Nobita's Time Heist

His gaze swept over Shinji; this was probably the only time Gendo Ikari and his son made eye contact so far.

He remained as cold and indifferent as ever, as if he were looking at a complete stranger, someone who had only glanced at him "casually."

"The pilot of Unit-01 was recruited on short notice. He had never been on the battlefield before and had not received any training. As far as I know, he is cowardly, selfish, suspicious, has poor stress tolerance, lacks initiative, and is incapable of judging situations. In addition to these, he is quite immature psychologically and is prone to disobeying orders, such as deserting in the face of battle."

Gendo Ikari said without any mercy, "To describe him in an old saying, he's 'utterly useless,' a hopeless case. I'm explaining the situation to you in advance so that you don't have too high expectations of him."

"..." Shinji did not refute his words, but lowered his gaze even further, as if he wanted to count out exactly how many tiles were on the floor.

"There are geniuses in this world, and there are also mediocre people. It is cruel to use the same standards to judge both. Just because he is a good fit for Unit-01 and can sit in the pilot's seat of EVA does not mean that he can become a hero who saves the world. In fact, he is still someone who can't do anything right."

Gendo Ikari looked at his son and spoke these words without emotion, each sentence like a knife stabbing into the boy's heart. Clearly, in front of everyone, Shinji was being completely and utterly rejected by his own father, leaving him utterly devastated. Yet, Shinji's expression showed no sign of distress; he simply used numbness as a weapon to cope with the inner trauma.

This is actually a skill that working people who have entered society have to learn through repeated failures and setbacks—theoretically speaking, no matter how hurtful something is, as long as you don't feel anything deep down, you're okay. Because of his incredibly unlucky father, Shinji managed to master this skill at a very young age.

He knew very well that his father was doing this on purpose; he wanted to hurt him, to turn those words into sharp knives and stab them into his chest.

Correct.

As long as you don't feel anything, that's fine.

As long as there is no feeling, and a high and thick wall is erected between the doors of the heart, without exposing the softness of the soul, nothing can hurt him.

……

"Splash—!!"

The sudden sound drew his attention and pulled him out of his increasingly narrow mental barriers.

Nobita stared at Gendo Ikari for a long time, then suddenly reached into his pocket, pulled out a stack of white papers, and scattered them into the air. He wasn't very strong, but the papers still spread out in an artistic way, drifting everywhere, with one of them landing right at Shinji's feet.

Upon picking it up and taking a look, his expression immediately changed, showing a hint of disbelief.

At the top of the test paper, the name "Nobita Nobi" was written in crooked handwriting, and the questions below were covered with red checkmarks. (Japanese grading practices differ from China's; checkmarks indicate errors, and circles indicate correct answers, but this practice varies from person to person.) This was a fourth-grade math test paper. He hadn't gotten a single question right—true/false, multiple choice, or calculation problems. A large zero hung in the upper right corner of the paper, perfectly rounded and particularly glaring.

Shinji was stunned for a moment, seemingly unable to believe that this was a score that could exist in reality. There were even true/false and multiple-choice questions in it. Even if you didn't know any of them, you could still guess the answers by closing your eyes and guessing a couple of times, right?

However, Nobita truly possesses the ability to perfectly avoid all the correct answers. Shinji picked a few calculation problems, glanced at the process, and found that the overall approach was correct, but in the smallest details, it was easy to suddenly lose focus and continue making mistakes all the way through.

"..." Gendo Ikari didn't reach for the exam papers, but stared intently at Nobita, his wariness towards him growing stronger.

"Shinji." Nobita turned around, his words falling on the boy's ears like a spring breeze, gently melting the ice sealed in his heart, "When you were in fourth grade, how many points would you have gotten on a test like this?"

"Well..." Shinji was a little embarrassed and gave a rather reluctant number, "Seventy or eighty points, that should be fine, right?"

"Then you're not someone who's 'achieved nothing' anymore."

Da Xiong patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "At least you're better than me."

I'm taking a day off today.

I have some things to take care of these past few days and won't have time to update. I hope you readers will understand. I'm taking a day off today, and if all goes well, I will resume normal updates tomorrow.

------

Just filling up the word count, 一 ...

Chapter 363: The First Step in Breaking Through the Walls of the Heart

"Wow, full of mistakes!" Asuka also found a test paper. She was also a top student selected from all over Germany, so her evaluation was much harsher. "To be able to get these questions wrong, I have to say, you are very creative. Most people can't do that."

"This." Rei Ayanami flipped through a geography test paper, and unsurprisingly, the red checkmarks on it were almost a continuous line. What was most outrageous was that there were a full fifty true/false questions on the paper, which was like a quiz. She hadn't gotten a single one right. "Was this done on purpose?"

