Chapter 1991: The City of Demonic Mist in the Dead World (6)

—2015.5.7—
NERV underground fortress.
The first machine was holding a huge odd-shaped rifle and confronted the "third apostle", and both sides were motionless.
"[Shinji-kun, don't be nervous, what you see is not a real apostle, just a target.]" Akagi Ritsuko's words came from the broadcast inserted into the bolt.
"No, I'm not nervous, just a little surprised." Shinji Ikari, who put on a tight-fitting combat uniform similar to Rei Ayanami, but with a different color, responded and glanced at the two new cards on the arc-shaped longboard of his left forearm. .
[Elemental Hero · Bubble Man, Attack: 800, Defense: 1200]
[Bubble Launcher: Only 'Elemental Hero · Bubble Man' can be equipped, and the attack power increases by 800. 】
They appeared when he came to the headquarters for training according to Katsuragi Miri's arrangement. It was reasonable to see a monster card using a long-range weapon during training shooting, and an additional "equipment magic card" was not impossible.
But the question is, can this short, fat guy with a cape and cat ears be called a "hero"? Ikari Shinji is now very suspicious that future "heroes" will have all kinds of strange shapes.
Theoretically speaking, the basic 800 plus 800 equipment plus 1000 skyscrapers, the actual attack power of Bubble Man is even as high as 2600, if it is reflected in the combat effectiveness of the first machine, it is about equal to the world invincible.
【Curry Curry~】
The mysterious creature may have guessed what he was thinking, and nodded again and again.
As expected, once submerged by the LCL, the black fur ball will appear instantly. At least from the outside, it has not been damaged at all and is full of vitality. Shinji has a plan to hold it.
However, in order to prevent being regarded as a freak by NERV, Shinji did not deliberately communicate with the mysterious creature, but just nodded indistinctly when his eyes swept over it inadvertently.
"[Aim at the target, pull the trigger!]" Ritsuko Akagi continued to command: "[Don't think about superfluous things!]"
"Well, aim, shoot." Ikari Shinji responded roughly.
When commanding the No. 1 aircraft, he was more comfortable than controlling his own body, and he didn't have to follow the training steps specified by NERV at all.
Compared to those, what happened to the state where the silver-white longboard neither disappeared nor could draw cards?
Aim at the target, pull the trigger...
Aim at the target, pull the trigger...
Ikari Shinji mechanically plays a shooting game while distracted to study his superpowers.
Da-da-boom! boom!
A "Third Apostle" was blown up by the gun in the hands of the first machine, and another "Third Apostle" emerged from the bunker. Due to the rather rough modeling, it even had a phenomenon of wearing through the mold when it approached some high-rise buildings.
Of course, it is fake, not real. It is an "enemy NPC" in the "virtual battlefield" specially built by NERV to train EVA pilots. It will try to restore them to be attacked according to the data collected in actual combat. reaction time.
Thinking about it carefully, it may be because Shinji Ikari's super power doesn't recognize that this kind of unilateral attack is a battle, but the first machine itself is actually fighting, so there is such a situation where cards cannot be used, but the card panel does not disappear. condition.
—
"Well done, Shinji-kun," Katsuragi Miri greeted her after the training was over and she left the insertion bolt: "You can rest for the rest of the day, and you will go to school tomorrow."
"Oh..." Ikari Shinji looked down at the longboard and the deck of cards that had finally disappeared, and responded casually, then realized that something was wrong, and looked up at her: "Going to school?"
There are monsters called "Apostles" ready to destroy the world, and then the pilot of the EVA, the only one who can save the world, has to go to school? Do you know when the apostles will come? Don't worry about the consequences of separating the pilot from the mech?
According to Shinji's idea, what do children of this age need to learn, why not just invite the teacher to teach? Not to mention enjoying childhood, but also developing interpersonal skills and facilitating social integration.
Because of their particularity, the childhood is fundamentally different from that of ordinary children. Children who know how to use their abilities must be careful not to hurt ordinary people, while those who are weak or unable to use them have to face the malicious targeting of ordinary children. Even bullying, in any case, it is impossible to feel that other peers are the same, what interpersonal skills can this cultivate? Is it the law of the jungle?
