"So you're telling me that Academy City doesn't exist?"

"Yes. Oh, Shinji. Did that explosion knock you silly?" A young, beautiful woman with long purple hair said as the both of them stepped out of an elevator.

Greeting the both of them was a colossal hallway characterized by conveyor belts.

Whatever fortune that Touma had left was probably not having to walk as the belts did their jobs perfectly; getting people from one place to another with ease.

According to this woman whom she introduced herself as Katsuragi Misato, he's sent here in Tokyo-3 to live with his father after 11 years of separation, Ikari Gendo.

Touma briefly flipped through the information booklet given to him by Misato.

NERV, an a paramilitary special agency that leads the defense of mankind against the Angels through Evangelions, though what how exactly it defended mankind was only briefly elaborated upon. According to the map in the information booklet, both him and Misato are now inside it's headquarters known as GeoFront.

"That's strange. I thought this was the correct way." Misato said as she struggled to make sense of the map, turning it clockwise once before turning it back.

"... Such misfortune."

Touma had half expected himself to end up somewhere far away from Academy City at the very least, not to end up somewhere where Academy City didn't exist. Then again, it's all part of the Imagine Breaker package, a lifetime supply of misfortune.

Soon, the conveyor belts led to them into another elevator, ascending a few floors up. Misato was certain that they're now on the right path.

Not that Touma could count on her, one look at her fumbling with the map would lead one to conclude that her sense of direction is pretty much screwed.

Greeting them once again was not another colossal hallway but a displeased looking woman with blonde hair wearing a lab coat over a swimming suit.

Misato smiled sheepishly, "Ah... Ritsuko."

"Honestly, I drew you an idiot-proof map and you still got lost."

"Sorry!"

Ritsuko turned to look at Touma as she asked Misato, "So, this is the boy?"

"According to the report, he's the Third Child."

How Touma wanted to scream out loud that he isn't some Ikari Shinji nor some Third Child sent to live with his father, but he gave up when a quick 5 minutes DNA test in the hospital proved that he is indeed so. Could this be some conspiracy to cover up the fact that the real Ikari Shinji died in order to send him to deceive an old man who probably wanted to spend his last days with his son?

Whatever the case, he could only play it by ear.

After a long trip in near darkness on what seemed like a ferry wheel that was going up, Touma could faintly make out a door of a room that the 3 of them promptly entered.

This time, it was complete darkness and he could only wonder why were they in such a room. Nothing lewd he hoped, although he was already of legal age and he doubted that the both of them were under-aged.

With a sharp click, light illuminated the entire area and Touma found himself staring into the eyes of a purple, monstrous figure, startling him quite a bit.

Upon closer inspection, it looked more like a giant robot which was immersed into an ocean of a pale pinkish-purple substance.

They were standing on a umbilical bridge, connecting the platform of the entrance to another platform separated by that purple ocean.

"Evangelion Unit 01. Built here in secrecy, this is our last hope against the Angels!" Ritsuko declared proudly, her voice ringing through the large room.

"Right, and I'm supposed to pilot it right?" Touma had seen enough mecha animes to know where this was going to lead to. A chosen one destined to save the world, how cliche. But it's a cliche that always works, just got to know how package it.

"I'm impressed that you reailsed this soon than I thought. Yes, you're the Third Child, the designated pilot for Unit 01." Misato said.

"That's right, it's been a long time huh."

Touma turned to see a bearded man with sunglasses appearing in a large screen placed far above him. It was the same man in a picture given to him by Misato. Gendo Ikari, Shinji's father. She thought that perhaps after 11 years of separation, he would have long forgotten how his father looked like.

"And I suppose this Evangelion here is a result of your brilliant work?"

Choosing to ignore Touma's question, he said in a firm yet soft tone, "Move out."

Misato quickly protested, "But Rei is still injured!

"Don't tell me, Unit 01? Rei possibly can't be piloting in her condition! We no longer have any pilots left."

"One just arrived," was Ritsuko's reply to Misato.

"You can't be serious!"

Placing a hand on Touma's shoulder, Ritsuko asked, "Will you pilot this?"

