Shinji Ikari and Misato Katsuragi rode a high-speed elevator down into the underground space.
It descended rapidly, heading more than a hundred meters below the surface.
Shinji clearly did not have a good relationship with his father. It seemed they had not spoken in a very long time.
He had no idea why his father had summoned him here in the first place.
In the next moment, the glow of dusk spilled across the window, reflecting over Shinji's and Misato's faces.
Spread out before them was an enormous underground city.
A vast artificial lake. A strange pyramid-like structure with its upper shell peeled open. Long, sleek underground transit routes stretching into the distance.
"Yes. This is our secret base—NERV Headquarters."
Ritsuko Akagi led Misato and Shinji before Unit-01.
"Shinji Ikari, there's something we want to show you.
"This is the ultimate general-purpose humanoid decisive battle weapon created by mankind.
"The artificial human—Neon Genesis Evangelion Unit-01. It is humanity's final trump card."
"Launch it…"
Gendo Ikari did not exchange even a single extra word of family small talk with his son. He simply issued the order in a calm voice.
It was as if the person standing before him was not his own son, but a stranger.
Unit-00 was currently immobilized and unable to sortie.
That meant the only person who could launch now, stop Sachiel, and prevent it from invading this place… was this utterly ordinary-looking boy.
Shinji stared blankly at the enormous purple giant before him, submerged in blood-red coolant, his heart twisting in pain.
"Dad… why did you call me here?"
"For the reason you've already guessed."
"You want me to pilot this and fight that thing from before?"
"That's right," Gendo said flatly.
"No way! I'm not doing it!"
Shinji lifted his head and looked up at his father in the command room, eyes shining with tears as he shouted,
"Why are you only telling me this now!? Didn't you say you didn't need me!?"
"I called you here because I need you now," Gendo replied coolly.
Shinji lowered his head in despair.
"Why me?"
"Because no one else can pilot it."
"But I can't either! This is the first time I've ever seen this thing! How could I possibly know how to pilot it!?"
Head lowered, Shinji was miserable, hurt, and utterly heartsick. The father he had not seen in so long was treating him like a disposable tool.
"Then listen to the instructions."
"What…? How is it supposed to be that simple!? There's no way I can pilot something like this!!"
"If you're going to do it, then hurry up. Otherwise, get out."
Gendo Ikari's cold voice echoed through the chamber.
Everyone was stunned.
The relationship between this father and son was beyond terrible.
He really wasn't treating Shinji like a son at all.
What a cruel father.
Rumble—!
While they argued, Sachiel had already begun breaking through the upper armor plates. Even the personnel within the underground base could clearly feel the violent tremors, enough to understand just how terrifying the Angel's power truly was.
"Fuyutsuki, bring Rei out."
"Can she still do it?"
"She's not dead," Gendo said coldly. "Rei, the one meant to replace you can't be used. You'll sortie again."
"…Understood," the girl answered weakly.
Ritsuko Akagi and Misato Katsuragi stepped aside, moving away from Shinji—
but neither of them took him with them.
Perhaps they already understood what Gendo Ikari was about to do.
It was despicable, perhaps, but in a situation like this, using despicable methods on one of your own was still better than having no method at all.
"So no one needs me after all…"
Shinji lowered his head, and the wall around his heart grew even thicker.
Two medical workers wheeled a hospital bed in front of Unit-01.
Lying on it was a beautiful girl with short pale-blue hair—Rei Ayanami.
One eye was covered with bandages. Blood-stained wrappings were wound around her body. An IV was still attached to her wrist, and even the pain pump had not yet been removed.
She stared calmly at the ceiling.
Once the bed had been secured in place, the medical personnel stepped back and stood at either side, watching the patient.
Rei struggled against the pain and forced herself upright, gasping for breath. The agony was so intense that sweat soon drenched her neck.
Rumble—!
The underground structure began to shake violently. Sachiel's attack had already pierced the final layer of armor.
"Ah—!"
Rei failed to keep her footing and collapsed to the floor. The pain was so severe that her consciousness began to blur; she was on the verge of passing out.
From the command room, Gendo Ikari watched with a calm expression, the faintest smile at the corner of his mouth as Shinji ran toward Rei.
"Are you okay!?"
There was no way kind-hearted Shinji Ikari could simply stand by and do nothing.
And somehow, the nearby medical staff had conveniently vanished. What mysterious power indeed.
He could hardly believe it—his own father was actually going to send a severely injured girl out to pilot that thing and fight the monster.