"Someone asked me that before—'Nobita, these are all multiple choice questions, how come you got them all wrong? Did you do so badly on purpose? Actually, you knew the answers to all the questions, but you just wanted to show off, so you filled them all in backwards, right?' Haha!" Recalling his junior high school days, Nobita couldn't help but laugh out loud, then sighed and frankly admitted, "Unfortunately, that's not the case. When I was doing the test, I took every question seriously, but this is the final result."

"My grades have never been great, and my athletic ability is terrible. When I'm dragged to play baseball, I always miss the ball, and I can't catch it at all. I can't ski, ice skate, ride horses, or swim. Whenever my friends go to do these kinds of sports, they either end up building sandcastles on the beach or snowmen in the snow. As for my stamina, it's even worse. Last time I messed up the markings on the 'Strong Will Stone,' and I almost had to run a marathon for a year straight, hahaha..."

Empathy.

Compared to those various secret gadgets and powerful ships and cannons, this is Nobita's most powerful weapon.

Much later, on the eve of Nobita's wedding, Shizuka's father comforted his daughter's anxieties about the future with these words: "Don't worry, Dad thinks your choice is fine. Nobita is a young man who will rejoice for the happiness of others and grieve for their misfortune. As a human being, this is the most important quality."

This powerful ability to empathize wasn't something Nobita was born with. Long ago, he was also a child somewhat like Shinji, with a melancholic disposition. Compared to Shinji, he had a loving father and mother, and Doraemon, with whom he could talk about almost anything.

However, in his own life, he is an absolute failure. From the perspective of an elite educator like Gendo Ikari, he is probably the worst of the worst. Nobita himself feels useless, but he can't bring himself to change because he's afraid that if he tries to change and the result is still unsatisfactory, what will he do then?

Until a boy named "Du Mu Jun" entered his life.

Duomu-kun is a transfer student from the next town. He's bad at everything—studying, sports—and even worse than Nobita. Nobita is overjoyed—finally, someone is worse than him! He starts to gloat over this tiny, pitiful advantage. Before, when he got a zero on a test or forgot to do his homework, he felt at least a little guilty, but now that's completely gone. When asked, he just says, "Duomu-kun is even worse than me," acting like he's found a partner to slack off with.

But to his surprise, Duomu never intended to give up like him. Despite being in a quagmire, he was still trying his best to learn and live, wanting to become a better version of himself than he had been yesterday.

With the help of Doraemon's gadgets, Nobita had a chance to switch perspectives—Doraemon became himself, while he was replaced by Suneo. This was the first time in his life that he understood the importance of empathy, and he felt deeply ashamed of his past words and actions. The final separation from Doraemon became a precious memory buried deep in his heart.

It all felt like a dream, fleeting and swift. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder, did this boy really exist? Could he simply be a messenger sent by heaven to teach him the importance of compassion for others?

……

"Nobita..." Shinji's voice trembled slightly. Since he could remember, this was the first time in his dark life that someone had chosen him so resolutely. Because he was too excited, his face flushed slightly, and the solid wall that had always stood in his heart seemed to be loosening a little.

"So... even if it's me like this... it's okay?" After being completely rejected by his father, a yearning for recognition rose in the boy's increasingly fragile heart. "Maybe he's right, maybe... in the end, I'll disappoint you."

"If you don't want to open it, that's fine too."

Shinji looked up in surprise. He had heard the same words from his father before—"If you can do it, do it; if you can't, go back home." Then Rei Ayanami, covered in bandages, was pushed out.

For some reason, the same words spoken by Nobita evoked completely different feelings. At least Shinji felt that, in his mind, if he ultimately refused to pilot the EVA, Nobita would throw him a grand farewell party and then say goodbye with a smile.

"Life is a process of trial and error. Who can guarantee that they will find the right thing right away?"

Nobita patted Shinji on the shoulder and gave him a warm smile. "So, no matter what the final result is, there's no need to feel sorry. Even someone as timid as you stepped forward last night and saved many complete strangers."

"On the contrary, you should be incredibly proud of this."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

……

A sudden, loud round of applause erupted. Under everyone's gaze, Gendo Ikari clapped while turning his gaze back to Nobita. Strangely, although his eyes were smiling, the look behind his glasses was icy cold. "Truly worthy of you, your level of thought has reached a height unattainable by us mortals. Originally, I was somewhat worried and wanted to keep the most qualified candidate here..."

"??!" Asuka was clearly not convinced by this statement, but before she could say anything, Kaji pressed her head down, finally preventing her from interrupting when the commander spoke.

