Touma sat up on his bed, unable to fall asleep. It was a moonless night hence the room was completely pitch black.
"Why should I continue to pliot the Eva?" He asked himself.
Internally, a voice replied, "Because it was Ikari Shinji's destiny and you're the unfortunate chap that replaced him."
"No. It's just that... that Angel I've killed. It feels as though I've killed someone. Somehow, it feels as though I forced this Eva kill its own kind. Yeah, that's the closest approximation. I feel guilty."
And he continued to stare into the darkness.
Maybe if he stared long enough, a shiny portal will open up and suck him back into Academy City.
"Asuka~ Marry me!"
"No, marry me."
"I love you! Marry me instead."
Asuka walked through the gate of the school as throngs of males swarmed behind her screaming for her hand in marriage. Even after she walked past the gate, several groups of male welcomed her into the school like a princess visiting for the first time.
In less than a week, she had literally charmed the shoes off the entire male population of the students, save for Toji and Kensuke who looked at her with disgust from outside classroom window as she proudly held her chest up while she made her way into the school building.
"Such a little slut." Toji said.
"Honestly, we all know that if you look beyond her pretty red hair and the fact that she's part German, she just a bitch inside." Kensuke said.
The last time, she had 'corrected' him so badly about his misinformed knowledge about the German tanks that the whole class laughed at him.
It didn't help that he was a boy who looked every one bit of a nerd from his spectacles to his height.
He swore that he would never rely on Wikipedia for information ever again.
Later that day, he was playing basketball with Toji on the court when Asuka (with a swarm of boys following her around as usual) requested a match between him and Toji. A 2 versus 1 basketball match.
In less than 7 minutes, she scored 19 half court shots and 4 full court shots. The final score was 53-0 in a 45 minute match.
Ever since then, the boys would laugh at Toji whenever he started practising on the court, forcing him to stop playing for a while to let the incident die down.
Meanwhile, Kensuke glanced briefly at the empty seat that was Touma's seat in class.
"Hey, you do owe that guy an apology you know."
Toji looked at him with a flash of annoyance on his face, "Yeah, yeah, it was all my fault. My sister didn't listen to instructions and wandered into the darkness outside the shelter when she got electrocuted."
Kensuke went to his desk and digged out a piece of handout from his bag that he held out in front of Toji, "Well, this might make this less awkward than it already is."
He snatched the handout from Kensuke, "Well thanks."
"Speaking of which, where is that Shinji anyway. It's almost 8 and school is about to start."
The alarm clock had failed Touma once again. When he realised that it was already 7.30, he jumped from his bed and activated his emergency plan when about to be late for school.
Firstly, to brush his teeth in 15 seconds flat.
Unfortunately, he snapped his toothbrush into two since he gripped it too hard while brushing vigorously.
Touma decided to rinse the toothpaste off his mouth and grab some mint sweets that he bought on impulse from a convenience store last night while buying dinner for Misato and him instead.
Only to find that the box of sweets were already empty when he opened the fridge. Touma sighed, yet he was smiling as if he had already expected this.
Stuffing a piece of bread from the dining table into his mouth, he rushed into his room to change out of his pink pyjamas that a drunk Misato forced him to wear on the spur of the moment. When he politely refused, she vomited on his shirt, forcing him to wear the piece of clothing that only a depraved lolicon would wear.
"Ok, maybe it wasn't such a bad day after all!" Touma glanced at a small clock beside the TV before leaving the house.
In total, he had only spent 5 minutes preparing for school.
His best record was at 4 minutes 23 seconds when Komoe sent out a love threat stating that if he did not arrive in school in exactly 8.10am, he would be put through the see-through lesson.
Turns out that he had to be put through the game anyway since he did not have enough development credits.
Touma frantically rushed towards the bus that arrived just in time when he slipped and fell hard on a banana slip.
Because of that, he missed the bus.
Adding on to his misery, there was a slight bus service disruption today and he finally managed to board the bus at 9.00 am.
When he reached school, he realised that the gates were already locked. Undeterred, he climbed over the gate and successfully sneaked past a lone security guard sleeping soundly in the comfort of his guard post into the school building.
Touma heaved a sigh of relief.
Perhaps there's a limit to how one can be unlucky after all.
However, he opened the classroom door to an Asuka who was about to open the door as well. Shocked at his sudden appearance, she kicked him hard in the crotch.