Looking at the Unit 01, he started to consider whether or not he should keep up with that pretense; that he isn't Shinji Ikari.

Being a pilot of that monstrous robot took skills, something that he obviously did not possess.

Judging from the situation and his extensive knowledge about the mecha genre, he would most probably be sent out to deal with a certain threat that was as big or bigger than the robot.

Touma noted that Unit 01 was so well-polished that he could clearly see his own reflection inside. Still had that purple, spiky hair and the same face. What a relief that his appearance didn't change at all. And then, an idea struck him.

He had remembered reading a manga about a boy set on a quest to save his friends trapped in their own dreams. The only way to save them was to convince them that their seemingly perfect world is fake.

Unfortunately, before he could finish that manga, it somehow ended up in his washing machine. Nevertheless, the idea is there.

Prove that he isn't Shinji Ikari through appearances. Even though the chances of succeeding is 0.000000001%, but it is not zero and Touma prayed hard to be doubly misfortunate back in Academy City in exchange for one moment of fortune.

"I'm not Shinji at all."

"Even the DNA test proved that you're Shinji! If you don't want to pilot this thing, just say so. Don't have to spin such a ridiculous lie," said Misato.

"I have purple, spiky hair and I look nothing like my father who is standing the screen far above us."

This was where his fortune that he prayed hard for comes into play.

Since the man above is really Shinji's father, a shocking revelation would soon reveal itself in a grandiose manner of stripping away the darkness that concealed it. After that, everything around him will start to slowly break apart into tiny pieces and then, voila, back in Academy City!

"You... dyed your hair?"

Gendo abruptly interrupted the conversation, "Enough. If you don't want to pilot it, then pack up and go home."

Turning to a screen that quickly placed an old, wizened man into view, he said, "Fuyutsuki, wake up Rei."

"Is she available?"

"She isn't dead yet."

"Understood."

Touma buried his face in defeat.

Honestly, is his purple, spiky hair the only difference between him and that Shinji Ikari?

Now it was Misato's turn to place a hand onto Touma.

"Don't run away. You can do it."

That wasn't the point. The fact that he is not Shinji Ikari meant that he might screw up and endanger the lives of everybody.

Even that Rei that was sent in would do a much better job than him. Touma wondered if that Rei was the same Rei that visited him in the hospital today.

Soon, a hospital bed was rolled into the room by three nurses. Touma saw that a pale girl with cropped, blue hair wearing a white form-fitting body suit was lying on bed.

"Configure the Unit so that Rei can pilot it," said Ritsuko to a worker at the other platform.

The nurses quickly unhooked the girl from the accompanying medical equipment as she now sat on the bed. Her breathing was labourious and wincing in pain, she closed her eyes momentarily.

"It can't be... Ayanami Rei?" Touma said.

Misato looked at him slightly puzzled, "Yes, how did you know?"

"She visited me in the hospital today."

"Don't be silly, she's been hospitalized for days."

Only in horror stories could such a thing happen, how misfortunate to be visited by a ghost. But then again, it made no sense since Rei isn't dead yet.

So how did she...?

'BOOM!'

A sudden explosion shook the entire room, causing Rei to fall violently onto the ground from her bed. Meanwhile, the bars of fluorescent lighting hanging at the top were shaken apart and it was falling right towards Touma.

"Shinji!"

Instinctively, Touma got out of the way by making a wide leap to his left before it could make a pancake out of him. Years of dealing with ESPers and recently, magicians had trained him well in situations like this.

Touma noted that the man looked slightly displeased with the outcome, much to his surprise.

Was he expecting his son to manifest a protective field?

Then again, this isn't Academy City and ESPers probably do not exist here.

Running towards Rei who was just ahead, he picked her up and held her in his arms.

"Are you okay?"

Grimacing in pain, she could not say a single word in response. Her breathing was increasingly short and irregular but yet she struggled to move. It seemed as though she had to get into that giant robot.

Touma realized that he did not have much of a choice now.

"I'll pilot it."

Seated in the entry plug, Touma could feel the plug tilting foward as the docking system proceeded to insert it inside Unit 01. He hoped that his experience from watching Gundam would help in plioting the robot. Seeing how the controls had a similar layout to a Gundam was a good start.

