Aozaki Aoko [622-623] (Patreon)

Chapter 622: The True Second Qualified One

Asuka had a wonderful time playing in the fairies' town; she accompanied Gray as they walked through every street and alley.

Although some of the fairies looked a little scary, everyone was friendly. Asuka also received all sorts of gifts.

Gray gave Asuka a magic wallet. It looked small and cute on the outside, but the inside space was astonishingly large. Asuka put all the gifts she received into the wallet, then found a string to hang it around her neck.

The two chatted and laughed, playing until dusk, and returned together to the Western-style mansion on the mountain.

Aoko, Alice, and Touko—the three highest-ranking magi in the Land of Sapphire Flowers—were waiting for her, which gave Asuka a bad feeling.

"Asuka, we found the home in Paris."

"I don't have a home here," Asuka said stubbornly. "My home with Mom is in Berlin."

"No, Asuka, you misunderstand me," Aoko said. "Of course I know that isn't your real home…"

"…and the 'home' you have in Berlin doesn't exist either."

In Asuka's heart, the balloon that symbolized happiness was punctured in an instant by the cruel truth.

—Section break—

Aoko's plan regarding Asuka failed at the very first step.

Because even with her mechanized-mind protection set at half strength, the Asuka before her still fell into immense sadness, forcing Aoko to raise the effect to three-quarters. Only then did Asuka calm down enough to listen to the end.

Seeing the little girl suddenly wilt before her eyes, Aoko knew her actions were cruel. But keeping Asuka in the dark, letting her live forever in this fairyland, growing up with a damaged soul—that would be even more cruel.

She had the right—and the need—to know the entire truth.

Gray looked anxiously at her good friend, sitting by her side, never letting go of her hand.

"…So the 'mother' in my memories is fake too?" Asuka asked.

"No. Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu is a real person, and she truly is 'Asuka's' mother," Aoko explained. "But her true identity is actually the mother of Asuka Langley Sohryu. Do you understand what that means?"

"In other words, I'm the fake," Asuka said, desolate. "Even my memories are borrowed from someone else…"

"That's not quite right," Aoko replied, surprising Asuka a little. "You are a copy of Asuka Sohryu, but you're not entirely a fake—or rather, there is no complete 'genuine article' at present."

"…What do you mean?"

It was indeed difficult to make a four-year-old quickly grasp something so complex, even if Asuka was a genius.

"Let me explain," Touko said. She took an apple from a fruit plate and cut it into six slices. "This apple is the complete soul of 'Asuka Langley Sohryu.'"

"And this is you." Touko picked up half of the six slices and placed them before Asuka. "Do you understand?"

The clever Asuka clearly understood Touko's explanation. She withdrew her hand from Gray's, took that slice of apple, and sat motionless on the sofa in silence for a long time.

Just as Aoko was considering whether to further increase the mechanized-mind output, Asuka broke the silence herself.

"Why would those people do this?"

"Probably to create the strongest 'Asuka,'" Aoko said. "Training various 'Asukas' in different places and environments, then choosing the strongest one to become the true 'Asuka,' the 'Qualified One' they desire."

"I don't understand…" Asuka's hand trembled slightly. She wanted to cry, but Aoko's magic suppressed the urge.

Patiently, Aoko told Asuka everything she knew about SEELE, NERV, the EVAs, and the Human Instrumentality Project, sparing no detail.

But no matter how smart a four-year-old is, she can't fully understand everything. So the three sisters took turns explaining the meaning behind all the terms.

"All for some ridiculous, inexplicable thing?" Asuka, her pupils devoid of highlights, asked back. She hadn't fully understood everything they said, but it didn't stop her from grasping that SEELE was the mastermind behind it all.

"All for that ridiculous thing," Aoko affirmed with a nod.

"…And what about you?" Asuka asked Aoko. "You picked me up and brought me here because you already knew about my existence, and wanted to use me to infiltrate this SEELE and profit from them?"

"That's right," Aoko admitted without hesitation. "And there's something else I should tell you: we come from outside this world. We came here to acquire SEELE's research results."

Aoko's frankness left Asuka at a loss, but under the three-quarters mechanized-mind effect, she quickly calmed down.

"…Then you didn't have to treat me this well," Asuka said. "After all, I'm just a four-year-old brat…"

"Didn't I already tell you?" Aoko said. "I brought you home because Asuka is adorable, okay? Meeting you in the park was a coincidence. Even without you, we had our own plan to move against SEELE."

"Don't misunderstand," Alice took a sip of black tea and explained quietly. "We three are not bleeding-heart saints. Since Aoko brought you here, it means she acknowledges you—and that acknowledgment belongs solely to the 'you' who is here, not any other 'Asuka.'"

"The moment 'you' escaped from that SEELE-affiliated training institute, it meant your fate diverged from those of the other 'yous,'" Touko said. "We hope you seize this chance, Ms. Shikinami Asuka Langley."

Asuka was silent for a long time, and during that time Aoko quietly lifted the mechanized-mind spell placed on her.

A flame began to burn in Shikinami Asuka Langley's eyes. Though she was still very young, the Asuka in Aoko's two lifetimes of memory—the one who refused to submit to fate—seemed to have returned. Aoko was sure of it.

Asuka viciously bit into the apple slice in her hand.

