"Ayanami-san..." Shinji Ikari tried to talk to Ayanami Rei.
"What?" The girl who lowered her head to read raised her eyes slightly and looked over the top of her glasses frame to look at him.
"No, it's okay, just do your business." Shinji Ikari scratched his head and looked away.
"Yeah." Rei Ayanami lowered his head again.
How should I put it, it was a good thing that the synchronization rate returned to the passing line, but it was a bit troublesome afterwards, because the students who were idle in the assembly garden began to spread the gossip that he and Rei Ayanami were a couple.
If nothing else, it must be Suzuhara Higashi's gossip. Of course, it is also possible that he and Ayanami were seen by other classmates when they were riding the train or watching movies.
After all, those behaviors are all about dating.
We are obviously only fourteen years old!
...If you think about it carefully, it doesn't seem like a big problem.
It’s not about age!
No, forget it, does he have to explain to people that Ayanami-san is an apostle and it is impossible to fall in love with a human?
If you really ask her what she thinks about these rumors...
--Know.
——Why should you care?
——You care about this matter?
When the time comes, it’s you who won’t be able to step down.
Shinji Ikari hesitated for a moment and decided to change the question.
"Well, I've thought about it carefully these days. Isn't the purpose of the apostle to rescue Eve who is sealed in the underground fortress? If it's you, it should be easy to do, right? Is father wary of you?"
"No."
"That……"
"Are you tired of this battle?" Ayanami Rei closed the book and looked up.
"Huh? Are you okay..." Shinji Ikari scratched his head.
After all, driving a giant robot is fun, but I haven’t fully figured out the card system yet.
"There are two ways to end this battle," Ayanami Rei seemed to have turned into a ruthless information repeater: "First, I merge with Eve and activate the 'Planet Life Reshaping Program' to destroy the world. The new world will be in a very long time.
There will be no fighting for a period of time. Second, destroy all the incoming apostles, let Eve continue to sleep, and the current status of the world remains unchanged."
"This..." Shinji Ikari tried to clear his mind.
"I will not destroy this world," Rei Ayanami added: "At least not until Mr. Ikari Gendo dies."
I can only wish my father a long life.
"For all the apostles, do you know how many there are?" Shinji Ikari asked instead.
"Not sure, but I will know when they appear." Ayanami Rei pointed to her glasses.
Then the "Information Integrated Thought Body" can make snitches, right?
Huh? Wait, this "all apostles" doesn't include herself?
"Except for the fact that I can also enable Eve to start the planet's life reshaping process, I am no different from humans. I will grow old and die." Ayanami Rei further explained as if he had guessed what he was thinking.
Well, indeed, she was still wearing a bandage before, and it took almost a month for her to fully recover. Shinji Ikari nodded while picking up the water glass on the table.
"You can fall in love, you can get married." Ayanami Rei continued.
"Pfft--" Shinji Ikari turned his head suddenly and sprayed water all over the floor.
"After analysis by the 'Information Integrated Thought Body', you want to ask this." Ayanami Rei had no consciousness of what he had just said.
"You bastard database! Don't meddle in other people's business!" Shinji Ikari wiped his mouth with one hand and pointed at the ceiling - God knows where that missing body is - and cursed: "If you really like the other person, you won't care what the other person is! Even if
It’s a pure soul or a doll!”
Rei Ayanami looked at Shinji Ikari's incompetent rage and did not respond. Only after he finally stopped did he say: "Go back, the fifth apostle has appeared."
——
NERV headquarters.
"[The target has passed Zeta!]"
"[Optical scanning confirmed it to be a blue octahedron! No obvious weakness was found!]"
"[Unit No. 1 has completed preparations for sortie!]"
"[The target has arrived above Lake Ashi!]"
Hmm... the apostle seems to be quite beautiful this time? Shinji Ikari sat in the insertion plug and looked at the image of the apostle coming from the outside.
It was a crystal clear blue rhombus, constantly flashing with a faint blue light under the sunlight, and it was floating in the air and heading towards the third New Tokyo City at a constant speed.
Ta-da-da...boom-boom-boom...
As always, in order to prove that they were not wasting their tax dollars, the Ground Alliance used self-propelled cannons and missile positions to carry out a wave of painless bombings against the apostles, but the difference from before was...
Jiao - Jiao -
Several light blue beams of light flashed past the apostle's body, destroying all weapons attacking it almost simultaneously.
