Shinji Ikari, returned from Warhammer

Didn't you say you'd sing me a lullaby tonight? Do I have to wait in line for that?

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As dawn breaks, the neon lights along the long street turn off one by one from west to east. Tokyo in the morning transforms from heavily made-up streetwalkers into energetic high school girls, and the bustling streets gradually fill with more traffic.

There was a walnut tatami bed by the window. Shinji Ikari wasn't used to traditional Japanese tatami mats. Perhaps it was because he was very familiar with the Fujianese guys from the food court, but he always felt that it was too close to the ground and too damp.

However, Shinji Ikari woke up early this morning, feeling a little short of breath. The tightness in his chest wasn't caused by a nightmare, but by something else entirely.

The reason lies in the bed Shinji Ikari was sleeping in—a girl in his blankets. The girl not only crawled into his blankets, but she even pressed herself against him.

Her sleeping posture was so awkward that her left foot was propped up on her chin, trying desperately to kick herself off the bed, and she was almost there. When Shinji Ikari woke up, half of his body was floating outside the bed. Shinji ignored her missing lower garment and instead first removed the girl's left foot from his chin, then gently tickled the sole of her foot with his hand.

As Asuka giggled in her sleep, she suddenly sat up in bed, staring blankly at Shinji Ikari sitting in front of her.

Perhaps it was low blood pressure upon waking, or perhaps she hadn't slept well, but Asuka, sitting on Shinji Ikari's lap, actually reached out and pinched Shinji's cheek, trying to confirm that it wasn't a dream.

"Good morning, Ms. Shikinami," Shinji Ikari greeted politely.

Shinji Ikari silently counted to three in his mind. When the countdown ended, Asuka, who had just come to her senses, was about to hug her pillow and shout when he suddenly pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth tightly until she was completely quiet.

"Are you awake now? Think back to last night when you came over to talk to me and then stayed overnight. You should be able to make sense of it now that I let go, instead of calling Misato and Ayanami over to see you trying to ambush me at night." Shinji Ikari said earnestly.

Seeing the girl with golden-orange hair nod slightly in his arms, Shinji Ikari finally released her embrace. But the next second, she fiercely rolled over like Asuka, grabbed the pillow from before, and pressed it against Shinji's face.

"Die! Hahahaha!" Asuka laughed wildly.

Shinji Ikari, pinned under the pillow, remained expressionless.

—Sigh, people have gone mad.

Chapter 89: The Track and Field High Jump with No One Present

A pillow won't kill you, so Shinji Ikari continued to let Asuka vent her anger—or rather, her shame and anger.

Finally, Asuka's stomach growled twice. She had only eaten a bowl of ramen last night, which is easily digested. She had woken up in the middle of the night grumbling, clearly starving.

Shinji Ikari knew Asuka's nature well, so he lay down on the bed. He waited until she was tired, put down her pillow, let out a long sigh, and then sat up straight again.

Then, just the moment she sat down—Asuka's face and even her entire neck turned rose-colored.

"Where are my clothes?!" Asuka gritted her teeth.

It was only then that Asuka realized she was missing her bottoms. And she happened to be sitting just below Shinji Ikari's stomach; if she had moved back even a little, she might have risked sinking a hole-in-one.

“Maybe Arrietty stole it,” Shinji Ikari said after a moment’s thought.

That was definitely him. Although Shinji Ikari didn't have many memories, some of his movements were just like his muscle reflexes. For example, untying the bra straps with one hand, or instinctively helping a girl remove something she shouldn't be wearing while she was asleep.

Even in his sleep, the aristocratic reserve and elegance maintained his composure. Subconsciously, he considered it extremely impolite to let a girl get into bed fully clothed.

Before he could come up with an excuse, Asuka suddenly leaned down and slammed her forehead into his, making Shinji see stars. Before he could react, Asuka grabbed the corners of the blanket and pulled him into the covers.

"Shinji, I heard a noise coming from your room. What happened?"

At this moment, Misato Katsuragi stood in the doorway of the sliding door that had been opened wide enough for one person, with most of her body still behind the door, craning her neck to look inside Shinji Ikari. However, before she could get a good look at him, she frowned in displeasure.

"Did you leave the door open properly last night and run the air conditioner all night? That consumes a lot of electricity!"

Misato Katsuragi, unusually dressed in an apron and carrying a spatula, swaggered into Shinji Ikari's room. After turning off the air conditioner with the remote, she stood with her hands on her hips and looked at Shinji, who was curled up in bed. "Although the staff dormitory building has free utilities, wasting resources is still a bad habit. Don't bring that so-called aristocratic extravagance into reality."

Shinji Ikari could only offer a polite but not awkward smile. At that moment, Asuka was hiding in his bed, hunched over, trying to avoid physical contact with him, but twisting her inner thighs in frustration.

