Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

"Wait, wait a minute!"

Just then, Asuka came over with sparkling eyes, hugged Tsugumi's leg, and said in a childish, spoiled voice that wouldn't allow anyone to refuse.

"My angel, if I become the best pilot, will you let me stay with my mother forever?"

Tsugumi looked at little Asuka, squatted down, stroked her head, and chuckled softly.

"There's no need for that. In the end, no matter what, I will make sure that Asuka and her mother live happily ever after."

Tsuruga will help all good children who deserve help to achieve a happy ending.

"But only by becoming the best child can I be pampered by you even more, right!"

Asuka looked up, her big, bright eyes fixed on Tsugumi, and confessed with a blush on her face.

"I want to be with you, my angel, not just with my mother!"

"...I'm not your father."

"An angel could be!" Asuka climbed onto him, looking at him with teary eyes.

"Asuka wants the angel to be her father, but not her mother's husband."

Tsugumi fell silent, revealing an awkward yet polite smile. She then raised her foot and, taking advantage of Asuka's inattention, kicked her out of the dream!

Asuka woke up, watching the night sky flash by outside the shuttle, the girl, reluctant to leave her beautiful dream, murmured like a spoiled kitten.

"Waaaaah~~~ I absolutely, absolutely must become the best..."

Even on the path to godhood, there will be endless killing! :259. The Rising City of Innocence

Four months later, the valley town on the outskirts of Tokyo-3, where the once dilapidated church was located, has been completely transformed.

The SUV stopped on a gentle slope at the end of the mountain road. Misato Katsuragi turned off the engine, took off her sunglasses, and stared at everything in front of her, speechless for a long time.

"Wow." The man in the driver's seat whistled, picked up his binoculars and held them up to his eyes. "This is really... amazing."

Kaji Ryoji, this free-spirited man, possessed a handsome face that women both loved and hated, and eyes that seemed perpetually observing something. At this moment, he was using those eyes to carefully examine the town in the valley through binoculars—

No, that can no longer be called a settlement; it already has the basic framework of a town.

The church, once half-collapsed, has now been completely restored—or rather, rebuilt. Its spire soars high, its stained glass windows gleam in the sunlight, and a massive cross stands atop the bell tower, shimmering golden against the blue sky. The sound of bells echoes from there, distant and peaceful.

The church is surrounded by a large complex of buildings that stretch along the gentle slopes on both sides of the valley. Neat rows of wooden dormitories, sturdy stone warehouses, and several building frames under construction reveal future plans.

More spacious accommodations, better facilities, and even a two-story building that looks like a school.

But people are more important.

The telescope's lens swept across the streets, the fields, and the square in front of the church. He saw old men weaving bamboo baskets under the shade of trees, women washing clothes and chatting by the well, young men carrying timber down from the mountain, and children lining up to walk out of that small building—that must be the school—with the adults at the back carrying books.

These people had sweat, dust, and the weariness of labor on their faces. But their eyes were bright and piercing.

I haven't seen that kind of blessing in a long time; it represents hope for life, certainty about the future, and a very rare kind of piety.

It is a devout faith that completely surrenders oneself to a higher being and firmly believes that the other can make one better.

"How did he do that?" Kaji muttered to himself, putting down his binoculars.

Before returning to Japan, he read through all the information on the Third Child, so it can be said that his understanding of Shinji Ikari is second to none in the world.

But the way this boy is behaving now is completely different from what he has been like for the past ten years or so.

Does this mean that his leadership qualities naturally awakened when the time came?

After all, Shinji Ikari's father was a similar kind of man, who had even been a petty thug a long time ago, but now he had become a highly respected leader whom many people were willing to follow.

"Hmph." Misato Katsuragi next to him made an ambiguous nasal sound.

Kaji turned his head and saw that the Minister of War was standing with his arms crossed, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his eyes fixed on the front, with an expression that said, "I don't want to talk, but I feel suffocated if I don't."

"What's wrong?" Kaji asked knowingly, with a smile that made women grit their teeth in anger.

"It's nothing," Katsuragi Misato said curtly.

"Oh." Kaji nodded, then raised the binoculars again. "That church is really nicely renovated. Are the stained glass windows newly installed? Is that a school over there? There's actually a school... Are those children going to school? What are they learning? The Bible? Or just regular academic subjects?"

"How should I know!" Misato Katsuragi finally exploded. "I'm not a regular here! I'm just the errand boy who delivers supplies every month! And that kid still has to nitpick and say this isn't enough or that isn't good enough!"

"So why do you insist on having me as your driver!"

Kaji put down his binoculars, listened quietly until she finished venting, and then nodded seriously: "It sounds like you've had a very fulfilling few months."

“Blessings for good governance!!!”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Kaji laughed and raised his hands in surrender. “But seriously, Misato, to do all this—” He gestured toward the valley, “you can’t do it just by having money and resources.”

Misato Katsuragi remained silent. Of course, she knew that for the past four months, she had come at least once a month to deliver the supplies Shinji Ikari had obtained by killing the Angels. Every time she came, this place had changed.

New houses were built, new fields were cultivated, and new people moved in.

Where did those people come from? From the shelters in Tokyo-3, from the ruins of surrounding prefectures, from those forgotten corners. They were often people abandoned by the city and society, or people yearning for a new life, arriving here with scars on their bodies, and then, under Shinji Ikari's gaze, standing up, starting to work, and finding the strength to live.