"GYAA!"
"Honestly, it's not exactly my fault that you appeared out of nowhere." Asuka said as she looked at Touma from her desk beside him who was gently nursing his crotch with utmost care. Whether or not he had to permanently cross out Father's Day from his calender would depend on how well he nursed his crotch.
"Shut up before I cross out Mother's Day from your calender."
Ignoring the threat, she continued, "You're better off being an eunuch since you already look like one anyway."
"Stop it you two," A girl with freckles and brown hair tied into ponytails said as she now stood between them.
"Hikari," Asuka noted that she was holding a few pieces of paper," Could that possibly be handouts?"
"Ah yes, it's for Rei. Since Shinji was late for school, he is to personally deliver it to her house as a form of punishment."
"Rei? You mean Ayanami Rei?"
"Is there a problem...?"
Asuka grinned, "I'll deliver the handouts," turning to Touma who was still nursing his precious crotch back to its former glory, "with him of course."
Toji decided that he would pass Touma's own handouts to him tomorrow.
"Honestly, don't NERV pay her enough to afford a decent apartment?" Asuka commented as the both of them were navigating through a dirty corridor where the occasional rats and cockroaches could be seen darting about.
Since cleaning robots often roamed about in Academy City, Touma had almost forgotten that the thin, small grimy animal and the black, narrow ovals with two antennas were known as rats and cockroaches respectively.
Upon reaching a blue door with a metal title '#402 Ayanami' etched on top, he lightly knocked on it.
No response.
Asuka decided to grab the handle and open the door directly instead. To her surprise, it was not locked at all. She had planned to bust open the door with one swift kick but decided to try opening the door first as a form of courtesy.
"I'm sorry to disturb." She annouced proudly as she walked through the kitchen into the only room in the apartment.
Touma was surprised that the entire apartment only had a kitchen with a bathroom similar to the one in Misato's apartment where it was located in the kitchen and a room.
"Verdammt." The black smudges on the floor had dirtied her pristine white socks," Is she that lazy of a person?"
Asuka also noticed that she did not possess any form of entertainment such as a television,"Not to mention boring."
Sauntering around the room, she observed how messy and lazy of a person Rei seemed to be.
Her uniform lay crumpled on her bed while a bag of litter was placed beside the mini fridge by the side of the wall.
Furthermore, she had neglected to draw the curtains, giving the whole room a gloomy look.
"What is she, a vampire?"
Meanwhile, Asuka noticed a pair of glasses resting on a brown drawer by the window beside a glass of water and several medications.
She decided to put it on, "Hey, hey, how do I look?" turning to Touma who stood near the entrance of the room. He felt that it was not right of him, especially that Asuka to intrude on her privacy.
"Err, Asuka. I'd suggest you put that glasses down now."
"Why? I think I look great in th-"
Rei had appeared from the bathroom, drying herself with a brown towel and only wearing the towel. She stopped and looked at her with confusion before it turned into anger. Her menacing red eyes caused Asuka to take a step back, "Uh! I-"
She walked over to her much to Asuka's horror, "I-I didn't mean-"
Rei took the glasses off causing Asuka to slip and lose her balance. Rei tried to hold her steady but she failed to do so and the both of them fell to the ground.
Asuka felt her right hand gripping something soft.
She realized it was Rei's breast.
The towel had slipped away during the scuffle, exposing every part of her body. Asuka had an awkward look on her face as she lay ontop on a nude Rei who did not seem to be perturbed at all.
"Get off from me." Rei broke the silence.
"Right!" Asuka smiled sheepishly as she promptly stood up, "Well, we wanted to pass you your handouts since you were absent for the past few days."
Rei carefully placed the glasses back to its original position, "So where are the handouts?"
"Its with Shinji." Asuka said as she turned towards Touma who was blushing crimson red.
And then she realized something.
"HENTAI BAKA!"
"She should've sued you for sexual harassment and invasion of privacy." Touma said as the both of them boarded the bus back home.
It was empty and so the both of them sat at opposite ends of the window seat.
"It was just an accident." Asuka said while looking out of the window, "I can't believe that Wondergirl actually changed into her bra and panties in the presence of YOU."
"Wondergirl?"
"Ayanami Rei. Shut up. That's my new nickname for her."
"Right. Only God knows what was your previous nickname for her."
"There is something wrong with her. It's creepy."
