Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami stood together in the elevator descending underground.
"About earlier… I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?"
After a brief pause, Shinji asked, "Um… Ayanami, aren't you scared? Aren't you afraid of piloting an Evangelion again?"
"Why would I be?"
"I heard you were seriously hurt in the last test. So… I wanted to ask whether you were afraid."
Shinji watched Rei's back as he spoke. For some reason, he found himself wanting to talk to her.
"I'm fine," Rei said. "It doesn't matter."
"But… what if it goes out of control again? What if… we get killed by an Angel…"
"You're the Commander's son, aren't you?" Rei asked.
"…Yeah." Shinji nodded.
"So you don't trust your father's work?"
"Of course I don't!"
Shinji answered at once, his voice sharp with anger.
"He's never acted like a father at all."
At that, Rei turned around, looked him straight in the face, and slapped him.
Smack.
It was hard enough that Shinji's cheek turned red almost instantly.
He touched the mark on his face and stared at Rei's angry expression in confusion.
He truly did not understand.
He had been talking about his own father—so why had Rei reacted so strongly that she slapped him for it?
…
…
…
In the world of Carnival Phantasm—
"Ahhhh—! Is this guy really supposed to be the boy who saves the world? He's way too miserable! Why is everyone bullying you?
"She slaps you and you don't even react? You should at least hit her back once!
"What, is it because you accidentally grabbed her chest earlier, so you think one slap makes things even?"
Mitsuzuri Ayako fumed in irritation.
"Calm down, Mitsuzuri Ayako," Rin Tohsaka said, rubbing her forehead. "Shinji himself doesn't seem to have reacted that strongly.
"But he's definitely confused, isn't he?
"Why did Rei Ayanami slap him just because he said something bad about his father? Why such an extreme reaction?
"And besides, he wasn't wrong. As a father, Gendo Ikari is an utter failure. Rei Ayanami has no right to interfere in someone else's family affairs either."
Even Rin looked exasperated by Shinji's personality.
She almost wanted to knock him on the head herself.
If someone was about to hurt you, shouldn't you at least try to dodge?
Don't just stand there and let people bully you!
"This poor child…" Taiga Fujimura muttered unhappily. "His father treats him badly, never smiles at him, and then the girl who stole his father's affection slaps him too.
"What is even going on here? And on top of that, he's the one being pushed into contact with her.
"Wait… don't tell me Rei Ayanami is some illegitimate child Gendo had with another woman?"
"That probably isn't it," Sakura said from the side. "If that were true, Misato and Ritsuko would definitely know."
"Mmm. Good thing Shirou never turned out like Shinji Ikari," Illya said. "Otherwise Shirou never would've become a Master. He would've been killed by Berserker the moment he left the church."
"Illya… even though I didn't die back then, it still hurt a lot," Shirou Emiya said helplessly, rubbing her head. "Here, go eat an orange."
"But why make Shinji interact with Rei Ayanami?" Sakura asked quietly. "She's such a special girl—someone who doesn't like talking, someone who doesn't really care about the outside world.
"If someone as introverted as Shinji is forced to deal with someone even more withdrawn, even more impossible to read… wouldn't that only make Shinji suffer even more?"
In the world of Grand Carnival—
"Seriously, if he's this unhappy, then wouldn't it be better for him to stay home every day instead?
"Come join me and become a glorious shut-in, Princess-style! Come watch Heroic Spirit VTubers with me!
"Hehehe… become my fan! Let me show you the beauty of the night world, the wonderful world of the internet recluse!
"If they can build weird giant robots like that, then they must have all kinds of great games too.
"Boy, go play games. Lose yourself in the online world. Become a glorious internet degenerate.
"What's so bad about running away? Don't worry about other people—you only need to care about yourself.
"As long as you're happy, that's enough. The rest of the world has nothing to do with us online shut-ins."
Osakabehime held a game controller in hand, happily lost in what looked like her own private paradise.
Potato chips, cola, chocolate mushroom biscuits, shredded squid, and a huge tub of vanilla-chocolate ice cream were piled around her.
This was Osakabehime's true bliss.
To her, it was ten thousand times better than attaining Buddhahood.
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