Aozaki Aoko [680-681] (Patreon)

Chapter 680: The Ignorant Sacrifice

"Hey?"

Having just arrived at the classroom with Rei Ayanami, Shinji glanced at Toji Suzuhara's empty seat and felt puzzled.

In his impression, that sports-minded boy never skipped class unless he was visiting his hospitalized little sister—and Toji had just gone to see her three days ago. Did something happen today?

"Kensuke, why didn't Toji come to school?" Shinji asked Toji's best friend, Kensuke Aida. "Is he sick?"

"How would that idiot get sick?" Kensuke said, looking a bit envious. "I thought you already knew."

"Knew what?" Shinji was completely at a loss. "What happened to him?"

"He got contacted by NERV," Kensuke glanced around and lowered his voice. "They didn't say the exact reason, but he got dragged off for physical testing today."

"You mean..." Shinji froze for a second, then immediately understood what Kensuke was implying. He'd heard that Unit-03 was being shipped over from North America for an activation test.

Misato Katsuragi had been busy with that lately.

If Unit-03 had no pilot, then selecting a new pilot from Japan was a foregone conclusion. Shinji just hadn't expected it to be Toji; he'd thought Gendo would have Rei pilot Unit-03, since Unit-00 had been frozen again.

"A new EVA pilot, a pilot!" Kensuke cupped his hand over his mouth and whispered in Shinji's ear. "It's common knowledge that Unit-03 is coming from the States. Our little circle's been debating who the new pilot would be. Who'd have thought they'd pick that idiot Toji..."

Kensuke paused, trying to steady himself, but failed—he grabbed Shinji's shoulders and shook him.

"So jealous, damn it—you life winners!"

Shinji smiled along on the surface, but inside he worried for Toji. He couldn't understand why Kensuke envied them "unlucky ones." Neither he nor his sister Rei had any attachment to piloting EVAs.

It was obviously painful—why would anyone compete for the chance?

Maybe only the pilots of Unit-02 and Unit-05 felt a sense of accomplishment from piloting?

As Shinji horsed around with his classmates, he couldn't help recalling Asuka and Gray. Those two girls were different from pilots like him. He had never seen fear or hesitation in their eyes, and they had used impressive technique to defeat the Eighth Angel.

Maybe that's the difference between a pro and a half-baked latecomer like me, Shinji thought with a sense of relief. Looks like I need to work harder so I don't drag my excellent colleagues down.

…

In the Land of Sapphire Flowers, in the restaurant of the new Kuonji manor, Aoko, Touko, Alice, plus Asuka and Gray, were enjoying a delicious lunch while discussing major events in the EVA world.

"Huh?! There's actually an Angel parasitizing that Unit-03 shipped from America?" Asuka exclaimed, not even noticing the powdered sugar at the corner of her mouth. "And I was one of the alternate test pilots?!"

Gray, on the other hand, wasn't very surprised—perhaps she had always viewed this world with detached calm. She took a napkin and carefully wiped Asuka's mouth.

Piloting an EVA and fighting was indeed interesting, but it wasn't so different from her past work as a gravekeeper.

"Probably because you're an artificial human," Touko said. "It looks like the Ninth Angel had already been captured and sealed by the Committee. When your body was manufactured, they tinkered with it to ensure you could use human will to control Angelic power—so you could be a convenient sacrifice at a critical moment."

"Damn it!" Asuka gnashed her teeth, wishing she could devour those old men who toyed with her fate.

"But don't worry," Aoko said, comforting her. "The moment you used the Key of Nebuchadnezzar, whatever the Committee did to you stopped working. With Adam's information within you, at most you'd act as the executor of the Instrumentality ritual—you wouldn't be a sacrifice."

The notion that Angels can serve as sacrifices was a conclusion Aoko, Touko, and Alice had reached recently while studying this world's occult. Drawing on Kaworu's deaths in previous cycles and Lilith's method of reclaiming souls, they found that a controllable Angel serving as the sacrificial trigger for an Impact seemed necessary for Instrumentality.

In this cycle, the Third Impact hadn't happened yet, and the true First Angel Adam didn't exist.

Thus, with only the soul remaining and having lost the Angelic body and core, the First Angel, Kaworu Nagisa, might be the sacrifice for the Second Impact.

"So who's the unlucky sap taking my place on the chopping block?" Asuka asked. "That second-generation bureaucrat, or his taciturn little sister?"

"No. NERV's choice for Unit-03's pilot surprised us too," Touko passed a dossier to Asuka and Gray. "He should be Shinji's classmate."

"Who?" Looking at the photo of a sports kid with a slightly goofy vibe, both Gray and Asuka were baffled.

"Not just you two," Aoko sighed. "I had pulled quite a few strings behind the scenes, but Misato still picked someone close to Shinji for some inexplicable reason. All my work, wasted."

…

NERV HQ, inside a clinical lab.

"That'll do, Suzuhara-kun. Your results look good—sturdy body," said Ritsuko Akagi, in a lab coat and stockings, checking data on a tablet while speaking to Toji Suzuhara, who wore only a pair of shorts on the exam table.

"Th-thank you, Dr. Akagi! I've been training!" Toji, face as red as a monkey's backside, hopped off the bed and stood ramrod straight while speaking to her.

With the poise of a mature woman, Ritsuko dealt with the awkward teen. She suddenly felt she could understand why her old classmate Misato felt so dejected at losing Shinji's guardianship.

