Aozaki Aoko [630-631] (Patreon)

Chapter 630: Misato Katsuragi

"Artificial Intelligence Specialist, Technical Section 1, Technical Development Division," the woman in the red jacket gave Aoko a military salute that was more or less standard. "First Lieutenant Misato Katsuragi, and I'm your pickup today, Dr. Aozaki!"

"Huh?" Aoko replied, sounding a bit surprised. "I'm just a developer working on artificial intelligence technology. Why would someone from the military come to pick me up...?"

"That's a long story. Though I have a military rank, I'm not exactly a soldier," Misato sighed helplessly and said to Aoko, "I'll explain in detail in a bit... By the way, is this your friend?"

Misato glanced at Alice, standing beside Aoko in a black trench coat, and asked.

"This is Alice Kuonji, my childhood friend," Aoko grinned mischievously and suddenly wrapped her arm around Alice's slender waist. "And she's my girlfriend too!"

Misato's gaze shifted back and forth between Alice and Aoko, her mind struggling to catch up. "So, that's the kind of relationship you have? My apologies for not realizing!"

"Well, it's only natural," Aoko waved her free hand nonchalantly. "You know, we grew up in Paris, the so-called City of Romance!"

Alice turned and glared fiercely at Aoko, but Aoko seemed oblivious. Still, Alice didn't deny what Aoko said, nor did she push away Aoko's hand from her waist.

"Really? Relationships in this world are certainly complicated..." Misato said in a slightly weary voice. "Alright, please come with me. My car is parked in the underground garage. We'll need to enter via the elevator."

Aoko and Alice followed Misato to the underground parking lot, found the military jeep Misato had brought, put their suitcases in the trunk, and sat in the back seat.

At this point, Misato hadn't saved enough money to buy her first sports car yet, but it was clear she'd had her driver's license for quite some time, so her driving was very practiced.

On the way, Misato explained to Aoko the specific mission of the NERV organization she belonged to. Even though Alice, an outsider, was present, she was more or less considered Aoko's family member now. As long as she signed the confidentiality agreement, this level of leak wasn't a big deal.

"Don't worry, Dr. Aozaki," Misato said. "There are plenty of employees at HQ whose families live in the Tokyo-3, and their families know a lot more than Miss Kuonji does. You'll see when you get to the apartment."

Aoko and Alice didn't say much in response. They just sat quietly in the car, listening to Misato's explanation, occasionally asking just the right questions to keep the conversation going so it wouldn't get awkward for the lieutenant.

Since the airport was quite far from the city center of Third New Tokyo, even with Misato driving as fast as she could, they couldn't get to NERV HQ in under an hour.

Of course, that also had to do with the fact that Third New Tokyo was actually built in the mountains of Hakone—a true mountain city.

About forty minutes after leaving the airport, their car finally entered the mountain roads surrounding Third New Tokyo.

Following the winding mountain highway, Aoko and Alice could see in the distance the towering, modern skyline unmistakably marking the city.

"Miss Kuonji can stay in Dr. Aozaki's staff apartment for now," Misato explained, "Don't worry about the space. NERV's staff apartments aren't luxurious, but they're definitely roomy enough."

Aoko thought about this, recalling in her previous life how Misato's and Rei Ayanami's apartments were actually quite large, though the difference in decoration was vast... Hopefully, the NERV folks here would be a bit more reliable.

After about an hour's drive, Misato led them into the city and stopped in front of an apartment building with a distinct Soviet-style slanted facade.

"Please take out your ID card, Dr. Aozaki," Misato said. "We'll register at the apartment management office, and once we get the keys, you can move in anytime."

Aoko was quite satisfied with the efficiency of the apartment manager. At least they didn't ask any unnecessary questions: just took Aoko's ID, scanned it, and handed over two keys. Aoko gave one to Alice and kept the other.

"See you in a bit," Aoko said to Alice at the doorway of her apartment. "I hope the onboarding process doesn't take too long!"

"Mm, take care," Alice blinked and replied calmly, "I'll be waiting for you."

"It's nice, isn't it, to have someone waiting for you at home," Misato said enviously to Aoko. "I don't have that blessing. I don't have any family left now, ha!"

Although Misato said this in a joking, cheerful tone, Aoko could still sense the sadness behind it.

"Miss Katsuragi... Could it be that you're related to Dr. Katsuragi who died in the Second Impact?" Aoko asked, choosing her words carefully.

But Misato's reaction was different from what Aoko expected. She didn't show any strong emotion, just clutched the cross she wore and answered calmly.

"Yeah, that Katsuragi," Misato said as she drove one-handed, "My father was a research maniac. He could abandon his family for his work, but in the end, he sacrificed himself so I could survive... I really don't know how to judge him..."

"Maybe as a fellow researcher, Dr. Aozaki, you can understand my father better!" She smiled at Aoko, then spoke in a hearty tone.

"Humans are always complicated," Aoko said candidly. "Good and bad, black and white, nothing is absolute. If we only judged people by a binary of good and evil, then society would really be doomed."

"You really are an expert—so philosophical!" Misato said admiringly. "Reminds me of an old classmate of mine..."

After the topic of Dr. Katsuragi passed, their conversation grew more relaxed. The car slowly reached the foot of a mountain, where a huge artificial structure appeared before Aoko's eyes.

"We've arrived!"