"Trust me when I say there is something equally wrong with you as well."
"Wha-what?!" Asuka spluttered, "I'm just a girl with a healthy dose of confidence in the way she does things."
"Nobody drops a roundhouse kick on somebody that they met for the very first time! And nobody would indiscriminately kick somebody in the crotch just because he had appeared 'out of nowhere'." Touma trailed off into a mutter, "Maybe that Biribiri would..."
"Who is Biribiri? Your fantasy lightning godness? My Japanese is not that bad you know. I once read a light novel in Japanese back in Germany about a Biribiri who was obsessed with chasing a protagonist who could negate her lightning powers with his right hand. What was that city in the novel called again... ah yes, Academy City."
Touma's face instantly turned pale, "Did you just say Academy City?"
"Yeah, is there anything wrong?" Asuka looked at him quizically.
"S-so does the protagonist happen to be a guy named Kamijou Touma who is plagued with misfortune as a result of a mysterious power that could negate anything supernatural?"
"You read the novel too?"
"What if I tell you I'm that Kamijou Touma!"
Asuka looked at him as if he had lost his mind before bursting into laughter, "It's all fiction, idiot. Academy City dont exist at all. ESPer's abilities and Magic are simply a wish fulfilling fantasy of the author. Well, I suppose if such things exists, there wouldn't be any need for the Evas anymore. And that you're just as misfortunate as him I suppose... no wait, you should be fortunate that you're friends with the most popular lady in school."
Touma thought. I am that misfortunate from knowing you. And that's because I'm really Kamijou Touma! He realised that even if Asuka were to beileve that he was really a come alive character from a novel, there was nothing she could do to change the situation. Thus, he decided to probe around for more information regarding the novel instead.
"And if I may ask, what was the ending of this novel?"
"Err... Biribiri became that Kamijou Touma's girlfriend a few volumes later and the story went downhill from there so I stopped reading."
"And what is title of the novel?"
Despite the various discrepancies in the novel to his life, (it looked more like a wish fulfilling novel that Biribiri herself wrote) it was his only clue.
The world around him seemed to have stopped for a moment while he waited for her reply.
"I forgot."
Touma blinked his eyes in astonishment, "What?"
"I said I forgot. Or do you want me to repeat myself in German?"
"No. Never mind." Touma turned away from Asuka and looked out of the window.
If Academy City exists as a novel in Tokyo-3, could Tokyo-3 somehow exist in the same way in Academy City? He tried his best to recall any form of any memories that had the tag Tokyo-3 on it.
Nothing.
He tried harder. Still nothing.
And then he thought about what Asuka had said. Biribiri being his girlfriend and the novel probably went downhill because (assuming that the author is Biribiri herself) she became too unrealistic and could somehow fry Kamijou Touma in 18 different ways and he would still come running to her knees like a masochist though nothing could be said if it was Aogami Pierce.
Girlfriend... girlfriend... of steel?
It hit him like a dumbbell smashed over his head. Of course! It was a visual novel set in Tokyo-3 where a girl named Kirishima Mana was sent to the same school as Shinji Ikari.
At that time, Touma had lamented how misfortunate he was when his Magical Shoujou visual novel magically became a Girlfriend of Steel visual novel.
Accepting his fate, he played through the introductory part where the female protagonist, Kirishima Mana meets Shinji Ikari for the first time before his computer suddenly burst into flames. Needless to say, the CD was lost to the fire forever.
Touma now cursed himself for insisting on Magical Shoujou instead of giving Girlfriend of Steel a second chance. If he knew the whole story behind Girlfriend of Steel, surely he would able to understand why are those... Angels attacking Tokyo-3.
He could sense that they were not blindly attacking the city. It seems as though they are after something in this city.
And the Evas deployed to fight the Angels. No, they are not as simple as amoured mechas. They are as alive as the Angels in some ways, but he could not pin point exactly where.
Perhaps the real Shinji Ikari would know, he's an Eva pilot after all.
"It's pissing me off!" Asuka said while she shoved down large portions of her curry bento at an alarming rate.
Normally, during lunch time, she would be surrounded by many boys who would always try to curry favour with her.
She particularly liked the fact that Touma could never eat his lunch in peace when several other guys begged him for tips and tricks on how to approach the fiery redhead.