As for integrating into society... Let's talk about when we can drive the first machine to walk around the streets of No. 3 Shin-Tokyo City.
"It's not the kind of school you think," Katsuragi Miri shook her finger: "You're going to a special school that was established five years after the second shock, when the first qualified person showed superpowers. , it has one and only one grade, and it originally accepted children born a year or two later than you, but after confirming that they were not 'qualified', they all transferred them away."
"Oh..." Ikari Shinji nodded.
Schools for "qualified people" are all of the same kind, so there will be no bullying of the capable against the incompetent, or the incompetent against the capable.
It’s ridiculous. In theory, bullying incidents should be dominated by the former, but in fact it’s just the opposite. I don’t know whether those bear children are self-taught or influenced by their parents. If you express dissatisfaction, if you dare to do it, you are bullying others.

Since it is difficult for this kind of behavior to cause really serious consequences, it will basically be ignored by adults as children's slapstick. As for Shinji Ikari himself, after his parents divorced three years ago, he was also included in the target of bullying.
However, fortunately than his peers, his ability as a qualified person is very suitable for teaching these little devils a lesson, such as the [Magic Tube] that rebounds all attacks, such as the [Six-pointed Star's Curse] that keeps people in place, such as One foot stepped into the trap, but the unlucky one was the [Magic Effect Arrow] of a certain trapper.
It's a pity that, after a few lessons, he changed from a "bullying object" to a "people who can't be provoked", so he prepared to provoke enough bear children to try the [Holy Shield·Reflector Power] Ikari Shinji was a little disappointed.
"The government is actually very aware of the situation of those who are qualified, but those children whose abilities are of no value or are difficult to develop will not be invested in resources to cultivate," Misato Katsuragi's words were inexplicably followed by Shinji Ikari's who walked a little: "The school is able to give the 'chosen children' a normal-looking childhood, with proper interpersonal skills that will help them integrate into society in the future."
Isn't this going around again?
"In terms of curriculum, it is also different from ordinary schools. Its main purpose is to cultivate physical strength, intelligence index, mental strength, language ability, social adaptation, moral concept and feeling ability, not to deal with exams," said Miri Katsuragi: "As for melee combat Fighting, gun shooting, improving the synchronization rate, enhancing the driver-specific skills such as AT stance, also have to be done in the base, so your time after that should be divided equally between the school and the base, three days a week."
I ask to enjoy the weekend treatment!
"I'll take you there once tomorrow, and then you can go to and from school by yourself? After all, my sister and I also have a lot of jobs here at NERV," Misato Katsuragi continued: "This school has a nice name, it's called..."
"[Assembly Garden]."
—2015.5.8—
Gathering Garden.
This is a building complex located in the southwest of the third new Tokyo city surface, quite far from the main city.
After Ikari Shinji entered the school, he looked around and was stunned.
This school is actually the core of the Third New Tokyo City, right?
Why does it look more high-tech than the underground fortress?
This kind of architectural style and technical power does not even have an underground fortress.
The escalators on both sides of the road, the pipelines with maglev flying cars back and forth in the air, the reciprocating patrolling robot guards, the big screens that play various school-related pictures in a loop, as well as the romantic and imaginative teaching buildings and student dormitories.
"Is it the first time? No wonder," Ikari Shinji was guided by the head teacher of the class he was about to attend. He was an elderly gentleman with white hair and beard, always squinting. There is no dissatisfaction with the behavior of running away after leaving it, and he slowly took him to the classroom while chatting: "Since the second shock, human beings have had to unite to keep the population from going extinct, and many blocked technologies have been lifted. Sharing, only then did I realize that I could have realized the life in science fiction works for a long time, but it could not be popularized due to various reasons.

His words are very smooth, as if the same words have been said many times:
"Because it has to deal with the threat of the 'Apostles', the Third New Tokyo City needs to have technologies that have sufficient protection or can quickly evacuate, such as those used in the 'Assembly Garden', which are purely high-tech, but have almost no protection capabilities. Used in places where they may be attacked by apostles at any time, the people above slapped their heads and decided to use them to build a school to show to the 'qualified people', and it can also increase their confidence in the future, so the 'Garden of Gathering' The name, under the surface meaning of 'Assembling the Qualified', also means 'Assembling the world's cutting-edge technology'."