However, acts of revenge in a dark and cramped environment are easily met with a beating.

After Misato Katsuragi glanced around to make sure there was no waste, she nodded slightly to Shinji Ikari. "It's my turn to be on duty today. Breakfast is instant noodles with ham, a quick sandwich, and milk. I'll prepare an extra portion later so that Ms. Shikinami doesn't have to stay in bed. She can wash up and come over to eat."

Shinji Ikari could feel Asuka's body trembling slightly in his bed. Then, she suddenly threw off the covers, straddled Shinji, and grabbed his neck recklessly. "What's going on! How did you know I was here, Misato-sama?!"

"You're hunched over in bed, so conspicuous that everyone knows there's someone hiding inside!" Shinji Ikari said calmly, his voice and breathing unaffected by being choked.

Asuka trembled all over, and her upper body quickly turned color like a shrimp that had been scalded with boiling water.

"Stirb jetzt! Come to hell with me!"

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Asuka didn't come to breakfast, of course. She left Shinji's room unsteadily, feeling too ashamed to greet Misato Katsuragi and the honor student.

Shinji Ikari, however, remained composed, sharing Asuka's breakfast with Rei Ayanami. He took the ham and milk, then took the bacon and luncheon meat from Rei's sandwich. Looking at Rei's quiet profile, so delicate and beautiful, he couldn't help but feel that she was better.

Then he was kicked hard under the table.

Shinji Ikari was somewhat bewildered, because judging from the direction he was kicked, the person who kicked him should be Rei Ayanami.

"Thank you, Emperor, for the food. I'm done eating." Rei Ayanami clasped her hands together, offering a prayer that blended the three religions, and then got up and left.

"Today is your school's sports meet, right? Your track and field high jump is in the morning, right?" Misato Katsuragi suddenly asked.

"Yes, 10:30 a.m., do you have time to come over?" Shinji Ikari smiled as he put a piece of bacon into his mouth.

"So early? That probably won't work. Maybe it would be okay if it were an afternoon session. But even if you don't go, I'll still cheer you on at the base." Misato Katsuragi blinked.

Shinji Ikari didn't expect many people to come to watch his high jump, since everyone was busy during the morning session.

Then, when the high jump ended, sure enough, although the cheers from the stands were deafening, no familiar figures were seen, not even Asuka.

"Shinji, congratulations!" A girl with short orange hair squeezed through the crowd and handed flowers to Shinji Ikari.

Shinji Ikari remembered that the girl with short, orange-red hair in front of him was also a classmate, and her name was Kirishima Mana, I think. But she called him by his first name directly, which meant they were very close. "Ha, thank you." Although he didn't think it was a big deal since it was just a high jump competition, Shinji Ikari still accepted the flowers, because nobles wouldn't refuse any girl's kindness.

The girl smiled broadly, her eyes glued to him, her bright black pupils both pitiful and ingratiating. Upon closer inspection, one would notice a striking resemblance between the girl and Rei Ayanami, only her smile was even more radiant.

The girl was overjoyed by Shinji Ikari's rather ordinary response, until Shinji disappeared from her sight. The girl named Mana Kirishima instantly transformed from a well-behaved lady into an excited little monkey, rushing to her friend's side and shaking her shoulders.

"Shinji-kun is so cute! Does he like me too? Otherwise, why would he accept my flowers instead of theirs?"

"Ah, I guess so?" The friend looked at the excited Kirishima Mana and didn't know how to refute her for a moment.

After scanning the area and not finding Asuka anywhere, Shinji Ikari went to the rooftop and lay down on the ground. He placed his left hand on his forehead and stared directly at the not-yet-scorching sun.

"What's going on?" Shinji Ikari put his left hand to his forehead. "I've been thinking about her all day. I should have just made my move last night."

Not only was Asuka absent, but Rei Ayanami was also missing, and neither were Misato Katsuragi and Ritsuko Akagi, who were supposed to come. Shinji Ikari wasn't exactly anxious about the absence, but he was still somewhat disappointed.

In a hazy vision, he seemed to see a black dot appearing in the center of the sun, which was shimmering with light.

Shinji Ikari initially thought it was an illusion, but the black dot grew larger and larger until he could see its full form. It was a girl screaming loudly as she rapidly descended with gravity beneath a navy blue parachute.

"Scatter! Scatter! We're going to crash!"

Chapter 90: The Beginning of Destruction

Shinji Ikari didn't hesitate; in fact, one could say he was very obedient in this regard. He quickly stood up and cleared the space in the center of the rooftop so that the girl under the parachute could land safely.

