Aozaki Aoko [670-671] (Patreon)

Chapter 670: Beware That Woman

Under the Committee's orders, Unit-02 and Unit-05, together with their backers—the French Branch and the Bethany Branch—converged in one place and forcibly occupied a large section of NERV HQ in Tokyo-3. On the surface, this area is now completely outside Commander Ikari Gendo's control. This is SEELE's way of showing their distrust of him.

Given the previous attack on Bethany Base and the loss of the Third Angel, the Committee, on Touko's suggestion, chose this time to capture the relatively weaker Seventh Angel. They then stored the sealed core right under Gendo's nose—in the underground facilities of NERV HQ.

This way, even if Gendo tries something and detonates the core again, he'll have to think twice about whether his own nest can withstand the blast.

It's a blatant open scheme. Even if Carbon Gendo wants to stop the Committee from researching the technology to replicate Angel cores, he can't—unless he doesn't want to keep playing the game.

Of course, one look and you can tell this plan was Aoko's idea and executed by Touko.

Neither in the original timeline nor in past loops has the Committee ever done this. It's a first—like a maiden's first ride in the bridal sedan.

"Looks like the Committee is really mad about last time," Fuyutsuki said, peering through his binoculars at the Angel core being transported in the distance. "So this is a warning to us."

"It doesn't matter," Gendo said expressionlessly. "Replicating Angel cores will affect our plan somewhat, but the linchpin of the Human Instrumentality Project is still Unit-01. One way or another, the Committee won't rashly tear things up with us. On that point, rest easy."

—Break—

In a private room of a high-end izakaya in Tokyo-3, Kaji Ryoji sat across from Katsuragi Misato, sharing food and sipping the house special: shochu highballs.

"...You, after all these years, still like this neither-Western-nor-Japanese stuff," Misato murmured, cheeks slightly flushed, swirling her glass.

"Think of it as a tiny personal indulgence," Kaji said breezily. "Over in Europe, getting a drink like this is pretty tough~"

"Tell me about what's going on at the European branch," Misato's expression grew more serious as she locked eyes with him. "You've been doing intel work there, haven't you?"

"Heh. Do I look like someone who did a great job?" Kaji removed his eyepatch, revealing the hollow socket beneath. "This is one of the costs of failure."

"Kaji..." Misato looked at him, conflicted. She wanted to comfort him but quickly remembered they'd been broken up for years and held the impulse back.

"Well, it wasn't all for nothing," Kaji pivoted, putting the eyepatch back on. "Otherwise I wouldn't be alive to see you again, Misato."

As Misato drifted into memories of their happy college days, Kaji lowered his voice and passed her some "important intel."

"Be careful of Aozaki Touko, Misato," Kaji said, fixing his gaze on her. "If you can, also be careful of Aozaki Aoko. Even though she's worked at HQ for years, there's no ruling out that the sisters have stayed in contact all this time."

"Why?" Misato blinked, pushing back. "Touko Aozaki is just a researcher, right? At most, someone like Ritsuko. What's dangerous about that?"

"...All I can say is that almost all of Bethany Branch's most important research achievements are related to her—or outright led by her," Kaji slipped a USB drive into Misato's hand under the table. "It's very likely she's connected to SEELE. We can't rule out that she's one of theirs."

"SEELE, you mean...!" Misato pocketed the drive without changing her expression. At this time, SEELE's existence was a secret known only to upper management across NERV branches. Even within the European branch, very few knew SEELE existed; many rank-and-file believed they were simply under the UN.

Misato had always harbored doubts about NERV's public account of Second Impact and the Angels. As Dr. Katsuragi's daughter, she could sense inconsistencies in the narrative.

But her position at HQ had long limited what she knew—she had access to fewer secrets than even her best friend, Akagi Ritsuko—so she often tried to dig deeper.

This time, Kaji had undeniably brought her a surprise.

"Hmph. Lost an eye and you still love to drink!" Misato shot Kaji a look. "Serves you right you look like this now!"

"I'll take that as you caring about me, Misato," Kaji said gently. "In Siberia, alcohol is a survival essential. I downed plenty of vodka just to make it back alive to see you."

—Break—

After Unit-02's arrival, Touko moved with Gray and Asuka out of Aoko and Alice's apartment. It was only next door, but it was a concession to "plausibility." No matter how you looked at it, the old place couldn't house five people, and there was no need to save NERV that lodging expense.

Even though they could meet nightly at Land of Sapphire Flowers, this was the first time Gray and Asuka could "legally" meet in the outside world. The two best friends openly toured the shopping district of Tokyo-3, soaking in the local flavor of the fortress city.

Aoko and the other two returned to the new Kuonji residence and carefully reviewed the last two Angel battles, preparing for upcoming events.

"Not gonna lie, you really rattled the old man," Touko said with a grin. "Even from far away I could feel his frustration—and his helplessness."

"This is nothing," Aoko waved dismissively. "Just a warning for the middle-aged old man. Play nice: kill Angels, develop new tech. Too many little tricks and someone's gonna spank you!"