He knelt and lifted Rei into his arms, one hand resting against her burning white shoulder.
He could tell at once how terrible her condition was.
She had even begun trembling in his arms.
Rei Ayanami was already in so much pain she was close to blacking out, yet she was still forcing herself to remain conscious. Her whole body shook violently, and drops of blood fell onto Shinji's hand.
Shinji stared at the blood on his palm.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
The violent shaking from before had filled him with fear.
How was anyone supposed to defeat a monster like that… one even nuclear weapons couldn't stop?
"I mustn't run away… I mustn't run away… I mustn't run away… I mustn't run away—!"
Shinji tried to steel himself. His anger toward his father, and his pity for Rei Ayanami, overcame his fear for the moment.
"I'll do it.
"I'll pilot it."
[Boy—become a legend.]
Within Shinji Ikari's chest, the flower of courage had begun to bud.
Kindness. Courage.
He possessed those precious qualities already—
even if not yet in abundance, even if not yet in full maturity.
One day, the flower of courage within Shinji Ikari would surely bloom in all its beauty.
…
[Honkai Impact 3rd — Previous Era Timeline]
"Mmm… Why do I get the feeling that the 'Angels' appearing in that world are kind of like the Herrschers in ours?
"Mmm… mmm—!
"But I don't like Angels at all. They're way too ugly. They have absolutely nothing to do with 'cute.'"
Elysia held a chocolate cone in her hand, licking it in small, delicate bites.
"No way… I'm not seeing this wrong, am I?
"They're really planning to make a boy with no combat experience, no training, and probably no blood on his hands pilot that enormous machine… that robot!?"
MEI was stunned, her eyes wide as she stared at Unit-01 lying within the crimson liquid.
"A gigantic mechanical construct… and its power source is… what? Nuclear energy? Electricity? Or some kind of mysterious energy?"
In the Pokémon world—
"If the commander here believes Shinji Ikari can pilot that giant robot, then there must be computer assistance built into its controls, right?
"Does it use control sticks like a fighter jet? Or does it connect directly to the user's brainwaves? Or maybe some kind of bioelectric interface?"
Meowth sat inside the Magikarp submarine, curiously watching the giant robot on the screen.
"Meow… meow… the boss of NERV Headquarters is really kind of cold-blooded.
"He's treating his son he hasn't seen in ages with such total indifference.
"And a guy like that is supposed to be commanding the organization that seems to be saving the world? That can't be a good thing!"
"Living in a family like that is just miserable. Shinji Ikari's mother must have run away early, right? If it were me, I'd definitely leave Gendo Ikari too. A cold-hearted man like that isn't worth staying for," Musashi declared with total certainty.
"A man who can't give his own child a father's love doesn't deserve to be called a man…
"A bastard who treats his child like a tool becoming the commander of an organization? That organization must be idiotic!
"Gendo Ikari isn't worth a single leg hair of Boss Giovanni."
[Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These]
Iserlohn Fortress.
"When an adult resorts to methods like that to force their own child into doing something,
"then that adult must either be very certain the child can do it—
"or else possess an utterly blind kind of confidence.
"He knows his child is a kind boy. Once Shinji Ikari sees that girl suffering like this, he'll inevitably start blaming himself.
"He'll think this was originally something he himself was supposed to do, and that because he ran away from it, the burden of pain has now been forced onto someone else.
"It's a disgusting method…
"and yet, I have to admit, it's effective."
Yang Wen-li looked at what Gendo Ikari had done to Shinji with open distaste. Watching an adult force a child onto the battlefield like this was genuinely revolting.
He was also curious.
This man, Gendo Ikari, gave the impression of being calm—a crafty old fox. What way of thinking, what kind of conviction, had led him to decide that fighting such a monster required his own son, Shinji Ikari?
At this point in time, he had specifically summoned his son from far away.
And he had even sent a trusted subordinate, Misato Katsuragi, to bring him here.
"…For the relationship between a biological father and son to become this terrible… could it be because Shinji Ikari's mother died or left early?
"Perhaps all of his affection belonged solely to his wife, and he had little to none for his son.
"But even so, I still can't believe an untrained boy with no formal preparation and no conditioning could possibly control something like that and fight that monster.
"Can he really endure that kind of psychological pressure?
"That thing is their only real combat asset—their only hope of turning this around, and one of the very few weapons capable of fighting the monster at all.
"In a situation like this, wouldn't the more rational decision be to retreat immediately and relocate whatever it is that monster is targeting?"
Julian Mintz walked over, carrying a cup of black tea laced with brandy.
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