Misato said, stopping the car on a platform that looked like a giant escalator. She took out her ID card and swiped it on a machine nearby. The entire platform started to move, taking the two of them deep underground.

Chapter 631: Reunion After Four Years

"This really is...a spectacular view!" Aoko looked down through the elevator's observation window. The vast underground cavern beneath Tokyo-3 was revealed before her. The construction of NERV HQ was long completed, and the simulated sunlight system brightly illuminated the entire underground space.

"How is it? You can't see this in France, right?" Misato said with a mixture of pride and showiness. "I know there's a NERV branch in France, but they don't have anything as grand as headquarters~"

"Well, how should I put it," Aoko replied, "If you're talking about transformable cities hidden underground, Paris has them too. Buildings can be stored underground based on traffic conditions, though not on this scale—Paris is an older city, after all."

"Eh? Really?" Misato said in surprise. "I didn't know that... Last time I went abroad, it was to Antarctica—and you know what happened there."

Antarctica? That was the Second Impact, right? Misato's international travel is certainly eventful.

Though the elevator allowed you to see the bottom, actually riding it made Aoko realize just how long the distance was. No wonder—it was a cavern formed by the fall of the Black Moon. Massive, indeed.

After about twenty minutes in the elevator, Aoko and Misato finally reached the NERV HQ base. Misato took out a plastic internal staff map and studied it closely, trying to find a route through the maze of spiderweb-like corridors.

"Let me see... We exited at the west station, so next we should..." Misato was sweating as she studied the map. Aoko looked at her with a strange expression.

Really, Misato? This 'bad sense of direction' character trait is way too solid. Are you the type who can't drive without navigation?

"Are we lost?"

"No, we're not!" Misato insisted. "Don't worry, we'll find the right way soon. If we just try every single path from here to there, we're bound to find it!"

"Damn... This place is way too complicated. Who the hell designed it?" Misato muttered, clearly frustrated. She must have gotten lost here more than once.

…

While Misato was wandering around NERV with Aoko, Ritsuko Akagi, who'd been too busy to care about anything else lately, was supervising her team with dark circles under her eyes.

"Dr. Akagi," an intercom call came through to Ritsuko, "Lieutenant Katsuragi from Operations Section 1 is bringing someone to Gate S41... They're getting farther and farther from the work area."

"No way," Ritsuko groaned, rubbing her temples. "Didn't I personally show her the staff passage just yesterday? And she's still lost?"

"Maya, cover for me here while I go retrieve that idiot Misato," Ritsuko checked her watch and told her junior intern, "It'll take about half an hour."

"Yes, no problem, Ritsuko-senpai!" Maya Ibuki bowed hurriedly, took the data tablet from Ritsuko, and began juggling tasks—clearly, she had great respect for her.

As Aoko and Misato were riding what was obviously a freight elevator spanning dozens of floors, trying to find the right route, they finally encountered their savior: Ritsuko Akagi, who had come to find the lost child.

"R-Ritsuko!" Misato looked awkwardly at her old classmate waiting at the elevator. Ritsuko didn't look pleased. "Aren't you still working? Why did you come get us yourself?"

"Check your watch, Misato," Ritsuko stepped onto the elevator, blocking Misato from leaving. "You're already 45 minutes late. If I hadn't come, you might never have found the right area."

"No way!" Misato protested, "Even if I have a bad sense of direction, if I just try every route, I'd eventually find it!"

This scene is so familiar, Aoko thought, her right eyelid twitching. Am I reliving Shinji's famous moment?

"...So you do know you're hopeless with directions?" Ritsuko said helplessly. "Looks like we need to get the internal navigation system online soon, but MAGI is already fully booked..."

"Long time no see, Dr. Akagi," Aoko interrupted, breaking the cycle of fate. "Last time we met was four years ago, right?"

"Dr. Aozaki," Ritsuko finally turned to her. "Sorry, I've been so busy lately, I'm just overwhelmed."

"I understand," Aoko shook hands with Ritsuko and said kindly, "Dr. Naoko Akagi's accident was a tragedy. You've had to shoulder all the responsibility now, haven't you?"

"There's nothing to be done about it," Ritsuko sighed. Apart from her exhaustion, her face showed little emotion. "Or rather, my mother's mental state was unstable even before her suicide. If I'd noticed sooner..."

As if that's the whole story, Aoko thought to herself, knowing the real reasons. Wasn't it because she was pushed over the edge by Rei I's cruel words? 

Nice acting, though.

On the surface, Aoko still wore a look of sympathy, expressing her condolences to Ritsuko.

"Dr. Naoko Akagi was a brilliant woman devoted to research. I corresponded with her regularly, but in recent months, her replies became irregular. I suppose that's when..."

"My mother often mentioned you, Dr. Aoko," Ritsuko suddenly smiled, signaling she was done with the topic. "She said your deep neural network theory created a whole new field in AI. If there's anyone who could take her place, it would be you."

"And I remembered her words. As soon as she passed, I recommended you to the Commander," Ritsuko continued. "I can only maintain and repair the MAGI system my mother developed, but to upgrade and improve it, we need your expertise."

"I'm honored to take on the job," Aoko nodded. "But I still don't fully understand NERV HQ's specific objectives. I didn't get enough information from Ms. Katsuragi's introduction. Could you explain it to me?"

"Of course, no problem," Ritsuko nodded. "In fact, that's exactly why I came to meet you personally."