Aozaki Aoko [626-627] (Patreon)

Chapter 626: Information Exchange

After calming down for a few days in the Land of Sapphire Flowers, Asuka went to find Aoko.

"I want to go back there," Asuka said seriously to Aoko, her little face taut. "Please send me back."

"That expression doesn't suit a kid," Aoko stretched out her hand and kneaded Asuka's soft, slightly baby-fat cheeks into a funny little bun face. "Don't treat this mission like something overly serious. Asuka only needs to live normally, study and train normally; everything else can be left to us."

"But, but…" Asuka's face was still captive in Demon King Aoko's grasp, so she spoke indistinctly.

"No buts," Aoko said decisively. "Kids should do kid things. Just grow up happy. Once you're big enough, I'll be working you to the bone, you hear?"

"And take this." Aoko flipped her palm over, and a mithril pendant set with a sapphire, shaped like a flower, appeared in her hand. She stuffed it into Asuka's palm. "Keep it on you at all times.

"When you're in danger, it'll protect you. Press the button on the back and you'll be instantly transported here, but you can only use it three times a day."

Asuka accepted the precious magical pendant solemnly and bowed in thanks. Aoko made no pretense of refusal and accepted it with ease.

Obedient to the Demon King's will, Asuka returned, under Gray's guidance, to the fake home NERV had made for her.

But this time was different from before. Every staff member here had begun to genuinely care about Asuka.

To the little girl, this was downright creepy, because she could feel that these people truly felt that way now; there was no hypocrisy. Are magi really such terrifying folks?

"Don't worry, Asuka," Gray comforted her. "Sister Aoko might usually be super willful,

but at critical moments she's very, very reliable. She won't do brainwashing on kids. Probably…"

Hey! Don't hesitate or tack on unnecessary qualifiers at the crucial part! How am I supposed to feel reassured?!

Asuka roared helplessly in her heart, but her good friend Gray didn't notice, instead cheerfully touring the apartment Asuka currently lived in.

"Oh! Isn't this the newest game console? They even prepared something like this for you?

They're actually pretty nice~" Gray said happily, looking at the machine beneath the TV. "Let's play together! Let me see what games are in here…"

Asuka sighed helplessly. Gray was clearly quite a bit older than her four-year-old self,

so why was she so childish?

Well, fine. Let the mature and steady Lady Asuka keep her company!

With that thought, Asuka sat on the sofa, picked up the other controller, and started exploring this game console—one that had never been turned on since it was bought—together with Gray.

—Dividing line—

Aoko learned from Touko all kinds of information about the Bethany Base and the suspected Third Angel embryo, giving her further grounds to speculate about SEELE's status.

If, among the angels appearing in order, the Third Angel is sealed in the Arctic Bethany Base, then where is the earliest-appearing Second Angel?

Judging from the data Touko obtained from inside NERV, Lilith apparently isn't considered an angel—or rather, Lilith's relationship with the angels is completely antagonistic. So what is the angels' goal? Surely not to return to Adam?

The biggest difference between this brand-new loop and the past is that in this loop, Adam, as the First Angel, hasn't been found—or Kaworu Nagisa has replaced Adam's position, becoming a human-bodied First Angel cooperating with SEELE. In that case, the identity and placement of the ADAMS are highly questionable.

The ADAMS aren't Adam; the Second Impact was triggered by four Giants of Light, i.e., four ADAMS in a special state. So how exactly was that special state activated?

Was it like in Golgotha Object records and Aoko's past-life memories, where the Fruit of Life came into contact with the Fruit of Knowledge?

Too many things don't add up. Aoko and her companions felt they needed more intel and more evidence to piece together this deeply flawed jigsaw puzzle.

Touko came to this world to find the opportunity to push the Third Magic—materialization of the soul—further. Aoko came purely for the advanced technology it could offer.

The Golgotha Object, the Black Moon, and the angels' tech, all manufactured by the First Ancestral Race, fully satisfied Aoko's requirements.

In her previous life's memories, NERV and SEELE, empowered by the Fruit of Knowledge, ultimately built four starships that could kill angels, possessed AT Fields, and could open the Gates of Guf.

Aoko vaguely remembered these things being related to the ADAMS, but there was no explanation of exactly how these starships were produced.

She practically drooled over those cool ships. If she could get a prototype of one and the related manufacturing tech, then this long, risky trek to this world wouldn't be a loss. Anything else she gained would be a bonus.

Given how important those ships would be to NERV, snatching one wouldn't be easy. And right now, it was still premature—they hadn't even seen a shadow of the starships in this world.

Previously, when Aoko and the others were in Earth's orbit in the EVA universe, they'd seen four huge crosses at the South Pole's Second Impact ground zero. They hadn't examined them closely then, but in hindsight those four likely were the ADAMS that triggered the Impact.

So it makes sense they hadn't heard anything about starships yet: the raw materials were still abandoned in Antarctica, so of course the starships couldn't have been built yet.

Aside from the ADAMS, angels, EVAs, and starships, the only key item left was the Spear.

Neither Touko herself nor her moles in the Bethany Base had found any signs of a Spear existing so far.

In Aoko's past-life memory, she remembered there being a Spear on the Moon, and that Spear was ultimately brought to Earth by Unit-06, which then sealed the apotheosized Unit-01 with a single thrust, closing the Gate of Guf to the Anti-Universe.

But when Aoko and the others passed by NERV's lunar base, they hadn't seen a trace of any Spear anywhere. Could it be that the Spear isn't on the Moon yet? And how many types of Spears are there, and how many in total? All still unknowns.

