji Ikari's ears after a long absence, its lingering resonance deep. This lingering resonance, like the chirping of cicadas, gradually weakened until it disappeared. The fog dissipated, and the world gradually became clear.

The location is the usual Third Tokyo City.

I was standing at the crossroads of a three-lane one-way main road, near the center of the Third New Tokyo. The crossroads intersected with roads running north-south and east-west. If viewed from above, it looked like a giant cross rising from the city, truly a location in the heart of the city.

For Shinji Ikari, it was also a crossroads leading to different worlds.

"Here again?" Shinji Ikari raised his right hand and placed it on his eyebrow to shield himself from the scorching sun.

Returning here after so long, bathed in the scorching sunlight of his dream, Shinji Ikari vaguely remembered that the three directions at the crossroads represented three different worlds. Directly ahead of the crossroads lay a parallel universe fourteen years in the future. Shinji snapped back to reality. He recalled a time when he had deliberately crossed the street to reach a new world, when he was still in the Angelic stage and had only witnessed Asuka and Mari's interaction on the WILLE launch platform as a soul projection.

"But what if I were to go there on my own initiative this time?" Shinji Ikari stroked his chin, deep in thought. "Could the authority of an Apostle be used to reach the tranquil reality through this pull?"

Shinji Ikari is going to give it a try.

Just as he took a step forward, he glanced to the left of the intersection. Under the distorted light, which resembled glare, the space rippled like water, and Rei Ayanami's figure appeared before his eyes.

At the left-hand intersection, Shinji Ikari had seen many versions of Rei Ayanami—some with silver hair, some with short bobs, some with light purple hair and loli-like features—but the one who appeared today—for no apparent reason, was someone Shinji knew at a glance to be the real Rei Ayanami. That indifferent middle school student image. That ghostly figure, seemingly about to evaporate under the scorching sun—Shinji remembered it vividly.

"Save, save..."

That metallic voice echoed in Shinji Ikari's ears once more, as if it were a barrier separating them from the world, preventing Shinji from clearly hearing what Rei Ayanami was saying.

Shinji Ikari did not leave to respond to her, but instead pondered what would happen if he actually went to her.

Her original plan was to go to a familiar parallel world, with the goal of finding a way to solve Rei Ayanami's physical problems, as well as the way to unfreeze the frozen earth as mentioned by Kaworu Nagisa, and to make the remaining humans stop fighting each other and become a unified collective in this apocalypse.

Aside from Rei Ayanami's physical problems, nothing else is particularly important. The only solution to Rei's problems, even with MAGI's highest authority, is finding the life support pod technology. Perhaps the new world will hold unexpected rewards.

After all, there seem to be a lot of Rei Ayanami over there.

"….."

Rei Ayanami's last words reached his ears amidst the noise, and Shinji Ikari stepped onto the road.

In an instant, I went from the scorching sun and the dreamlike illusion to the calm reality.

—Third New Tokyo City, by the sea.

Shinji Ikari reluctantly got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and looked up at the sky. The sky was clear and bright, and a white-winged gull that had wandered from Lake Reed into the human city flew among the ruins and high-rise buildings.

The cicadas' chirping in the summer air is like the lingering echo of a dream falling into reality.

Shinji Ikari's gaze fell upon the human city that had sunk into the sea in the distance. A transformer on a broken utility pole had fallen into the sea, and an advertisement for "treatment of gynecological and sexually transmitted diseases" was still hanging below the pole.

This apocalyptic scene didn't cause Shinji Ikari any emotional reaction. What truly captivated him was—

—Before my eyes, there is a vast blue sea.

187: The Dead by the Water, Shinji Visits the Sick

In the dimly lit operations department in Hakone, a semi-transparent screen showed that all units, from Unit 00 to Unit 2, were in standby mode.

"Entry and exit from headquarters facilities are completely prohibited?" Ibuki Maya, who came to inquire about the specific situation, suddenly raised her voice by several decibels.

"Yes, we must maintain a level-two state of combat readiness."

"Why?" Ibuki Maya asked, somewhat bewildered. "Wasn't the last apostle, that boy, already defeated?"

“Because all the Angels have been defeated, peace has been restored. As a special agency established to deal with the Angels, NERV no longer needs to exist.” Shigeru Aoba carried barley tea into the room.

At this moment, a few familiar colleagues sat in a corner, whispering among themselves. As NERV executives, they were originally treated like heroes by outsiders. But now they were like stray dogs, driven away, filled with fear and anxiety.

“There’s no need for a level two combat readiness state.” Ibuki Maya said, somewhat unhappy.

Makoto Hyuga glanced at his colleague from the development department beside him. As a researcher, Maya Ibuki was quite outstanding. However, she was too oblivious to politics. With military power capable of easily destroying a nation, wartime privileges, and a secret service agency with technology far exceeding that of the outside world, their survival was a major problem.