"After hearing what you just said, I think that entrusting Li to you for training might not be a bad thing. She grew up here and is almost out of touch with society, and doesn't have many friends. This is a good opportunity to let her see the world from your perspective."

"Li, are you alright?"

He pretended to ask Rei Ayanami for her opinion, but the girl didn't say anything. She just hummed softly, silently folded the 0-point test paper, and put it into her skirt pocket.

"Just getting permission to hand these three over to you will require a lot of effort for me to explain to my superiors. I'm sure you can understand my difficulties."

He's a seasoned and ambitious man, mastering the art of feigned retreat to the point of perfection. His plan in this series is to send all three of them together, first mentioning two, and then throwing Rei out last. This repeated maneuvering makes it seem as if Nobita owes him a favor.

"I have a small request, and I hope you will agree to it."

Chapter 364: Great Views Agree

“Hua La La—”

The sound of hot water being squeezed out from the edge.

After working non-stop for nearly 24 hours, Gendo Ikari finally finished dealing with everything that needed to be done. Even with his iron will, he felt quite exhausted. Normally, he lived a frugal and efficient life, but for once, he began to enjoy himself, taking a bath. Even at this point, his mind was still working, replaying the entire incident over and over again, and speculating on possible future scenarios.

"What a mess, Ikari..." Fuyutsuki, who was standing next to him, leaned against the edge of the hot spring bath, put a towel on his forehead, and complained, "I'm almost 60 years old, an old man, and I've barely slept for a day and a night to help you deal with this mess. If I have to endure this every day, my lifespan will probably be greatly shortened."

“Professor, if you want to live out your life in peace, you should retire at that small clinic,” Gendo Ikari said mercilessly. “The work we do now is related to the safety of the world. I think this kind of workload is too easy.”

"The safety of the world rests on his shoulders..." Fuyutsuki removed the hot towel from her head, turned her head, and looked at him meaningfully. "Is provoking powerful enemies also part of your 'protecting the world' plan? You and I just saw it with our own eyes. Once he gets serious, the apostles are nothing more than food served on a plate. The difference in strength has reached such an exaggerated level, yet you still think he would have any designs on us?"

"His technology far surpasses ours, I certainly won't deny that, but..."

"Even the best tools are driven by people, and that person is not as strong as we imagine; his weaknesses are obvious."

Gendo Ikari cupped his hands in hot water, then slightly parted his fingers to let it flow through, like watching sand slowly fall in an hourglass. "Professor, you and I are from the same era, yet you failed to notice Nobita's weakness. As the vice commander of NERV, such observation skills are not something I can trust."

Dongyue raised her eyebrows, making a "I'm all ears" expression.

"human nature."

Gendo Ikari raised a finger, and even though there were only the two of them in the huge bathhouse, he deliberately lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard, and said, "I sensed it from the moment he fought Unit-01. Unit-01 tore down a building and slammed it down on him. He had many ways to avoid it, or to smash it in mid-air, but he didn't. Instead, he chose to block it with his own body."

"This action shows that he did not want to escalate the damage. If the building crashes to the ground or is intercepted in the air, the debris will hit the ground and affect a wide area, which could very likely cause collateral damage."

"Heh, yeah, how come I didn't think of that?" Fuyutsuki shook her head with a hint of sarcasm. "You wouldn't care if it were you, would you?"

Gendo Ikari did not comment on his sarcasm, but continued, "You saw it today too. The knowledge in those exam papers is not at all ahead of ours. At least it proves that during the education stage, his values ​​should be highly similar to those of normal people."

"So... after all that analysis, your brilliant idea is to have your men seduce him?" Dongyue squinted, watching the rising steam, seemingly lost in thought. "Judging from his appearance, he doesn't seem like the type to be won over by such a low-level trick."

"No, it's not love." For Gendo Ikari, the emotions that arise naturally in humans are also a pawn that can be used. He is good at standing on an absolutely calm and detached position, looking down at and manipulating the feelings of others at will. "It's a deeper kind of dependence... He would subconsciously look at Commander Katsuragi, even if the topic of conversation had nothing to do with her."

"Isn't it strange? It was Commander Katsuragi who went alone and facilitated this dialogue. Before that, NERV and he were practically enemies; Unit-01 and Unit-00 had both attacked him. How did she persuade him to put aside his hostility and sit down to negotiate with us?"

"..." Fuyuki looked at him with a complicated expression, a very conflicted feeling: on the one hand, he was disgusted by Gendo Ikari's cold-blooded way of thinking; but on the other hand, his rationality told him that in order to achieve great things in this bizarre world, he needed such an eccentric genius who would stop at nothing.