Whether it was the summer breeze or the girl's flustered movements, just as Shinji Ikari stepped aside to make room in the corner, the girl's right hand pulled down slightly, causing the parachute, which should have landed precisely on the ground, to deflect by twenty degrees and hurtle towards Shinji.

"Oh, sorry, sorry... Waaah?" A muffled voice came from inside the dark blue parachute.

Shinji Ikari, who had already moved aside, lost his balance and fell to the ground because of the girl who fell from the sky and threw herself into his arms.

Shinji Ikari was dizzy. Even a seasoned veteran like him had never encountered a face wash falling from the sky like this!

His novel moves, based on the art of healing, unexpectedly struck Shinji Ikari with an arc-shaped circle, primarily using the "Sage Points the Way" technique. Shinji first caught off guard with a charge attack, followed by a "Dragon Tail Sweep," a pincer attack from both sides, a "Moon Embrace in Arms," ​​a "Bird Returns to the Forest," and finally a "Double Peak Piercing the Ear" combo... In a daze, Shinji couldn't even tell which sect's disciple was in front of him, possessing such a divine fighting style.

Enveloped in the girl's milky scent, I felt as if I were sinking into a marshmallow. Just as I was feeling tender, the girl pressed my shoulders down and pinned me beneath her.

At such a close distance, where even speaking would make one hesitate, a girl's sweet voice could be heard.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm nearsighted. Where are my glasses? Where are they?"

Shinji Ikari then realized that he had underestimated the hero in front of him, who not only unleashed a combo but also followed up with a Sage's Guidance.

The force of falling backward caused the girl's shoulder straps to slip down to her arms. Her large breasts were almost spilling out, and it looked like her clothes were about to slip down to where the front of her breasts would be visible.

However, she climbed over Shinji Ikari and groped around on the ground without paying any attention, until Shinji Ikari offered her the glasses. Only then did she happily take them and put them on.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that. Are you alright?"

The girl who had just descended from the sky revealed a radiant smile as the mechanical device at her waist rang at just the right moment. She got up from Shinji Ikari, dusted off the dirt from under her skirt, and pulled out a black phone that looked very old.

【Hello, Mary, have you arrived at the target location now? 】

【Yes, but I seem to have deviated slightly from the location. 】

Shinji Ikari watched as the girl who had fallen from the sky stood on the edge of the rooftop with her back to him, making a phone call in English. While most Japanese students, accustomed to traditional Japanese-accented English, might not understand her, Shinji was an exception.

The girl who fell from the sky was quietly talking on the phone while putting away her parachute on the edge of the rooftop. She probably thought that the Japanese students wouldn't understand what she was saying, but she didn't expect that her words would reach Shinji Ikari's ears without missing a single one.

This includes her status as an intruder who forced her way in without permission, not as a guest. However, judging from the conversation, she seemed quite confident that she would obtain a proper status in a while.

After making the call, the girl put away her parachute and turned around to stand close to Shinji Ikari.

The girl slowly approached like a cat, gently sniffing the scent on his neck, and closed her eyes in a state of blissful intoxication. "It's wonderful. I love not only the LCL residue, but also the scent on you."

But suddenly, she felt her chin being pinched. Following the force of the fingers pinching her chin, she slowly turned her head to look at the boy in front of her.

“The human nose has a special structure that allows it to detect pheromones emitted by others. And the sense of smell is highly related to the MHC gene in the body.” Shinji Ikari gazed into the girl’s beautiful green eyes and smiled. “And the fact that you like my scent is perhaps a sign that you fell in love with me at first sight.”

“Perhaps it was love at first sight long before that.” The girl smiled even more brightly, and she actually raised her hand to stroke Shinji Ikari’s cheek. “You’re so beautiful, your face, and your eyes.”

Shinji Ikari had a strange feeling that she was looking at another person through him.

“NERV’s little wolf dog…maybe it really is love at first sight? But could you please keep my affairs a secret?” The girl winked at Shinji Ikari. “As a thank you, I’ll treat you to milk tea next time we meet.”

“Of course, it’s my honor.” Shinji Ikari smiled.

Then he saw the girl grab the railing and jump straight down from the school building, which was more than forty meters high.

Shinji Ikari rushed to the railing, and the cheers of the sports meet surged out of the stadium like a surging tide. But he didn't see the dark blue parachute, nor did he see the girl.

"Great, I like girls who are a little crazy." Shinji Ikari stroked his chin.

The three-day sports meet was successfully completed, and the girl who suddenly appeared on the school rooftop never appeared again. The Third Tokyo City also experienced a long-awaited period of peace.

Shinji Ikari would occasionally think of that girl, and he always had a feeling that he had seen her somewhere before.

Time quickly moved into the latter half of August, and Shinji Ikari learned from a phone call specifically from Ritsuko Akagi that a simulation test experiment would be conducted the next morning.