"Right, I've got fresh intel—collected by the doll I left at Bethany Base," Touko said suddenly. "After separating ADAMS's core and skeleton, the Lance of Longinus there was secretly carted off by the Committee."

"Hm?"

Chapter 671: The Nature of the Spears

At this moment, the "spears" that exist in this world and have been personally confirmed by Aoko and Touko number three.

One on the moon, held by Nagisa Kaworu and MARK-06; one sealing Lilith, under Gendo's control; and the one at Bethany sealing ADAMS, now stolen by the Committee.

Or rather, not "stolen" so much as "moved while Touko happened to be away."

"But besides breaking A.T. Fields and halting core activity, what else can the spear do? Are they planning to trigger an Impact already?" Aoko paced the room. "SEELE already has one spear set up on the moon. Even as a counter to Gendo, a second seems redundant."

"Either they discovered something that requires a 'spear' to handle," Touko frowned, "which seems unlikely. In terms of occult measures, we've left no gaps. None of Bethany's communications mention the spear's transfer."

In past loops, there was only one Lance of Longinus, and during the final "Instrumentality" ritual, its role was like a key to make Unit-01 into the "Tree of Life." Once the lance was removed from Unit-01, the ritual was reversed.

But in the current loop, Adam has been replaced by ADAMS, and even the concept of the "spear" has split into two types—six physical spears in total.

Beyond sharing a name and similar appearance, Aoko cannot treat the spears of the old and new loops as the same thing.

"As for data on the 'spears,' the Committee is definitely hiding things we don't know," Aoko said slowly. "Personally, I think they're like a 'controller' of some sort—controlling Earth's various lifeforms, including the Angels."

"Yeah, I agree—and I've got one more piece of intel I forgot to tell you," Touko paused, then said, "Remember the first pseudo-Lance used by Unit-05?"

"Of course. By the way, how did you make that thing? Did you ever get your hands on the materials or related tech?" Aoko asked.

"That's exactly it," Touko said seriously. "The pseudo-lance materials weren't made at Bethany. They were shipped directly from the Committee. We only followed an existing blueprint to craft a tool that could perform the function."

"...I knew it," Aoko frowned. "So either the Committee is deliberately limiting the number of pseudo-lances, or their production capacity is limited and they can't supply more raw material. Unit-05 only has three left—but there are more than three Angels remaining."

"My analysis of the pseudo-lance material shows a composite of common metals and organics," Touko said. "You can detect the metals, but the key isn't the metals—it's the organic part. It's something like a plant fossil."

"A fossil?" Aoko asked, puzzled. "Are you saying the true Lance of Longinus is some kind of fossil?"

"No, I'm saying the pseudo-lance material was probably made by extracting a live sample from a true Lance of Longinus, then turning it into a fossil to suppress its properties, and finally mixing it into an alloy."

"Interesting..." Aoko mused. "So the true Lances may be 'living' entities like ADAMS. That would also explain why they can shift between different forms!"

Aoko also vaguely recalled a scene in the original timeline where Gendo transformed the Black Moon into a new "spear"—implying that the Black Moon, the spears, and ADAMS can be converted into one another under certain conditions and permissions.

"If only you could find where those geezers in the Committee are hiding," Touko sighed. "Even if we don't take them out yet, we could at least extract enough intel from them to make our work easier—spare us this blind guessing."

"That's part of the fun," Aoko smiled. "Those old fogeys are pretty good at hide-and-seek."

—Break—

With the Seventh Angel defeated, the citizens of Tokyo-3 returned home, and life temporarily got back on track.

Since Shinji chose to live with Ayanami Rei, Misato slipped back into her old, freewheeling, sloppy singleton routine. It didn't last. After a few days missing from NERV HQ, Kaji Ryoji showed up at Misato's apartment door with his suitcase.

"You bastard, what are you doing here!" Misato flushed, shouting at her ex. "Don't tell me you plan to move in?!"

"Ahh, after all these years, you still know me best, Katsuragi. Of course I—" Kaji sighed theatrically and spread his arms, moving in for a hug. Misato braced and held him off with brute force.

"We broke up! We broke up!" Misato panted. "If I let you in now and someone sees, what then?!"

"Oh? Don't worry about that, Misato. I don't care if someone sees," Kaji blinked, then gave a fatherly smile. He pushed past her hands into the apartment and shut the door behind him. "You can't just let me sleep on the street, can you?"

"Why can't I? Of course I—mmph!"

Halfway through scolding him, Misato's mouth was blocked—naturally, by Kaji's kiss. The man knew her far too well.

"I'm back, Misato. This time, I won't let you run," Kaji said softly, looking at her.

"Hmph..." Misato averted her eyes, unable to look at her college-days boyfriend, her cheeks reddening.

Back then, the reason she broke up with Kaji was that his care and concern for her reminded her of Dr. Katsuragi—her father. The young Misato had mixed feelings about him; she couldn't stand seeing her father's shadow in her boyfriend, and so they split.

But the Misato of today is no longer that young woman. Years at NERV have clarified her feelings toward her father, and she no longer treats Kaji as a surrogate for him. Now, all she needs is a pretext to get back together.

Shinji moving out was that pretext.