"[Confirm that the fifth apostle's attack method is similar to that of the third apostle, Shinji-kun. Be prepared to respond when encountering laser weapons.]"
"Understood." Shinji Ikari glanced at the chestnut ball floating next to him. It looked at the beautiful appearance like the apostle's gem with gleaming eyes.
Don't look at it, it's the enemy and needs to be demolished.
"【emission!】"
call……
Almost at the same time as it was launched, Shinji Ikari's "Duel Disk" appeared on his left hand.
Huh? This counts as entering a battle?
Shinji Ikari hesitated for half a second, and then directly drew the card based on the idea that if he didn't draw, it would be useless.
[Elemental Hero·Bubble Man]
Could you please shuffle the deck? I really miss the normal magic and trap cards.
With the idea of better than nothing, Shinji Ikari "summoned" Blister Man.
At the same time, the text on the Bubble Man card flashed.
[When there is only this card in hand and on the field, draw two cards]
I was wrong! Please be the first to come every time in the future!
"[A high-energy reaction occurs within the apostle! An attack is about to launch!]"
"[What! It started to deform!]"
"[Damn it! What is that?]"
"[Shinji-kun! Get out of the way!]"
Shinji Ikari was reaching out to draw a card, but the headquarters was in chaos, and Misato Katsuragi even started yelling.
I'm on the way to eject, even if you say you want to avoid...
Tsk-tsk!
Unit 1 arrived on the ground.
Now let me see what has become of the apostle...
what is that!?
Shinji Ikari originally thought that the diamond-shaped apostle might have opened or rotated, but...
What appeared in front of him was a giant dragon with a red body, scales and armor, four claws and two wings, two mouths on its head, and endless thunder wrapped around its body.
Don’t have any illusions at this time!
"[Kakakaka——]" The giant dragon let out a terrifying roar, and one of its mouths opened and spit out a ball of ball lightning towards Unit 1.
boom--!
Bubble Man didn't have time to react and turned into a puff of golden light.
The next moment, the dragon's second mouth opened and spit out a thick stream of white breath towards Unit 1.
"[Unit No. 1 was directly hit by laser!]"
"[The armor is damaged!]"
"[The laser intensity is still increasing!]"
Obviously, what the headquarters saw was completely different from his own, so he should avoid it anyway... huh?
Shinji Ikari tried to control Unit-00 to avoid the attack, but Unit-00 remained as motionless as when the synchronization rate was 0%.
Is the 59% sync rate fake? Now is not the time to lose your temper—
call--
At this moment, Shinji Ikari saw a new illusion. It was not the previous "seeing something that actually existed as something else", but "observing a certain scene from the perspective of a movie or television."
And this scene is: the huge red dragon is breathing dragon breath condescendingly, and the bandaged "Large Ayanami Rei" is facing away from the dragon breath, protecting the little Shinji Ikari in the palm of his hand, even though his back is constantly
Even if it burns and carbonizes, it won't move.
"..."
Looking at this illusion, Shinji Ikari suddenly remembered many things that he had ignored intentionally or unintentionally before. The higher the synchronization rate of the EVA driver, the easier it is to control the body, but at the same time, when the body is damaged, the driver will feel it on the mental level.
For the same pain, the higher the synchronization rate, the greater the pain.
However, against the third and fourth apostles, no matter how the No. 1 unit was attacked, he didn't feel it at all.
You idiot, you already knew that it was an "artificial apostle", didn't you? How could you still think of it, no, as a giant robot?
Even if she was hurt before, she would act according to her instructions, but this time it was different. Although she didn't know what the fifth apostle was, its attack made it impossible for Unit 1 to continue to act as usual.
"[The armor plate was completely penetrated!]"
"[EVA body begins to dissolve!]"
"[Execute emergency recovery procedures!]"
"[No! The high temperature has melted all the nearby mechanical structures!]"
"[Contact with insertion plug interrupted!]"
"[Shinji-kun!]"
"Really... I spent a whole day improving the synchronization rate, not just for you to do this..." Shinji Ikari looked at warning messages flashing around him, and suddenly shouted: "Damn dragon! Give it to me.
Shut your stinky mouth!"
Without looking, he slapped the card he just drew on the duel plate.
"Attack incapacity" or "magic tube" must be one of them!
[Astral Barrier: Attacks against one's own monsters will become direct attacks against one's own. 】
Huh?