It was like discovering a hidden route in a dating sim and people would start begging for the solution to the route. Unfortunately, the person (Touma) who discovered the route really had no idea how he did it.
Today, everybody had flocked over to a brown haired girl who had the exact same hairstyle as Rei. Her hazel eyes shone charmingly as she smiled at the crowd of people who were seemingly asking her questions like a movie star.
"Finally, I get some peace." Touma said while he slurped down his Yakisoba Delight.
She slammed the bento box down after shoving down the last of her food. "People change fast, dont they?"
"Well, a mysterious transfer student in the middle of a school term is empirically proven to be interesting and charming."
Meanwhile, the brown haired girl left her table with a bunch of people tagging along like a troop of soldiers following its commander towards Rei's table at a peaceful corner of the cafeteria by the window. Since Asuka and Touma's table was only just two tables behind her, they could clearly hear the conversation between the both of them.
"Ayanami Rei. Am I right?"
Rei did not bother to look up and continued to read her book, "Yes."
"I'm Kirishima Mana. Let's be good friends, shall we?"
"Why?"
Mana paused for a moment, "Err... Because it would be convenient in so many ways," and then she smiled, "We could help each other out in times of need."
"If I'm ordered to, I would."
Mana blinked in astonishment at this remark before her smile returned, "I suppose you're still not used to this form yet. Disappointing."
Asuka sliently cheered her on, "As expected of Ayanami Rei!"
Touma examined the girl that claimed to be Kirishima Mana closely. An exact carbon copy of the Kirishima Mana in the visual novel. Even though she approached Shinji Ikari first in the visual novel but fiction is certainly different from reality after all.
Mana noticed that Touma was looking in her direction and so she left Rei alone and went to his table.
"You must be Ikari Shinji, yes?"
"And you're Kirishima Mana?" Touma reached out his right hand, "Nice to meet you."
Mana gripped his hand for a handshake but a sudden sharp pain shot through her own hand to her head. She abruptly broke the grip and took a step back to steady herself.
The bunch of people that had been following her from Rei's table until now started to disperse away.
"Not so popular after all huh." Asuka said as she looked at all of Mana's follower dispersing away like water evaporating at a rate 1000 times faster than the norm.
Did I just negate... something? Touma heard the sharp noise that only he could hear whenever he negated something. The unusual dispersion of the crowd suggested that he had negated a form of mind control. An ESPer in Tokyo-3? Could it be that she was also a victim just like him?
"Hey, do you happen to know of a Academy City?" Touma hoped that she would reply yes and maybe the both of them would be able to come up with something.
Mana kept her smile intact even though the question deeply bothered her. "No. Does such a place exist here?
Speaking of which, its about time that I head to class now. See you around."
She turned around just in time for anybody to notice the trail of blood that started to appear from her corner of her mouth which she swiftly wiped away.
Reaching into her pocket, she took a small translucent bottle out and popped a tablet into her mouth from it.
Such power.
Just then, the alarms around the cafeteria started to blare. An Angel had appeared.
Standing at the shores of Tokyo 3 was a grey humanoid clay figure as tall as a mini skyscraper that had arms longer than its legs. It also had a yin-yang mask for a face and the red core, though small but it could prominently be seen located at the chest unprotected.
Several battle helicopters hovered around the figure and the tanks on the ground raised their turrets, ready to fire at any moment.
The figure started to move, promptly attracting gunfire and tons of artilleries being pumped into the threat that would certainly obliterate Tokyo-3 if left unchecked.
The clayish surface of the Angel merely absorbed whatever that was unleashed on it like a quicksand.
"It's not even raising an A.T field." Misato said as she watched the Angel continued its progress into the city and had already crushed a few tanks under its feet and knocked down several buildings that was in the way from the large video screen in the command center.
"It wouldn't need one when it could simply absorb," Ritsuko said, "It could be that the Angels are now trying to rely less on their A.T field and more on physically surviving without one."
"Are both 01 and 02 ready for launch?"
"Yes," Maya typed a few commands into the interface, "Evangelion Unit 01 and 02 is ready to launch at any moment."
Touma now appreciated how much more natural Unit 01 is, as compared to 02 while he lightly gripped the controls by his seat to regain his feel to pilot this Eva again.
He could feel it now.
The overwhelming difference between Unit 01 and Unit 02.
Somehow, he had a heavy feeling while piloting Unit-02, as though this Unit vehemently tried to reject his presence but it failed due to his Imagine Breaker.