"Insert LCL into the entry plug."

Touma watched horrified as the yellow, translucent liquid soon threatened to rise to a level above his head, "What in the world is that?"

"Don't worry. The LCL will supply oxygen once it fills your lung." Ritsuko's voice cracked over the intercom.

Despite his best efforts to hold his breath under the LCL, but no human could hold their breath indefinitely. In the end, he ended up explosively expelling all the air in his lungs, sending a uncontrollable surge of LCL right into his lungs and causing him to splutter in shock. Soon, he was breathing in the 'LCL'.

Touma felt as though he was breathing in the air of a rotting corpse, "Such misfortune."

"You're a boy, aren't you. Bear with it." It was Misato's voice this time.

"Synchronization ratio 41.3%"

In the command centre, Ritsuko examined a graph from a screen that represented the synchronization ratio of the pliot.

The waveforms seemed to merging into one before slightly deviating from each other. Harmonics were also perfectly normal.

Except that... the harmonics of the Eva's right hand to the pliot seemed to be too good to be true.

In fact, this alone accounted for 24% of the ratio, which is just 7% below the passing ratio for an Eva to be operationally ready.

"Impressive."

Turning to Misato, she said, "It'll move."

"Lanuch Unit 01!"

Soon, the view of the GeoFront quickly passed by as the Eva was carried toward the surface through a chute. The hatch doors above the Eva opened as it broke through the surface.

Landing on a road surface, Touma saw that Tokyo-3 from the Eva looked like a grassy field, but all the grass instead were different form of buildings and grasses generally do not grow up to your waist.

Just about 3 buildings ahead, Touma could see a large humanoid being with exaggerated proportions, such as its arms reaching below the knee.

There was a white bony structure acting as an amour for its shoulder and for holding a large, red orb in the centre of the being's dark green body that almost blended into the velvet black of the night sky.

"Just think about moving for now, the monster ahead is an Angel that you must defeat," came a voice over the intercom. No doubt it was that Ritsuko's voice.

Right, Touma thought. He felt like a soul taking over his victim's body, albeit a lousy one in the arts of possession. He decided on his routine warm-up before Physical Education back in school.

Misato put a hand to her face as she saw the Eva doing a few, quick ankle bounces and a walking quad stretch in both of his legs before bringing both of its leg up as it did a skip and finally, a large sprint towards the being with his right fist raised.

It seemed as though the warm up worked. Touma now understood how to at least get this robot to move. Similar to how a human would walk or talk, all you have is to think about it.

Whoever invented the controls for this Eva was a complete genius.

"Aim for the core, it's that red orb!"

Sensing a presence rushing towards him, the Angel slowly turned its body around to see a giant purple robot slightly taller than him swerving its right fist towards his core. Yet, it remained calm as it raised a barrier characterized by concentric octagonal yellow lines in response...

Only to find it shattered apart by that right fist. However, before it could reach the core, the pieces started to rapidly fall back into place, severing it from the wrist cleanly.

"DAMM!"

Touma clutched his right arm wildly as it started to throb violently with the some of the veins becoming completely visible. It felt as though multiple blades were simultaneously piercing in and out of his arm.

"The pain is not real! Calm down!" The voice spoke anxiously.

Taking advantage of this delay as the Eva gripped its right arm with its left hand from the pain, the Angel grabbed it by the throat and lifted it off the ground. A mysterious shining lance appeared from its shoulder and punctuated the Eva's left eye as it attempted to penetrate through the cranium.

"ARGH!"

Touma's line of vision instantly became a hazy rainbow separated by a cracking glass. The wider the crack got, the more pain he felt in his eye.

Relentless in its attempt as it seeked to destroy that purple hindrance, Touma flung himself wildly about the entry plug as he desperately struggled to escape the pain. This was the only thing which flooded his mind. Any attempt to think about retaliatation promptly got rejected by the pain.

"SHINJI! MOVE!" Misato yelled as she watched the hapless Eva continue to violently squirm about as it gripped its right arm without any attempts to retaliate.

"The amour won't take much more." stated Ritsuko with a horrified look on her face as she also observed the Eva and the Angel inside the command center from one of the multiple screens available.