“If it’s just disbanding, that’s fine.” Hinata Makoto looked up at the camera. “But I’m afraid we’ll face retribution.”

"What about here? What should we do with EVA? Our senior isn't here yet." Ibuki Maya was very sad.

From the appearance of the Third Angel, the Water Angel, to the death of the final Free Angel, Kaworu Nagisa, everything changed, and too many sacrifices were made. Even his most respected senior, Akagi, was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Maya Ibuki wanted to share Ritsuko Akagi's suffering, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Makoto Hyuga shared the same mindset, but as a man, he didn't show his pain on his face.

Finally, it was Aoba Shigeru, the eldest brother, who spoke up, saying, "Let's wait quietly for the general affairs department's arrangements. Before the completion plan is launched, we can only rely on ourselves to get through this."

Keihin Island's Iji is a small path that leads directly from the bustling city center to the seaside, lined with gray walls dating back to the Showa era. These low-rise houses were built during Japan's most prosperous period in the 1990s. Now, decades later, the limestone surfaces have crumbled from the wind and rain, revealing the desolation of a fallen aristocracy.

Misato Katsuragi drove her blue Mazda along this road. The once bustling path, filled with tourists taking photos, was now covered with fallen leaves. This desolate scene reminded her of the time when she was first entrusted by Commander-in-Chief Gendo Ikari to pick up Shinji Ikari.

It has only been a few months, but it feels like many years have passed, and the memories are tinged with a mottled yellow.

"What? You mean Shinji Ikari has already left?" Misato Katsuragi took off her sunglasses, glaring angrily at the agents who were also dressed in black suits and sunglasses. "What were you doing? You couldn't even keep an eye on a child!"

Separated from Unit-01, Shinji Ikari was just a helpless middle school boy. Misato Katsuragi was inwardly anxious. At this crucial moment, she didn't believe he had simply wandered off. "To transform humanity, a flawed group driven to the brink of extinction, into complete individual life forms through artificial evolution—that's the Instrumentality Project… and the most crucial element in this is Unit-01, capable of guiding the completion of Instrumentality. And now… this is definitely not a coincidence. What is the Committee trying to do?!"

Misato Katsuragi felt a deep sense of powerlessness regarding Shinji Ikari, who had been kidnapped by them.

But soon, Misato Katsuragi's phone rang from her backpack. Her gaze swept over the agents in front of her; now was not the time to reprimand them. After all, it was the committee that had intervened, and the fact that these agents were still alive was already a sign of the committee's mercy.

"Huh? What? Shinji Ikari has already returned to the courtyard?"

Hakone, Department of Neurology I, Inpatient Ward 303.

[The second and third areas of the East Wing will be closed at 6:00 PM today. All handover work must be completed before 6:30 PM.]

Thank you all for your hard work and for your company during this time.

Shinji Ikari ignored the broadcast in his ear, looked at the name "Soryu Asuka Langley" in front of the ward, and pushed open the door to enter.

The pure white room was sparsely decorated, with a hospital bed against the wall. Asuka lay quietly on the bed, surrounded by equipment that worked around her. The only sound in the quiet room was the incessant ticking of the computer, the only proof that Asuka was still alive.

Shinji Ikari stood in front of the hospital bed, looking at Asuka's pale sleeping face. Only at this moment did her face, which looked like she was asleep, resemble a child.

“How embarrassing, Captain Soryu. Only now can you listen to me quietly,” Shinji Ikari said, reaching out to gently brush the hair that clung to her cheek.

As Shinji Ikari left the hospital room, the staff members who passed by all hurried along, looking troubled, until they bumped into Misato Katsuragi at the elevator entrance.

When Misato Katsuragi saw Shinji Ikari, she was about to reprimand him, but the words stuck in her throat and she couldn't say them.

It was Shinji Ikari, but Misato Katsuragi didn't know how to speak, because the image of Shinji standing at the elevator entrance had left a deep impression on her. At fourteen years old, he was slender, and his normally gentle facial features, accentuated by a cold smile, possessed a refined sharpness, like a portrait drawn with a hard pencil. If there was any flaw, it was that his complexion was slightly pale, making him appear somewhat frail.

It's the same face, yet it gives Misato Katsuragi a completely different feeling.

"Which floor do we need to go to?" Shinji Ikari asked, standing in the elevator.

"I'm not going to a certain floor. What's wrong with you? Don't wander around during this time. It's dangerous!" Hearing that familiar voice, Misato Katsuragi remembered her purpose and hurriedly walked into the elevator, looking down at the slender boy.

“You’re very tired. It would be better for you to go back and rest,” Shinji Ikari said earnestly.

Misato Katsuragi was slightly taken aback; this was the first time in a long time that someone had told her she should take a break. Kaji Ryoji had been executed, her close friend Akagi Ritsuko was still missing, and she was incredibly busy, yet felt that all her efforts were meaningless.