"Remind me again why is that idiot tagging along when I am clearly capable of defeating the Angel myself. " Asuka's voice crackled over an open 3 way communication channel between Unit 01, 02 and the command center.
"Asuka," Misato sighed, "Teamwork is equally as important as individual play."
"But he'll only be in the way! And its my first debut battle... Eww what's that smell. Oh my poor Unit-02, defiled by such a hentai that watches pornography every night."
"Quit it already will you. I am not a hentai that watches pornography every night." Touma said.
He was embarrassed to admit that other than his limited exposure to eroges, he had never watched pornography.
And would anybody believe that a 18 year old male who had never been exposed to pornography exists in this world?
It is true that he had tried to access said websites because they were hosting those videos for free but out of the 19 attempts, each one of them only ended up in a virus infection of varying degree of seriousness.
"Security bolts 21-24 and 25-26 released. Eva Unit-01 and 02 launch!"
"Maybe we should have sent Unit-00 too." Misato said as she watched the two Evas surfacing into Tokyo-3 through the hatchdoors like moles in a Whack-A-Mole arcade game.
"Don't be silly. Unit-00 isn't combat operational yet." Ritsuko said.
Last night, she had received an emergency email from Gendo with orders to launch Unit-00 only as a last resort.
When she asked for the reasons behind it, his reply was that he didn't want complications.
Ritsuko knew that it would take at least 3 mind readers to interpret what he really meant by 'complications'. She had given up trying to figure out what exactly could he be planning now.
Armed with a spear-axe, Unit-02 crouched slightly into her battle position, ready to attack at any moment.
Unit 01 held a B-14 rifle that he would fire at the Angel as soon as Unit 02 neutralize its A.T field using its own field.
Realizing that the both the Evas were in the way about 6 meters from his current position, the Angel stopped moving.
"It just stopped moving?" Asuka said, confused at its odd behavior.
A helicopter hovered above the two Evas and broadcasted loudly, "This is Kirishima Mana, 1st Lieutenant of the JSSDF, we request the Evas to stand down."
Misato quickly included that helicopter into their open communication channel between the Evas and command center, "Why?"
"We have received permission from the government to engage Jet Alone against the Angel and we would appreciate that the Evas do not interfere."
"So its you, Kirishima Mana." Asuka growled, "Your stupid Jet Alone won't stand a chance against the Angel. Does it even have an A.T field for starters?"
"This remains to be seen, Asuka. I believe that the Jet Alone is capable enough to engage the Angel without one.
A large aircraft came into view from the clouds that floated serenely in the light blue sky. Underneath it, a robot although humanoid in shape like the Evas but it was designed rather clumsily like the robots in the 70s was held vertically upright by thin wires.
The aircraft descended closer to the ground and released the robot right in front of the Evas.
"What the fuck is this? Is this some kind of a joke? Just by design alone, my Unit-02 clearly outshines your Jet Loser."
"Ah, by the way, if you're wondering why am I that popular in school, its because I'm a pliot as well. Of course its Jet Alone. Oops, were you expecting an Eva instead? "
"I rather you burn in hell instead." Asuka tried to keep her anger in control. As if stealing my spotlight in school wasn't enough. Now she also wants to steal my spotlight fighting the Angel?!
Touma noted that the helicopter hovering above them had a N2 mine attached to the bottom.
He had a bad feeling about this when it decided to fly past the Angel but to his surprise, it simply followed the helicopter like a dog being attracted by a scent that the helicopter emitted, if it actually had one.
Both Unit 01 and 02 followed closely behind Jet Alone who was chasing the Angel now being lured back to the shores of Tokyo-3 by the helicopter.
"Well, you may tag along if you want. Just don't interfere with our battle." Mana said.
"Oh don't worry. Your Jet Loser will be out of the way soon enough. We're just there to clean up." Asuka said.
Once it reached the shores, the Angel seemed to have snapped out of a trance and it immediately raised an arm, slamming its clayish mass down on Jet Alone which it quickly defended against the blow by crossing both of its arms.
Ouch. That's gonna hurt. Mana thought. Now all she needed was one reckless movement from Unit-02 for her plan to succeed.
Touma felt that there was something fishy about the helicopter when it lured the Angel to the shores. He knew that Mana could potentially be an ESPer that can control minds to some extent.