Finally, the lance successfully penetrated through and by extension of its length, it sent the Eva crashing into a nearby building. Deep, crimson blood started to gush out from the wound caused by the lance. Both Touma and the Eva lay unconscious from the attack.

Move.

In a strange darkness, that was what Touma could hear. A soft, feminine voice that sounded strangely like Misaka. He tried to reply, but he realised that nothing was coming out from his mouth.

Move.

The same voice repeated itself again. This time, it was slightly more urgent.

Move.

Move.

MOVE!

It seemed as though the person was on the verge of tears as the voice grew more and more desperate. Yet, Touma was trapped in the darkness. He couldn't get the Eva to move even if he wanted to.

KAMIJOU TOUMA!

"...!"

Touma found himself back in the same ward, lying in the same bed again. That unfamiliar celling and the smell, surely it was that same ward.

Surprisingly, the same machines from before, once again was attached to him. He wondered if this could be a time loop due to his existence not belonging to this universe.

Hopefully not... no wait, hopefully this would be so!

If he managed to break that time loop, surely the end result would be getting whisked back into Academy City somehow.

Fumbling through the darkness, Touma tried to recall what exactly happened between the time he was trapped in the darkness and lying in the same hospital ward again.

All he could recall was a continuous, maniacal laughter reverberating in the darkness.

"You Aquarii born between January 20th and February 18th have the greatest luck in love, work, and money! No matter how incredibly improbable things may get, only good things will happen, so how about you go play the lottery!? But no matter how popular you may be, don't try dating three or four girls at the same time ."

One of the Lilin's favourite hobbies, horoscopes.

Kaworu could not understand why do the Lilins continue believing in something that was mostly proven false all the time.

Information and assurance about the future, a way to be absolved of their current situation and future decisions, and a way to feel connected to the entire cosmos?

And Ikari Shinji chose to reject Instrumentality despite all of this, he thought as he sat in the sofa in Touma's dorm room that was ruled by a boiling heat due to a broken air conditioner.

Not that he felt particularly bothered about the heat. To him, it was just like being aware of the heat, but yet there's no compelling reason to react to it.

Should he feel annoyed and frustrated just like how a normal Lilin would?

A viable choice considering that Kamijou Touma is after all, a Lilin existence.

Kamijou Touma experienced nothing but misfortune to the extent that his life could in essence be called a running gag.

But he had no intention of just lazing around because of bad luck.

Kamijou did not rely on luck. In other words, he had a lot of drive. Rei should have left the decision to somebody like him instead of Shinji during Instrumentality. Perhaps if she had done so, Shinji would not end up being trapped here as a result of going back in time 1,000,568,392 times.

He glanced over to the balcony with the screen door opened near his sofa.

Other than a yakisoba bread still in its plastic wrapping on the floor, there was nothing else other than the blue morning sky with the birds chirping happily to emphasize the fact that today's weather is beautiful and people should just go out instead of staying at home and watch weird stuffs on the internet.

Kaworu had already collected the futon that Touma left hanging outside. A guest was coming and he didn't want the futon to be a hinderance.

A certain guest who had pure white skin and her hair was as sliver as well.

Wearing a long dress that reached her ankles and a one-piece hood over her head that was a bit different from a hat.

Just then, a white figure appeared out of nowhere and fell upon the balcony railing.

It seemed as though it exhaustedly collapsed across a metal rod and had her waist pressed up against the railing. Her body bent such that her arms and legs were dangling straight down.

The guest had arrived. A crucial piece in his plan to save Shinji had arrived.

Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

Author's note: If you liked the story, do leave a review (or follow and favourite it!) ^^

And yes, I am aware that A.T fields can't really shatter since they are actually membranes in nature, but then again its Touma and his Imagine Breaker so why not? Don't worry, there is a reason behind it which I may or may not directly reveal depending on the flow of the story.

Oh, and just a quick question. Do you guys actually believe in horoscopes? Personally for me, nay. The thing that they usually predict are usually events that could never happen to me. Eg. You will get backstabbed by your boss today. But I'm a student for crying out loud!