Aozaki Aoko [658-659] (Patreon)

Chapter 658: Yui Ikari and Ayanami Rei

After three rounds of drinks and five courses of dishes, most people in the private room had rosy cheeks. Even Maya, who normally barely touched alcohol, was swept up by the relaxed atmosphere and secretly had a few cups; now even the skin on her neck was flushed, clearly showing she couldn't hold her liquor.

To seem less out of place, Aoko forcibly flushed her own cheeks with magic. In truth, alcohol simply couldn't affect a being like her—this beer was no different from water to her.

By the time Katsuragi Misato had drunk herself under the table and fallen asleep, and the team-bonding gathering was nearing its end, Aoko took a photo from her pocket and handed it to Shinji.

At the very first glance, Shinji's eyes widened. In the photo was a young mother holding a small boy, and standing beside her—fumbling to pull a baby bottle out of a backpack—was a beardless, sunglasses-less Gendo Ikari.

"As you're thinking, these are your parents, and that's you as a child," Aoko told Shinji evenly. "I was the one who took the photo."

"Miss Aozaki, you knew my parents?!" Shinji's hand trembled as he held the picture. He stared fixedly at the people in it and asked Aoko.

"At the time, I was working at a university in Paris," Aoko said. "Your parents were visiting scholars then. They brought you to live in Paris for a while, and by chance I got to know them."

"My mother… so this is what she looked like?" Shinji's expression was very confused. Yui's features were so similar to that girl covered in wounds that his mind couldn't help racing.

"You're curious why Ayanami Rei looks so much like your mother, aren't you?" Without a change in expression, Aoko used magecraft to exclude everyone else from their conversation and spoke to Shinji.

"…Yes. Do you know why, Miss Aozaki?" Shinji hesitated a little but still asked the crucial question.

"Before your mother married your father, her surname was Ayanami. Her full name was Ayanami Yui," Aoko said crisply.

"S-so that girl, Ayanami Rei, is my…?" Shinji seemed very close to the truth.

"Most likely your sister," Aoko said. "But it can't be stated with one hundred percent certainty. It could also be some relative from your mother's side—in other words, your kin."

Shinji didn't comment on the qualification; given how closely Ayanami Rei resembled his mother, no matter how he thought about it she looked more like his little sister.

"I'll give you this photo, Shinji-kun," Aoko said. "I think you need it more than I do, as someone who only happened to meet Dr. Yui by chance."

"…Thank you, Miss Aozaki." Clutching the photo tightly, Shinji thanked Aoko with the most sincere tone he had used to date. "This is probably the best gift I've ever received…"

— — — — —

After that team-building ended, Aoko had to take responsibility for getting the totally plastered Misato and Maya home, respectively. When she finally returned to her own apartment, she found Alice—with a gaze that sent a chill down her spine—sitting in the living room waiting for her to come back.

For the sake of her own life, Aoko pulled out all the stops and made a full, color-aroma-flavor-balanced dinner for Alice, choosing to dine in this smaller apartment rather than the luxurious new Kuonji estate.

All the little details behind that choice were worth savoring another day.

After the Fourth Angel's attack, it seemed the city of Tokyo-3 finally began "formal operations." Many strange facilities whose purpose had been unclear started running, and a large number of NERV personnel spread throughout the city's streets and alleys.

Of course, the most important still were the EVAs and their pilots. Fresh off the toasts and encouragement from the AI department, Shinji had only been happy for a few days before he got beaten up at school by some meathead athlete.

But whether due to Aoko's influence or not, Shinji's temperament seemed to have shifted. This time, when Suzuhara Toji hit him, he didn't just take it—he fought back and grappled with him. He still didn't win in the end, but at least he left the jock with a black eye.

After Aoko obtained the school surveillance footage of the scuffle, she was quite satisfied with the withdrawn boy's change. What Shinji lacked most was affirmation from others.

In the malicious environment Gendo had deliberately engineered around him, no one would give Shinji any affirmation—at least not the kind that treated him like a child, as Misato did. That's also why Shinji later liked Kaworu so much, and why he fell into despair after Kaworu's death.

