On the Multiversal Forum, posts about Shinji Ikari's latest ordeal were spreading everywhere.
Everyone had their own opinion.
"Hahaha! A little brat whose body hair hasn't even come in yet reacting like that is perfectly normal," sneered Gyokko, Upper Rank Five of Demon Slayer. "Weak humans are supposed to be like this. Why not hand that sturdy machine over to me instead?"
Kaigaku, the thunder demon and Upper Rank Six, gave a harsh, mocking laugh.
"What a lucky bastard. He gets his hands on a weapon that powerful and still doesn't know how to cherish it.
"He even says he doesn't want to pilot it? Idiotic.
"The humans of that world look both pitiful and delicious. Once I've devoured them all, I'll become even stronger.
"Shinji Ikari, you're just a miserable wretch that nobody loves and nobody wants. Give up that useless kindness and sympathy. You don't need them. They won't help you at all.
"If you see this, come—become a demon. I'll grant you my blood, and with it, the power to deal with everyone who's ever wronged you."
"Hahahaha! There are really this many people pitying him?" Spandam from the world of One Piece laughed wildly. "What's there to pity? A weak, useless brat like him was never going to master a weapon like that in the first place.
"You people are hilarious. Pick any random person off the street and they'd be more useful than Shinji Ikari."
He looked down on Shinji—but he also envied him bitterly. That lucky little runt had actually been given access to something so incredible.
Handing a weapon like that to a timid little boy was such a waste.
"Give it to me. Forget the Four Emperors, forget the Seven Warlords—I'd have them all dead.
"Then Father would finally be proud of me. Maybe our whole family could even rise to become the foremost servants of the Celestial Dragons!"
"You should all tremble and wait for death," someone crowed. "A world not loved by its creator deserves to be invaded by monsters like these. You've got it coming. Ahahahahaha!"
"Ahahaha! Boy—become a villain. Become a scourge," said Marshall D. Teach. "If people hit you, hit them back harder.
"If your father doesn't love you and doesn't care about you, then who cares? Get rid of him.
"Only the weak need family. Only trash lets itself be bound by things like that."
In the world of Gundam 00, Nena Trinity scoffed.
"Oh my, what a joke. A weak little boy like that can't do anything.
"He hasn't had any formal training at all. What on earth were they thinking, putting him in charge of a weapon?
"The people running that place must be brain-dead.
"Just wait to be wiped out by that monster. Honestly, you're all pathetic.
"If I were there, something like that would be dealt with in no time. Don't use so-called Absolute Terror Fields as an excuse for incompetence, okay?
"In front of my machine, something like that means nothing~~~~ Gundam Throne Drei is invincible."
In the world of KonoSuba—
"AAAAAH—! I swear I want to go over there right now and blow NERV Headquarters to pieces!"
Megumin breathed fire with sheer outrage and slammed her palm down onto the table so hard it rang.
Then—
"Gyaaah—! Ow ow ow…! That hurts, that hurts!"
She had hit it too hard. Her pale little hand turned bright red, and with tears in her eyes she clutched it and blew on it furiously.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it…! I seriously want to march over there and give them all a surprise with Explosion.
"Would it kill you to say one comforting word to Shinji Ikari? Or what? What exactly would happen?
"These days even con artists know how to comfort people. Are you telling me all of you are worse than scammers!?"
Kazuma Satou could only keep sighing. He was starting to find it hard to even watch Shinji any longer.
Shinji Ikari's experience was so miserable that even Kazuma, just watching from afar, felt his own mood sinking.
Thank goodness he had ended up in another world. Otherwise, maybe one day he too would have ended up crushed by that same kind of pain.
You could not hide at home forever. You could not run away forever. The longer you ran, the more unbearable it would become later.
Because eventually you had to step outside, earn money, work, survive.
Modern life really was that cruel.
Compared to that, adventurers almost had it easy.
Kazuma had achieved the great feat of owning a mansion in another world, but in modern Japan, in a modern city, owning a place like that was practically a fantasy.
He had suffered plenty during his school years, enough to turn him into a shut-in and a NEET—
but even then, he had never had it as bad as Shinji Ikari.
Shinji had saved the city. Saved the world. Risked everything.
And in return, he got no praise at all—just the deluxe package of bullying and humiliation on top.
"This is beyond ridiculous…" Dust said through gritted teeth, rolling up his sleeves as if he were about to charge right through the screen and beat those idiots flat. "How can they do something this rotten?
"You don't have to thank a hero. You don't have to be grateful. But you sure as hell don't get to humiliate him.
"And you definitely don't get to hit him.
"Who the hell thinks they have the right to strike Shinji Ikari or lecture him? If you think you're qualified, then you go pilot that bizarre giant machine and protect the city yourself.
"Go on. Do it. Stop sitting there talking big and looking down on someone else."
"Bastards. A whole pack of bastards," Lynn said with utter contempt as she stared at the screen. "They're just as disgusting as those noble lords."
Aqua, meanwhile, chewed on a fried giant frog leg as she looked at Shinji—pitiful as a drenched little stray puppy.
"Wah… this guy's too miserable. He's really too miserable.
"I've been a goddess in heaven for ages. I've welcomed countless dead souls. And this is the first time I've ever seen someone this tragic.
"I can say with total confidence there's no one sadder than Shinji Ikari. He saved the city and still got cursed at and beaten for it.
"I've seen people with awful backgrounds before, but even they had friends, had some kind of life. This guy doesn't even have a single friend…"
Then, in the forum itself, a message appeared:
[No matter what happens, please keep living. No matter what—absolutely, absolutely, absolutely do not give up on your life. Stay strong. You still have us.]
…
…
…
Gendo Ikari knew what his son had been going through.
But not once did he show any sign of pain or distress on Shinji's behalf.
All he ever spoke about was the plan.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
"The script was set fourteen years ago," Fuyutsuki said, looking down at the board in his hands. "Children toyed with by fate… This is cruel beyond words."
At school—
Kensuke Aida and Toji Suzuhara apologized to Shinji Ikari.
The guilt had been tormenting the two of them badly over the last several days—especially every time they looked at Shinji's empty seat in the classroom.
At last, they had begun to understand what their violence had really done to him.
They had begun, at least a little, to understand what Shinji had meant when he fought.
He had been telling the truth.
He had never wanted to pilot the Eva at all.
One blow, one sincere apology, one clumsy boy's way of making amends—
and a tiny knot inside Shinji's heart finally loosened.
For the first time, Shinji had the feeling that he had met someone like this.
And for the first time, a real smile—an honest smile—appeared on his face.
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