If it is said that the underground fortresses and the skyscrapers that can be lifted and lowered show the military strength of the third New Tokyo City, and the assembly garden shows the strength of the cultural river and the people's livelihood, it has to be said that at least for now, Shinji Ikari is really concerned about this city. The city is confident.
—
"Classmates, this is a newly transferred classmate today, everyone should get along well."
When Shinji Ikari was brought to the classroom by the head teacher, he finally found something familiar. Although the walls of the classroom were made of adjustable glass, and all the desks and chairs came from under the floor, the students in the classroom were wearing The school uniforms of the same style and the curious eyes they looked at the "transfer students" were the same as in ordinary schools.
Shinji Ikari blinked, picked up the chalk on the podium, or something that looked like chalk and wrote his name on the blackboard.
"I…"
In the next instant, a pot was boiled in the classroom.
"Which city did Shinji-kun come from?"
"Do you have any hobbies?"
"Have you ever joined a club?"
"What's your superpower? Perform it?"
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
The previous reaction was normal, but the more outrageous it was, the most outrageous thing was that the head teacher not only didn't care, he even took out a cup of tea from nowhere and sat down behind the podium, and started drinking happily.
Because he didn't enter the battle and couldn't use his "super powers", Ikari Shinji spent all his life learning to cope with the warm greetings and curiosity of the new classmates.
After the classroom gradually became quiet, the head teacher said slowly, "Find a seat by yourself and sit down."
Hmm... Ikari Shinji roughly observed the seating situation in the classroom.
Although it was really lively just now, if you take a closer look, you will find that the 5x6 layout of this classroom is not full, and nearly half of it is vacant. Regardless, it is probably because of the previous "third apostle" attack. Sanshin-Tokyo unsafe parents picked up their children.
For the rest, either the parents are unable to leave in the local area, or they can only rely on themselves without guardians.
Thinking of this, Ikari Shinji suddenly felt a little heavy on his shoulders.
If this is also in his father's plan, then he is really powerful.
I don't want to think about the distance, as for the seat...
When Shinji Ikari began to carefully observe the classmates in the classroom, he saw a familiar girl with short blue hair almost immediately. She was sitting in the second-to-last row by the window, resting her cheeks with one hand, her blood-red eyes expressionless. staring at himself.
At this time, she naturally did not wear the white tights for driving the EVA. Instead, she wore the same white shirt, red tie and blue skirt as the other female classmates, but what was more striking was the bandage that covered her right eye. Drywall, bandaged, right hand hanging in front of him.
Ayanami Zero…
The appearance is consistent with the hallucinations that appeared in the No. 1 aircraft. It is suspected that she lacks pain and is seriously injured without knowing it. Judging from her father's reaction at the time, it seems that she can still pay a certain price to forcibly drive the No. 1 aircraft. She is a very mysterious girl.
According to Ikari Shinji's own guess, she may be a qualified person trained by NERV since childhood and trained to drive EVA. Like the doll in the window, she basically won't go out, but now it seems...
As a qualified person, she should also have reached the age to cultivate interpersonal relationships and try to adapt to the society.
Understood, it was no accident that he was placed in this classroom. Apart from the high-sounding reasons Katsuragi Miri said, he was most likely responsible for taking care of Ayanami Rei.
Of course, it doesn't matter even if you just thought too much before. If the apostles attacked and wanted to strike, at least there was no need to run two more classrooms to find someone.
Really, even if you don't see her as weak and pitiful, just as a comrade-in-arms, he won't leave her alone.
Ikari Shinji ignored the invitations of the other classmates to "sit here and sit here", and went straight to the seat next to Rei Ayanami, and sat down behind the automatically raised desk and chair.
"Please take care of me," he said.
"..." Lingbo Ling stared at Ikari Shinji for more than ten seconds, and only opened his mouth when he thought whether he had said something wrong, and replied in a smooth tone: "Okay."
...?