“We must ensure that there is at least one of our people by his side. My orders to Commander Katsuragi are to seize this emotional connection, gain his trust, and send any intelligence obtained through this line to MAGI’s mainframe for analysis. The more information we have, the more realistic our simulated 'Nobita Nobi' personality will be, to the point that we can predict his next move.”

"The premise is that after contacting him, Commander Katsuragi remains 'one of yours'," Fuyutsuki pointed out the only flaw in the plan. "Will that be?"

"...Yes." Despite being soaking in the warm pool, Gendo Ikari let out a chilling laugh. "She's a woman who's easily swayed by lust and emotions. The trauma she experienced in her childhood makes her constantly search for her father's shadow in love. She wants someone as strong as her father, someone who can dominate the relationship. Only with such a person will she open her heart."

"It's obvious that Nobita doesn't possess these qualities, and therefore can't win her heart. Ultimately, Commander Katsuragi will surely live up to his mission and bring us enough information to help MAGI build up the persona of this extraterrestrial visitor..."

He suddenly covered his hair and looked back very warily.

There was nothing but rising white steam.

"What's wrong, Ikari?" Fuyutsuki looked back and said half-jokingly, "Is your blood pressure too high, and you're finally hallucinating from exhaustion?"

"Just now... there was a subtle stinging sensation... like someone plucked a hair from my head." Gendo Ikari's caution and suspicious nature made him exceptionally sensitive to any changes in himself. Even in this absolutely safe and relaxed environment, he immediately went on alert. "Who's here!"

"What are you talking about?" Dongyue found it utterly unbelievable. "Would he really come all the way to this bathhouse just to watch two grown men taking a bath?"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

On the other side, in a dark room.

"【Mind Detector】—!!"

(Mind Detector: A machine resembling a small television. Theoretically, any human body tissue contains its complete genetic information. By inserting just a single hair, the machine can reconstruct all of the test subject's memories and personality based on the genetic information. Asking questions to this simulated personality will always yield honest answers, hence the name. It's important to note that people's true feelings are often undisguised and can sometimes be quite hurtful. Nobita once plucked a strand of Shizuka's hair to ask her what she wanted for her birthday, thus glimpsing an unexpected "materialistic" side to this girl next door—for example, what she truly desired were expensive things like a piano and a tennis court, which slightly disillusioned him.)

In a sense, they were thinking the same thing, but Nobita acted much faster than Gendo Ikari.

Place the removed hair into the machine and gently press the button.

……

"Zizzizi..."

Amidst the noise, the commander's lifeless face appeared on the screen.

Chapter 365: The Adult World

When he first saw him, Da Xiong was still a little nervous.

But then he remembered what Doraemon had told him: the person appearing on the screen wasn't a real person, but a personality projection with a thought pattern completely identical to that of a real person.

Information extracted from genetic material is guaranteed to be 100% authentic. Therefore, in the future world, this tool was once banned from sale due to its excessive invasion of privacy, circulating only on a limited black market. It was also used for interrogating prisoners, bypassing cumbersome procedures and obtaining the most truthful confessions directly.

What exactly is the Human Instrumentality Project?

"..."

Got no response.

Similar situations have occurred. When Nobita asked it, "What does Shizuka like to eat the most?" it received two ambiguous options: "Her second favorite is cookies," and "Her third favorite is lemon cake." When asked questions that the person in question strongly resists, the personality projection will try to avoid the answer, or beat around the bush and refuse to answer. However, the good thing is that it is, after all, a projection, a machine-generated string of data, and data means it can be adjusted.

Seeing that things were going wrong, Nobita started frantically adjusting the knob, setting the "honesty level" to the maximum, and repeated the question, "Answer me, Gendo Ikari. What exactly is the Human Instrumentality Project?!"

"..." Under maximum pressure, Gendo Ikari's mouth did move slightly, but not noticeably, with the movement almost like lip reading.

"I refuse to believe it!" Da Xiong gritted his teeth, clearly determined to argue with the deadpan expression on the screen, and changed the subject, "What do you think of your son?"

“I have no opinion.” In the dimly lit room, separated by a screen, Gendo Ikari spoke the cruel truth: “Even blood relatives are still just people. My opinion of him remains the same: cowardly, timid, selfish, useless, a callow and vulnerable child. If he hadn’t been lucky enough to become a suitable candidate, such a person would have no value in being trained.”

It's very true, but it does align with his values. That's basically what he expressed to Shinji during the meeting.

Most importantly, through this question, Nobita confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the props.

"Alright, then answer me, what exactly is the Human Instrumentality Project?!"

He turned the dial to the maximum, not allowing Gendo Ikari to remain silent. In fact, this time, the commander on the screen did indeed respond.