That said, Aida Kensuke at this age truly disgusted Aoko. He clearly sided with his good buddy Suzuhara Toji, yet put on the airs of a "rational mediator" to comfort Shinji. The double standards couldn't be more blatant.

Suzuhara Toji was a rough, hot-blooded idiot who cared about his family. Aida Kensuke, for now, was nothing more than a hypocritical jerk.

It wasn't enough to make Aoko lift a finger to kill him, but she wouldn't pull him out of mortal danger either. She didn't have the patience to wait for that brat to grow up.

At Bethany Base, Touko had already received the combat data from Unit-01's battle with the Fourth Angel. In Gray's recent simulation drills, besides the Third Angel, they added the Fourth that Shinji had fought.

Unlike Shinji, Gray was very practiced against an enemy like the Fourth Angel; she carved it up into eight pieces in the sim in short order.

Bethany's director told Touko that he'd begun negotiations with the Committee. Since there were no Angels at Bethany now (the ADAMS were a different situation), why not send Unit-05 and maintenance staff to Tokyo-3? No matter how you looked at it, the Third Child seemed less reliable and stable than the Fifth, right?

Aoko and Touko figured the Committee would definitely approve the request. Up to now, the "script" followed the covenant between Lilith and humanity: until all Angels were defeated, neither the Committee nor Gendo would oppose strengthening Tokyo-3's forces.

Of course, Unit-05's management authority and maintenance personnel would come from Bethany Base—just as Unit-02's ownership and staff came from the Euro branch in Germany/France.

As the overall lead for the Unit-05 project, Touko would definitely head to Tokyo-3 with Gray, which meant the NHG warship project would have to be "entrusted" for now to her colleagues at Bethany.

The only question was when Touko and Unit-05 could arrive in Tokyo-3. Until then, Shinji would still be fighting alone; "Ayanami Rei at most could only be considered an optional support for now."

After a stretch of life along the triangle of "NERV HQ—Misato's home—school,"

Shinji finally faced the second enemy of his life: the Fifth Angel, which looked like a cross between a squid and a giant isopod.

Chapter 659: On Trust

The Fifth Angel appeared from the Pacific, presumably having hidden on the seabed to evade humanity's detection systems. After its good buddy, the Fourth Angel, got taken out, this guy leisurely surfaced and moved to attack Tokyo-3.

Although Shinji had just brawled with classmates at school and still sported two bruises on his face, that wasn't a reason to keep him from sortieing in Unit-01. If anything, the little injuries stoked the fire in this newly rallied, introverted boy's belly, and he seemed more determined than before.

Unlike the original timeline, where Ritsuko—who didn't understand combat—built the training sims, this timeline had Unit-05's fight with the Third Angel as a "template," plus assistance from the "DeepThought" large model, making the current simulation program far more rational.

At the very least, Shinji was no longer mindlessly drilling "shoulder, aim, fire."

Whether hot weapons or melee arms, the revamped program had it all; the AI would assess the battlefield in real time and recommend the most suitable weapon.

Even so, in Aoko's view this was still far from enough. Whether it was EVA's dedicated machine guns or the short vibrating high-frequency knives, none counted as "effective weapons" against an enemy on the Angels' level. And the funniest thing was that HQ's EVA ops still relied on a glaring power cable—downright absurd.

Compared to Bethany's Unit-05, Unit-01's "on-paper capabilities" were way too poor; both in equipment and endurance, it was laughably weak.

But all these unreasonable points had a logical reason behind them: both the Committee and Gendo were, at this stage, deliberately choosing to limit Unit-01's combat ability.

Even Unit-02, which also needed a power cable, had far more specialized gear and functionality than Unit-01.

Did SEELE and Gendo not know about the French branch's JA project? Or Bethany's Unit-05 refit plans?

No—they knew. They just didn't want to, and couldn't, apply similar "infinite power" upgrades to Unit-01. The official excuse could be fear that, if a malfunction like Unit-00's previous incident occurred, they couldn't cut the power. The real reason was that Unit-01 was the special unit that could truly "become a god."