"…Please teach me," little Asuka said to the three with firm resolve. "Teach me how to overcome all of this!"

Chapter 623: Bethany's Base

For Asuka's mental well-being, Gray, as her close friend, stayed at the Kuonji residence and slept in the same bed as Asuka.

Wearing comfy, cute pajamas, Asuka and Gray lay on the fluffy, soft bed and talked at length.

Gray told Asuka all the stories she knew from the village of Blackmore, as well as her personal experiences.

This story included Gray's identity as the vessel for the resurrected King Arthur—also, in a sense, an artificial human.

It also included how her biological mother had planned to sacrifice herself to save her daughter.

And finally, the perfect ending in which the village's true King Arthur they sought to resurrect made a dazzling appearance and rescued mother and daughter.

Asuka was a very smart child. After hearing this story, she understood that her good friend wasn't a young lady or princess born with a silver spoon in her mouth from the start.

Quite the opposite—Gray's childhood experiences were even more painful and miserable than Asuka's.

The preparations the village of Blackmore made to resurrect King Arthur were sheer torture for a child. But she persevered and was eventually saved.

"Asuka will definitely succeed," Gray said earnestly, gripping Asuka's small hand tightly. "Both Asuka and Asuka's mom will be saved in the end!"

"…Even if Mom is already dead, is that still possible?" Asuka asked softly.

"Coming back from the dead? That's easy~" Gray said confidently. "Lots of people here can do that."

—Section break—

With Asuka persuaded, everything else became easier.

Aoko returned to the university to continue her research job, while Touko used a teleportation circle to return to her room at the Bethany base.

Under the cover of the Modified Grand Magecraft Mercury, the base's surveillance systems detected nothing unusual. To SEELE's agents, Touko had stayed shut in her room doing research ever since she arrived at Bethany.

To make the surveillance look more plausible, the Modified Grand Magecraft Mercury even, with Touko's permission, stored some of her research results on the room's computer, so SEELE's monitors could view them at any time and raise her assessed value.

Over the following period, Touko scattered a great many self-made magical puppets throughout the base and used suggestive enchantments to control certain people whose mystic defenses were not very robust.

Although these individuals were not important figures in the base, they could serve as Touko's eyes and ears within Bethany, gathering all manner of intelligence for her.

Among them were pipe maintenance workers, cleaners, cooks, drivers—virtually all types of low-level service staff. Maintaining control over them cost Touko vast amounts of mana every day, but the Third Magician hardly lacked for magical power.

Nor did Touko abandon her study of SEELE's arcane system. Through the efforts of her controlled personnel and her magical puppets, Touko collected a new piece of valuable intel without ever leaving her quarters.

From the pillar-like devices scattered throughout the base, Touko gathered a large number of spells written in cuneiform.

As a true expert in ancient esoteric scripts, Touko took little time to decipher the meaning of these cuneiform spells and determine the true function and name of these pillar devices.

These black pillars, covered in strange engravings and cuneiform on the surface, were officially named "Angel-Sealing Pillars (Barrier-Deploying Type)."

Judging by the spells' esoteric effects, the devices were meant to counter and neutralize a special kind of field—but Touko did not yet know where such a field might be found.

From the surface nomenclature of the devices, the true purpose of this base was plain to see—although the EVA story had not officially begun, an Apostle lay buried—or rather, sealed—beneath the base, asleep.

As beings possessing a Seat before God and the Fruit of Life, a living Apostle was obviously of enormous value. Touko believed this was why SEELE was in such a hurry to recruit metaphysiobiology researchers from around the world: their time was running short.

Finding one sleeping Apostle meant that the other Apostles would soon act one after another. Conducting research on them in advance was of paramount importance.

The actions of the Bethany base leadership in the days that followed confirmed Touko's assessment of NERV and SEELE.

In the third week after her arrival, the Bethany base director—a slightly balding old man with a white beard—requested a meeting with Touko.

"You've passed our review, Dr. Aozaki Touko," the director said impassively. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Touko replied with a relieved expression. "So now, can I learn about my next research assignment?"

"Of course. That is the purpose of today's meeting," the director said, striking a Gendo-like pose and feigning profundity. "You will witness the truth of this world—or part of it."

"As for the price of knowing these truths—Dr. Aozaki Touko, you're a smart person; I don't think I need to spell it out," the director continued. "This is your last chance to back out. Your answer?"

Touko showed a conflicted expression, fell silent a moment, and then made her decision with difficulty.

"…I'm in."

"You've made a wise choice, Doctor," the director said with a smile, shaking her hand. "Welcome aboard. From now on, we are comrades."

Having successfully joined, Touko was issued a new clearance card that allowed her into most areas of the base. Only access to a few places—like the deepest sealing site—required the director's approval.

The director led a research team of dozens, including Touko, onto an elevator to tour the various sectors of the Bethany base.

From Touko's perspective, the structure of the facility seemed modeled after the Purgatory in the Divine Comedy.

It was like a giant funnel inserted into the seabed, composed of multiple disk-shaped levels. The deeper one went, the smaller each level became.

The path to the lowest level was a spiral corridor named the "Styx Shaft."

At the very bottom lay a powerful sealing system called the "Final Cocytus System."

What the director now intended to show Touko and the other core researchers was the truth of the world imprisoned within this deepest sealing apparatus.