However, could that ability work on an Angel as well?
If so, then this would explain how the helicopter could lure the Angel just by flying past it.
Mana had also mentioned that she was the pliot of Jet Alone as well. It should be remote controlled since she's on the helicopter.
Seeing that pounding in a wave-like motion on the poor Jet Alone that kept its arm crossed throughout seems to be a futile act on its part, the Angel decided to swat it away like hitting a doll with a flexible golf club into the ocean.
"Misato, how far is the maximum range for operating an unmanned Jet Alone?" Touma asked.
"About 500 meters from the files I've seen on Jet Alone, why do you ask?"
"Just wondering."
Despite a large maximum range, the pilot decides to stick dangerously close to the Angel when it could simply stay at a safe distance and still be able to operate it just fine.
The biggest mystery was actually the N2 mine underneath the helicopter.
If it wanted to lure the Angel into the ocean before dropping the mine, Jet Alone need not have to follow.
In fact, it did not need to be there in the first place. Why? Unless... no way.
Asuka smirked as she saw how disgraced Jet Alone who had its head stuck firmly underground into the seabed coupled with an exposed pair of legs in the air as the rest of the body was underwater.
Honestly, the probabilty of this happening had to be at 0.000001%. Now everybody in school would probably laugh at how disgraceful and inept of a pliot she was.
"TIME I FINISH THIS!" Gripping her spear, she leapt right up into the air, its sharp glint hinting at a certain death by a swift slice through the Angel's body right down to the core.
"ASUKA!"
Unit-01 flared into action, charging at the stationary Angel just in time to side-slam a descending Unit-02 out of the way before the N2 mine dropped, catching both Unit-01 and the Angel in its range.
A white flash erupted and after it subsided, three shadowy figures could be perceived from the smoke.
"SHINJI!" Misato screamed.
Unit-02 got up and brushed the sand off its body. "What the hell was that fo-"
Asuka sat in her entry plug shocked, unable to say a word when she saw a charred Unit-01 barely having any of its orginal form left.
Both halves of the Angel drooped the sides and bits of its clayey mass fell to the barren grey surface where there was sand before like candles melting.
"Shinji...?"
There was no response from the pliot of Unit-01.
Both Misato and Ritsuko sat in an audio-visual room where they played the video of the battle with the Angel.
"Damage to Unit-01's amour at 95%, at this rate we might as well build a new Eva from scratch." Ritsuko said.
"Look at this." Misato rewinded to the part where the helicopter flew past the Angel. "Don't you find it strange? That the helicopter managed to attract that Angel as if it had waved a piece of meat in front of the Angel."
"Kirishima Mana. 1st Lieutenant of the JSSDF. It must be noted that she rose through the ranks in less than a year. She's only 14, if age is an indicator of her capability. She's the one plioting the helicopter."
"Has the JSSDF acquired some sort of a hypnotic technology that would enable one to manipulate Angels?"
"If such technology do exist, we might as well be hypnotising Angels to kill themselves instead of worrying how are we going to fix Unit-01 up."
"Estimated 6 days before the Angel would be ready to attack again. How long would the repairs for Unit-01 take?"
"I can't tell. It will take more than 6 days though."
Misato now watched both the Evas following closely behind Jet Alone, with Jet Alone following the helicopter.
It was clear that the helicopter wanted the Angel to be as far from the city as possible, with Jet Alone engaging the enemy from there.
Asuka being Asuka tagged along and Shinji was probably worried about her.
As predicted by the MAGI, Jet Alone only had a 0.006% chance of success in defeating the Angel due to the fact that it could not generate an A.T field. Despite the near impossible odds, it succeeded in getting its head stuck into the ocean when the Angel swatted the annoying contraption away.
Unit-02, witnessing the fall of its competitor, leapt up into the air before the scene was interrupted by an invasion of a myriad of colours and it went black soon after.
"An unusual spike in the output of an A.T field in the vicinity caused this." Ritsuko pointed out.
"From that Angel?"
"Maybe. But if it did activate an A.T field at that level of power, it would have survived the explosion intact. Similiarly, if it was Unit-01, so would the Eva."
"Unit-02?"
"Don't be silly. It's A.T field got neutralized in the process."
A chilling realization creeped upon Misato. "Don't tell me...!"
"Yes. Another Angel was there."