A second later, thoughts of that old scoundrel Gendo Ikari resurfaced; the "interest" she'd felt evaporated, replaced by a choking tightness in her throat.

"That's it for today's exam," Ritsuko said evenly. "If you have questions, you can ask Shinji-kun. You're classmates, right?"

"Y-yes! Shinji and I are good buddies!" Toji stammered as he hastily put on his clothes.

"Then I'll see you next Monday. That'll be Unit-03's first activation test—don't be late."

As Ritsuko stood and headed for the lab door, she couldn't shake a sense of foreboding upon seeing this honest boy, as if something was about to happen.

Chapter 681: A Friend's Invitation

"Shinji!"

Wearing a tracksuit, Toji Suzuhara called out to Shinji Ikari in a corridor at NERV HQ.

Shinji paused, turned, and saw his classmate—newly selected as Unit-03's pilot. A strange feeling rose in him.

"Toji," Shinji stopped and waited for his friend to catch up. "I heard from Kensuke. I didn't expect you really..."

"Yeah. When those suit-wearing guys showed up, I was scared out of my wits," Toji smiled, walking beside Shinji with a calm yet hesitant air. They headed toward the elevator to the surface. "Can you talk with me a bit? I've got something to say."

"Mm. Sure." Shinji agreed, while texting Rei to head home without him.

Oddly, Toji—usually so flippant—was very serious today, with a hint of timidity. Shinji didn't ask what he wanted to talk about; he felt it would be better to wait for his friend to speak in his own time.

The two kept a tacit silence as they left NERV together. Guided by Shinji, who knew the way, they took the tram to a stop near Toji's home.

"Hey, Shinji, come have dinner at my place," Toji said suddenly, still looking ahead rather than at Shinji. "Mom's making a lot of food tonight."

"No problem," Shinji agreed readily, without any false modesty—Toji breathed a sigh of relief. "Is it a special occasion?"

"My sister, Sakura—her condition's starting to improve," Toji smiled. "She can't be discharged yet, but she's in much better spirits. She even said she wants to meet you, haha."

"Huh? Me?" Shinji pointed at himself. "Your sister knows me?"

"Of course. She's your fan. 'The big brother who pilots the giant robot is Toji-nii's classmate!'" Toji imitated his sister's tone and patted Shinji's back with feigned annoyance. "Damn you—you've got a cute little sister like I do. You're a total life winner!"

"Mm. Rei is my most important sister," Shinji said earnestly. "I think I understand how you felt when you punched me back then."

"You really know how to bring up the worst topics," Toji scratched his head, embarrassed. "I was in the wrong. You already hit me back—let's drop it, okay?"

They chatted as they walked and soon arrived at Toji's house, an ordinary single-family home. It wasn't big or luxurious, and many places showed signs of age—rare in the newly built Third New Tokyo City, likely a family that moved in during the city's early days. (Judging by Toji's accent, they were probably originally from Kanto.)

Toji's mother was a typical middle-aged woman—the kind you wouldn't pick out of a crowd at the supermarket—but she was warm and kind to Shinji (and strict with Toji). Her cooking was excellent.

As a skilled cook himself, Shinji quickly found common ground with Toji's mom. They swapped secret techniques and home-style recipes, and in the process Toji—who couldn't tell oil from salt—got a thorough scolding. The house filled with cheerful energy.

After dinner, Toji and Shinji sat on the back steps, sipping the tea Toji's mother brought, quietly watching the setting sun.

"...How did you feel the first time?" After a long silence, Toji asked.

"The first time?" Shinji was puzzled, then realized Toji meant piloting an EVA.

"That's a hard question for me," Shinji said after thinking. "Because I knew nothing about EVAs before that. I was forced into Unit-01."

"That's brave, Shinji," Toji exhaled in admiration. "First sortie and you beat such a terrifying enemy."

"Haha, I actually blacked out," Shinji smiled self-deprecatingly. "I couldn't withstand the Angel's attack and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was already in a hospital bed. It had nothing to do with courage."

"Is that so?" Toji didn't relax or mock him after hearing this. If anything, he seemed even more weighed down. "I knew Kensuke's theory was nonsense. You fought like hell against that squid-looking one too."

"Kensuke?" Shinji blinked. "What did he say?"

"He envies you, Shinji," Toji said evenly. "Envy that you can be an EVA pilot, drive a giant robot, fight to protect humanity. He thinks it's really cool."

Shinji said nothing. He felt that anything he said now wouldn't make Toji feel better.

"To be honest, Shinji, I really admire you right now," Toji said suddenly.

"In what way?"

"Piloting an EVA," Toji said, his voice a little low. "And the courage to face the enemy."

"That kind of thing..." Shinji hesitated, then decided to be honest. "For me, it's just a job I have to do. It's not about courage, and there's nothing to be proud of."

"I'm really scared, Shinji," Toji's voice trembled as he spoke slowly.

He looked at his shaking hands, already imagining facing the terrifying foes Shinji had faced.

They say EVAs are controlled via A10 nerve synchronization—when the EVA gets hurt, the pilot feels the pain...

"What a pathetic coward I am..." Toji looked at Shinji and gave a bitter smile. "This is not gonna work at all, is it?"

Shinji didn't respond. He simply patted Toji's shoulder and sat there with him a while longer, as if that alone could help this cheerful athlete regain some of his usual vitality.