In the illusion, a rippled orange shield suddenly rose up around the little Shinji Ikari, completely covering the large Ayanami Rei. However, the red dragon's attack did not stop, and instead began to ablate the orange shield.
Shield, the large Ayanami Rei, who was originally enduring the attack, looked a little dull at the small Ikari Shinji who started rolling around in his palm.
The next moment, the illusion shattered and disappeared.
"Gu...ha...ha...so this is...a normal...experience for a driver?" Shinji Ikari endured the pain of having his chest drilled violently and took a picture of the second card he had just drawn.
.
[Forced Escape Device: Return a monster card on the field to your hand. 】
BANG! Unit No. 1 stomped heavily, trampling directly through the passage gate it had just popped out of, and then the entire machine fell down.
"Asshole...even if there is a counterattack trap card..." Shinji Ikari's consciousness began to blur, and he was still mumbling to himself.
[Kuri Kuri...] Li Ziqiu spreads his hands and shakes his head.
"What... the other party is a god? Not affected by trap cards? This makes no sense..."
——2015.6.17——
NERV headquarters, ICU ward.
"Hmm...a strange ceiling."
Shinji Ikari opened his eyes and stared at the roof in a daze.
The memory seems to be interrupted. The last scene is of the emergency escape device being used, and then...
"Are you awake?" Rei Ayanami's voice came from the side: "The operation was successful. You are now a girl."
"What!?" Shinji Ikari sat up suddenly, lifted the quilt on his body and took a look: "What, he's still there."
"..."
"..."
Shinji Ikari silently pulled the quilt back up: "Where did you learn that saying?"
"The information integration thought body analysis believes that this sentence will help you wake up faster," Ayanami Rei replied: "In addition, the behavior just now was evaluated by it as 'looking at each other to show friendship'."
"I didn't see anything last time!"
"Then do you want to see it?"
"I……"
"'You can't even see it', this is what the information integration thought body said."
"..." Shinji Ikari rubbed his face vigorously: "Sooner or later I will kill that 'Information Integrated Thought Body'... Now please get down to business."
"I am here to inform you that the second battle against the Fifth Apostle will be carried out early tomorrow morning," Rei Ayanami said: "You need to arrive at the EVA hangar at 17:30 today for the No. 1 unit startup test. If
If it is successfully activated, we will set off at 18:05 and arrive at the Erzishan sniper position at 19:00 to stand by. If there are no accidents, the operation will officially begin at 0:00."
After Ayanami Rei finished speaking, he took out a combat uniform from the bedside table next to him and placed it on Shinji Ikari's bedside.
"Hmm...what happened to my original one?" Shinji Ikari looked at it.
"The degree of meltdown on the chest and back exceeds 70%. The technical department is analyzing its cause, because if you want to have that kind of result normally, you should have been penetrated. They are very curious." Ayanami Zero is completely unconvinced.
He replied in a curious tone.
Hey, so that red dragon isn't that great either. Even an ordinary person can't be killed in one bite... uh, an ordinary person.
"How is Unit-1? Where are the apostles?" Shinji Ikari continued to ask.
"The front chest armor was completely penetrated, and the body was severely melted. It almost affected the insertion bolt, but it has been repaired now," Rei Ayanami replied: "Since the synchronization rate was significantly reduced before the end of the battle, a startup test was required.
, if it cannot be started, the second operation will be completed by Unit Zero alone."
Don't worry about this, Shinji Ikari shook his head.
Unit No. 1 wants to lower the synchronization rate to reduce its own pain? But that is useless. Since the card says it is a direct attack, it is a direct attack, and because of this behavior, the synchronization rate may not decrease but increase.
"What is the state of the apostle now?"
"After repelling Unit 1, it stayed directly above the underground fortress and transformed part of its body into a drill to drill downwards," Rei Ayanami replied: "Due to the continuous harassment and attacks by the Earth Alliance army, the speed of this drilling operation
It has been greatly slowed down, and it is expected that all armor plates will be penetrated at 4 a.m. tomorrow. If the second operation fails, the third operation will be carried out in the underground fortress, and the chance of 'Adam' being rescued will exceed 87%."
After she finished speaking, she picked up a tablet on the bedside table, adjusted it twice and handed it over: "This is the form in which it launches an attack. Please be vigilant during combat."
Huh? Did she guess that what I saw was not the fifth apostle?
Shinji Ikari took the tablet and took a look at it thoughtfully...
Is it this thing that looks like sapphire jewelry that made me look like that?!