In just a few months, the number of people here has swelled from a few hundred to nearly six figures, and even people from the vicinity of Tokyo Third City have been flocking here.

Misato Katsuragi couldn't understand why the citizens of Tokyo-3 would abandon a safe city and the protection of NERV to live in such a completely unprotected place.

Is it just because of Shinji Ikari's charm alone?

370 >>

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371

Or is it because Misato Katsuragi couldn't understand her belief?

She had personally witnessed an elderly man who had lost both legs distributing communion to believers at the church entrance, his daily work consisting of simply watching countless people come and go. Once, she couldn't resist striking up a conversation with him, and the old man casually recounted his tragic past, then asked Misato Katsuragi where his courage to live now came from.

"Looking at him, I feel that there is still hope in this world."

Is it Shinji Ikari? Or the 'Holy Spirit' they worship? Perhaps it's both, but for Misato Katsuragi, an atheist who, due to her own experiences, rejects, loathes, and even fears the Christian faith, it's completely incomprehensible.

She didn't know what to say then, and she doesn't know now.

"That child," Kaji put away his binoculars, his tone unusually serious, "what kind of person is Commander Ikari's son?"

"...An extraordinary person?" Misato Katsuragi asked uncertainly.

“Truly remarkable, Misato,” Kaji Ryoji said earnestly. “Many people can rebuild a city in four years. But to help so many refugees who have lost everything to live like human beings again in just four months—”

"That is indeed an amazing skill."

The back door was pushed open, and a person jumped out.

"Have you finished looking?" A loud voice, laced with disdain, rang out. "What are you standing here for? Just go find him!"

A white dress, golden twin tails, and a fiercely competitive flame burning in her azure eyes—the Second Child, Asuka Langley Soryu, has just been transferred to Japan from the German branch.

Kaji turned to her and smiled, "So, Asuka? What do you think of this competitor?"

Asuka stood with her hands on her hips, gazing at the church in the distance, at the people working in the fields, at the shimmering stained glass bell tower, and at the monks in black robes moving about.

What she saw was his work, that person who was also chosen by the angels, that person favored by Him, that person she had to surpass—Shinji Ikari!

Wow, that's certainly a formidable opponent! But Asuka will never admit defeat or back down verbally!

“The angel said,” she murmured softly, only she could hear, “that if I become the best, I can stay with Mom forever…”

“So Shinji Ikari,” she raised her head, her gaze fixed intently on the church, “you just wait!”

"Hmph!" She let out a crisp snort. "So what if I built a few dilapidated houses? What's so great about that! I graduated from university when I was twelve. Building houses is something I can learn just by looking at it!"

Misato Katsuragi and Kaji exchanged a glance, both seeing the mockery in each other's eyes.

"Would you like to get in the car first, and we'll drive in?" Misato asked.

"No!" Asuka tossed her twin tails and strode forward. "I'll walk over there! I'll show him my power! That Shinji Ikari guy, just you wait!"

Her back view exuded confidence, her twin ponytails fluttering in the wind, and her steps were heavy and fast, as if she were about to kick someone's butt.

Watching her retreating figure, Misato Katsuragi suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Kaji, do you know why Asuka is in such a hurry to see Shinji? Logically speaking, she should familiarize herself with the environment first since she just arrived in Japan."

Kaji Ryoji lit a cigarette, took a drag, and slowly exhaled.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “But I heard that when she was in Germany, she asked about Ikari every day. She was like a madwoman during training, which startled everyone.”

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know. But once I asked her why she worked so hard, and she said—" Kaji paused, squinting as he recalled.

That proud girl, unusually serious, spoke in a voice only she could hear:

"Because only by becoming the best can one be loved by Him forever."

Misato Katsuragi was stunned: "He?"

"Who knows?" Kaji flicked his cigarette ash and sighed as he watched Asuka's retreating figure. "They're all strange kids."

Outside the SUV, Asuka had already reached the entrance to the town. She took a deep breath and strode across the gate.

"Shinji Ikari!" Her voice boomed through the street, startling several pigeons. "Come out here! Asuka Langley Soryu has come to challenge you!"

An elderly monk in a black robe stepped out from the crowd and looked at her kindly: "Young lady, are you looking for the priest?"

"Father?" Asuka was taken aback, then realized, "Ah, it's Shinji Ikari! Where is he?"

The old monk smiled and pointed towards the church: "The priest is in the bell tower, telling stories to the children. Just follow this path until you see that—"

"Okay, okay!" Asuka interrupted him and ran away.

Her pigtails fluttered in the wind, her footsteps tapped rapidly on the stone pavement, and her heart pounded faster and faster—

She was finally going to see him, the one chosen by the angels, the one she had to surpass and replace!

Inside the church bell tower, Shinji Ikari sat among a group of children, flipping through a picture book.

"...Then the brave young man took his sword and walked toward the giant monster..." His voice was gentle and calm, like a mountain stream.

“Father,” a little girl raised her hand, “isn’t that boy afraid?”

“He’s afraid.” Shinji Ikari nodded. “He’s very afraid.”

"Then why did he still go?"

Shinji Ikari reached out and patted the little girl's head, smiling as he said, "Because if he didn't go, the monster would hurt even more people. So even though he was afraid, he still went. But in the end, the boy who defeated the visible monster still couldn't shake his cowardice."

“He’s a brave boy too!” the little girl said earnestly.