Unit-01 could be strong, but not too strong—especially not with a "cheat" like an N2 reactor granting infinite endurance. For now, that was the consensus between the Committee and Gendo.

Back to the fight with the Fifth Angel—

Launched from the underground base to the surface, Shinji immediately grabbed a building-integrated EVA "nail gun," i.e., a Gauss weapon that used electromagnetic fields to accelerate solid metal "bolts" toward the target.

But after he squeezed the trigger and emptied the mag, he found the magnetically accelerated "metal spikes" halted in midair, not far from the Fifth Angel—unable to advance an inch.

"An AT Field!" Katsuragi Misato gritted her teeth. "Unit-01's own AT Field isn't strong enough to neutralize the Angel's field?"

"According to computations by the 'DeepThought' model, Unit-01 cannot, at the current range, penetrate the Angel's field with available ranged weapons," Ritsuko said as she looked at the monitor. "The AI recommends switching to melee weapons and engaging at close range to achieve sufficient neutralization strength."

Misato's jaw tightened. Truth be told, sending a minor into battle was already her bottom line. Now asking Shinji to abandon the relative safety of ranged weapons and instead brawl with an Angel using a blade—that was going too far.

While Misato, the operations commander, hesitated, the Fifth Angel lashed out with a flurry of high-energy light-whip attacks. Wherever the whip struck, skyscrapers and thick armor plating were sliced like hot knives through butter, forcing Shinji to block with the Gauss rifle.

He managed to parry the whip, but that also ruined his only ranged weapon. And during the evasive rolls, Unit-01's umbilical cable was severed, triggering the five-minute internal battery countdown.

"Shinji-kun, retreat now!" Misato shouted. "Fall back to Sector B6; grab a new rifle and then reengage!"

Although he heard Misato's order, Shinji had no time to spare. The Angel's whip attacks were too swift; the slightest hesitation could cost Unit-01 an arm or a leg—and he didn't want to endure that kind of agony.

And compared to the orders from someone off-site, Shinji now had more faith in the analyses and tactical recommendations provided by "DeepThought."

In Unit-01's "user interface," the Angel's attacks and its various body parts were marked with different success probabilities calculated by "DeepThought." Moments before, the probabilities of raising the rifle to defend or continuing to fire had been computed as—

While his colleagues watched, nerves taut, Aoko still ate and drank as she pleased. Until the "Angel of Power" appeared, none of the Angels warranted her concern.

Only a few Angels had the strength to rebel against the "script." The Angel of Power barely qualified, yet it still couldn't escape being used and outmaneuvered by Gendo.

The outcome of the battle didn't surprise most "insiders."

Though there were twists and turns, Unit-01 ultimately tumbled and scrambled to an armory and grabbed the heat saber "copied on Aoko's recommendation" from the French branch's Unit-02. With a shout, Shinji charged, endured the agony of a stab through Unit-01's abdomen, and drove the blade through the Fifth Angel's absolute territory and core, ending the fight.

That entire string of "tactical suggestions" came from the "DeepThought" model. Shinji ignored Misato's yelling in the command center and chose to trust the cold, unfeeling AI—and he won.

"Why didn't you follow my order to retreat immediately?" In the pilots' lounge, Misato glowered at Shinji. "I'm your operations lead, am I not?"

"…I'm sorry," Shinji answered quietly. "I was simply following the AI's tactical recommendations."

"You're obligated to obey my orders," Misato said, frowning. "A commander's orders take precedence over the AI's judgments. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Did you really take that in?!" Dissatisfied with his answer, Misato grabbed Shinji by the collar and hauled him to his feet.

"Of course I heard you, Miss Misato," Shinji said, still in that mild tone. "But I won anyway, didn't I? Miss Aozaki's AI works quite well."

"The computer's judgment prioritizes Unit-01's chance of victory!" Misato shouted, angry. "I'm responsible for your personal safety!"

"…You're not the one on the battlefield, Miss Misato," Shinji said, turning his head, his tone slightly sardonic. "Compared to orders from someone not on site, I trust the AI that's 'right beside me' more."

With that, Shinji shook free of Misato's grip and walked out of the pilots' lounge on his own.