Mana never liked being in total darkness. Thus, she felt a little uneasy being in a mysterious dark space where the 7 SEELE monoliths were.
Each one of them were represented by a shimmering black, floating stone tablet titled from SEELE #1 right up to SEELE #7 surrounding her.
"You've disappointed." SEELE #3 said.
"Reckless." SEELE #6 added.
"You can't pin all the blame on me when he clearly have much more of a brain than most Lilins." Mana retorted.
"It is fortunate that the pliot survived." SEELE #5 said.
"Let it be known that failure is not tolerated. One more mistake on your part and you'll face the consequences." SEELE #1 said.
"Tabris isn't here anymore. I'm the only one left. Any mistake on your part," Mana smiled, "You'll have to face your own consequences."
"Do not forget," SEELE #1's voice grew stronger, "We still hold something of great value to you."
"You wouldn't dare." Mana hissed.
"So long as you remember your purpose here."
SEELE #1 up to #6 faded away into the darkness.
A faceless agent appeared from the darkness beside SEELE #7 and handed Mana a translucent bottle of pills.
"This may be the last bottle you'll get. Treasure every use well."
SEELE #07 faded away into the darkness.
This is all your fault.
Asuka sat beside Touma in a hospital ward, who was unconscious from the explosion.
Apparently, nobody knew who triggered the explosion. NERV's investigation crawled to a halt when the only footage of the battle was unable to determine what triggered the explosion.
JSSDF had no comments regarding the issue.
Kirishima Mana, 2nd Lieutenant of JSSDF expressed her condolence to the injured pilot during a press conference last night.
Ritsuko mentioned that there could be another Angel behind it. While the Angel has always been larger than life freaks, but Asuka could not deny the fact that they might also present itself in a human form.
She knew that the helicopter flew away after the explosion unharmed. If there's anything suspicious about the incident, it would be the helicopter no doubt. And the pliot might just be an Angel in disguise.
All she needed was proof.
Asuka heard a soft knock on the door, "Come in."
"How is Shinji?" Rei put a sliver vacuum flask on the overbed table.
Asuka eyed the flask suspiciously. "What's that? Soup?"
"Yes. It seems as though he is not conscious enough to drink it."
"Duh. If you're done here," Asuka pointed to the door, "You may leave."
"What about you? You've been by his side for an entire night already."
"Shut up, Wondergirl. How would you know that anyway?"
"My name is Ayanami Rei."
Both of them stared at each other with the humming sound of the aircon and the rhythmic beeping of the heart-rate monitor filling the silence.
Asuka had enough of the awkwardness and broke the silence first, "It's just a nickname."
"Oh."
"Anything else you want to say?"
"Hi~ Is Shinji alright."
Asuka spun behind to see a cheerful Mana who waved her hand at her.
She looked at her with astonishment. "How'd you get here? You didn't even open the door!"
"I did. You just didn't hear it." Mana winked knowingly at Rei, "She saw me open the door."
Rei knitted her brows ever so slightly to the point where nobody could see that she did knit her brows even if they tried. "Yes. This is correct."
Asuka got up from her chair, "But... but... It was so quiet throughout..." and jabbed a finger at Mana's chest," You. You're an Angel, am I right? You caused the explosion! You aim to eliminate all of the Eva series so that your other Angels can invade Tokyo-3 unhindered!"
Mana brushed the finger away and pushed Asuka into the chair before leaning close to her in a seductive manner.
She whispered sweetly into her ears, "If you're right... then why don't you try and stop me?"
Stifling a giggle, Mana walked out of the ward and slammed the door.
Only Lilins would bother closing the door, and in such a polite manner as well.
Author's note: Okay, so I managed to finish this chapter before my exams were finished. (yay!) I suppose a little consistent effort in writing goes a long way.
If you're wondering why Touma seems to be a god in deduction, I would like to quote Tsukiyomi Komoe.
"Why is it that when it comes to girls, Kamijou's movements and thinking ability improves by multi-fold times? Sensei hopes that you can use that on your studies!"
So... I suppose this chapter could be considered as a cliffhanger of sorts, but I should probably shoot myself if I don't have at least one.
Anyway, so have fun guessing who Kirishima Mana really is while you wait for the next chapter.
Lastly, thank you guys so much for reviewing and liking/faving. Do continue to review and/or liking and/or faving yeah!
By the way, I made some slight changes in Chapter 4 so do check that out also :)