After exchanging a round of intel with Touko, Aoko gradually relaxed her mindset. The story of this world was far from over. In the meantime, she planned to enjoy the pleasures near-future technology could bring to daily life.

Chapter 627: The Death of Yui Ikari

Everyone's life returned to normal—at least for Aoko and Alice, who were still in Paris.

As for Touko, she had already begun to display the traits of an excellent research workhorse: staying at the Bethany Base during the day to study the Third Angel, then returning via teleportation array at night to sleep at the New Kuonji Residence, day after day,

not even taking weekends off.

But Touko herself seemed satisfied with this life. At the very least, she was very interested in the angelic life form. Without the limits of stamina or energy, she had recently been throwing herself into research work day and night.

Peaceful days are always short. In the last few days of 2004, Touko received a death notice for Yui.

As one of the most critical figures in the EVA world, Yui's death is, in a sense, an unavoidable event. Without her, there would be no ensuing chain of stories. Shinji might have remained an ordinary, happy little boy.

Touko told Aoko immediately. Aoko then mentioned it at a dinner gathering one night, which led to Asuka—who had come to eat—overhearing it.

"I've heard that name," Asuka recalled. "Not long ago, near the apartment where I live, a family of big shots showed up."

"They brought lots of bodyguards. Among the three big shots were a man, a willful and childish little boy, and a woman who looked pretty gentle."

"If I'm remembering right… the man holding the child called that woman 'YUI.'"

"Oh! Asuka is so smart! A drumstick for you!"

With a flourish, Aoko sent a gigantic roasted turkey leg flying into Asuka's plate, smashing the little cake she had just planned to taste into crumbs, making Asuka fix Aoko with a dead-fish stare.

Aoko ignored the child's death-glare and reflected instead on why she hadn't received intel that the Ikari family had visited near Asuka's apartment.

"Probably because the conditions you set for the puppets were focused on ensuring Asuka's safety," Alice said calmly from the side. At a glance she'd guessed what Aoko was thinking. "This in itself isn't important. Just patch the hole next time."

Aoko nodded to Alice, then sank back into thought.

Yui's death can be said to mark the real beginning of the EVA story. Everything before is just backdrop-like historical progression. Only after Yui's soul merged into Unit-01 did everything truly begin to turn.

Shinji would be abandoned by Gendo, casually left to live with relatives in the countryside, spending a peaceful yet dull ten years—until the Fourth Angel attacked and he was summoned back by Gendo as Unit-01's pilot.

Given Gendo's man-baby personality, Aoko had no doubt that if he had a way to abandon Shinji and still initiate and control Unit-01, he would do so without hesitation.

To him, Shinji's birth was a bona fide accident, an obstacle between him and his beloved wife Yui. While Yui lived, his shut-in, chuunibyou self could barely pass for human. After Yui's death, he immediately revealed his man-baby nature.

Beyond that thoroughly dysfunctional family, another very important figure is Mari Makinami Illustrious.

Because of Aoko's group's intervention, Mari's identity in this loop was now rather clear: an Anglo-Japanese metaphysical biologist, Yui's junior, with some extra feelings for Yui, and nothing particularly special beyond that.

But considering Yui herself was senior staff at the Artificial Evolution Research Institute, Mari must also be well aware of the EVA series projects. How she later reversed aging to become the pilot of Units 02 and 08 was still unclear.

"Most likely a body replacement," Touko, well-versed in such matters, hypothesized. "SEELE's clone technology is highly mature. Asuka is a success of such tech, and soul transfer isn't difficult."

Touko made no effort to avoid Asuka when she said this. The Asuka of today already had a very healthy and resilient heart; revealing her black history wouldn't negatively affect her.

See? Asuka-2 was already wolfing down the roast turkey leg, as if it were her mortal enemy.

"All right, then I'll trouble you to keep an eye on her," Aoko said, frowning. "I saw records in the Golgotha Object of her arriving at the Bethany Base. At that time, she already looked fourteen, so she likely completed the age reversal there."

"No problem, I'll watch her," Touko agreed readily, then asked, "By the way, have you not managed to infiltrate NERV or any SEELE-affiliated organizations yet?"

"Sigh, I'm trying," Aoko sighed. On the AI track, she had produced a fair number of results. Just at the start of this month, she'd published a paper on convolutional neural networks to great acclaim. "But SEELE hasn't reacted much. Only Naoko Akagi keeps corresponding with me academically."

"Hmm, could she be occupying your ecological niche?" Alice popped a small piece of Black Forest cake into her mouth, then speculated. "SEELE doesn't need too many experts in AI, so they might only recruit the best from the field?"

"Hey now, Alice, that makes a lot of sense," Aoko's eyes lit up, agreeing with the conjecture. "Since she ends up committing suicide out of jealousy toward Rei and Unit-01 anyway, should I give her a little push from behind and help her set off sooner…"

"Hey, hey, watch it—there are kids here!" Touko rolled her eyes at Aoko. "Saying things like that can have incalculably negative effects on children's development!"

But Aoko glanced around at all the minors present: Kohaku and Hisui were whispering to each other; Gray was chatting with Melusine and Asuka about amusing things they'd heard lately on the Fairy Shopping Street; even Illya, absent for a while, was happily talking with Irisviel.

As for the already perpetually delighted Karen, she hadn't even shown up at tonight's banquet.

"Sis, we were never exactly good people," Aoko looked at Touko with pitying eyes. "No need to pretend so hard, right?"