The Collection of The End

——2015.5.7——

nerv underground fortress.

Unit No. 1 was confronting the "Third Apostle" with a huge strange-shaped rifle, and both sides were motionless.

"Shinji-kun, don't be nervous, what you see is not a real apostle, just a target.]" Ritsuko Akagi's words came from the radio 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's but with different colors, responded while glancing at the two new cards on the curved long plate of his left forearm. .

Elemental hero·Bubble Man, attack: 800, defense: 1200]

Water Bubble Launcher: Can only be equipped by 'Elemental Hero·Bubble Man', and the attack power increases by 800. 】

They appeared when he came to the headquarters for training according to Misato Katsuragi's arrangement. It is reasonable for monster cards to use long-range weapons to appear during shooting training. It is not impossible to include an additional "Equipment Magic Card".

But the question is, can this short, fat guy wearing a cape and cat ears also be called a "hero"? Shinji Ikari is now very suspicious that future "heroes" will have all kinds of strange shapes.

Theoretically speaking, with a base of 800 plus 800 for equipment plus a thousand for skyscrapers, the actual attack power of Bubble Man is even as high as 2600. If it is reflected in the combat effectiveness of Unit-001, it is approximately equal to invincible.

Curry Curry]

The mysterious creature may have guessed what he was thinking, and nodded repeatedly.

As expected, once submerged in LCL, the black fur ball would appear instantly. At least from the outside, it was completely undamaged and full of vitality. Shinji had some intention of hugging it.

However, in order to prevent being regarded as a weirdo by the nerv, Shinji did not deliberately communicate with the mysterious creature. He just nodded inconspicuously when his eyes glanced at it inadvertently.

"Aim at the target and pull the trigger!]" Ritsuko Akagi continued to command: "Don't think about unnecessary things!]"

"Well, aim and shoot." Shinji Ikari responded roughly.

When commanding Unit 1, he was even more comfortable than controlling his own body, and he didn't even have to follow the training steps specified by Nerv.

Compared with those, what's the matter with the state where the silver longboard neither disappears nor draws cards?

Aim the target and pull the trigger...

Aim the target and pull the trigger...

Shinji Ikari was distracted from studying his superpowers while mechanically playing shooting games.

Ta-ta-ta-boom! boom!

One "Third Apostle" was blown up by the gun in the hands of Unit 1, and another "Third Apostle" emerged from the bunker. Due to the rough modeling, it even broke 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 restore the attacks they encountered as much as possible based on the data collected in actual combat. reaction at the time.

If you think about it carefully, it may be because Shinji Ikari's superpower does not recognize this kind of unilateral attack as a battle, but Unit-0 is actually fighting, which is why the card cannot be used, but the card panel does not disappear. Condition.

——

"Well done, Shinji-kun," after the training came to an end and she left the insertion plug, Misato Katsuragi came up to her: "Just rest for the rest of the day. You will go to school tomorrow."

"Oh..." Shinji Ikari looked down at the longboard and card pile that finally disappeared, and responded casually. Then he realized something was wrong and looked up at her: "Going to school?"

There are monsters called "Apostles" ready to destroy the world, and then the only EVA pilot who can save the world has to go to school? Do you know when the apostles will come? Are you not worried about the consequences of separation between the pilot and the mecha?

According to Shinji's idea, if children of this age need to learn, wouldn't it be better to just invite a teacher to teach them? Not to mention enjoying childhood, cultivating interpersonal skills and integrating into society.

Because of their special characteristics, the childhood of qualified children is completely different from that of ordinary children. Children who know how to use their abilities must be careful not to hurt ordinary people, while those with weak abilities or those who cannot use them have to face the malicious attacks of ordinary children. Even bullying, in any case, makes it impossible to think that other peers are the same kind. What interpersonal skills can this cultivate? The law of the jungle?

As for blending into society... let's wait until we can drive Unit-01 around the streets of New Tokyo-3.

"It's not the kind of school you think of," Misato Katsuragi shook her finger: "What you're going to is a special school that was established five years after the Second Impact, when the first qualified person showed superpowers. , it only has one grade, and it originally accepted children who were born one or two years later than you, but after it was confirmed that they were not 'qualified', they all were transferred away."

"Oh..." Shinji Ikari nodded.

A school for the "qualified" would be filled with the same kind of people, so there would be no bullying of the able against the incompetent, or the incompetent against the able.

It's funny to say that in theory, the majority of bullying cases should be the former, but in fact it's just the opposite. I don't know whether those naughty children are self-taught or influenced by their parents. They adhere to the "I am weak and I am justified, and it is reasonable for me to bully you" Express dissatisfaction, if you dare to take action, you are bullying others" concept to bully qualified people.

Since this kind of behavior is difficult to cause truly serious consequences, it will basically be ignored by adults as a child's slapstick. As for Shinji Ikari himself, after his parents divorced three years ago, he was also included in the target of bullying.

However, he is luckier than his peers. His abilities as a qualified person are very suitable for teaching these brats a lesson, such as the magic tube that reflects all attacks, the hexagram's spell that freezes people in place, and the kick. He stepped into a trap but was unlucky enough to be hit by a certain trapper's magic effect].

It's a pity that after just a few lessons, he changed from a "bullying target" to a "person who can't be trifled with", which made Shinji Ikari, who was ready to provoke enough naughty children, try the power of the sacred shield and mirror A bit disappointed.

"The government is actually very aware of the situation of qualified people, but those children whose abilities are of no value or are difficult to develop will not be invested in their training," Misato Katsuragi's words were inexplicably connected to Shinji Ikari's slightly distracted expression: "This school can give the 'chosen children' a seemingly normal childhood and properly cultivate interpersonal skills, which will help them integrate into society in the future."

Isn't this coming back again?

"The curriculum is also different from ordinary schools. Its main purpose is to cultivate physical strength, intelligence index, mental strength, language ability, social adaptation, moral concepts and sensitivity, rather than to cope with exams," Misato Katsuragi said: "As for close combat Fighting, gun shooting, driver-specific skills such as improving synchronization rate and AT stance must be carried out in the base, so your time should be divided equally between the school and the base, three days a week each."

I want to enjoy the weekend holiday treatment!

"I will send you there once tomorrow, and then you can go to and from school by yourself, right? After all, sister, I also have a lot of work here at Nerv," Misato Katsuragi continued: "This school has a very nice name, it's... "

"The Garden of Assembly]."

——2015.5.8——

The garden of assembly.

This is a group of buildings located in the southwest of the Third New Tokyo City, quite far away from the main city.

After entering the school, Shinji Ikari looked around, dumbfounded.

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 capabilities are not even available in underground fortresses.

There are escalators on both sides of the road, tubes with magnetic levitation speeding cars going back and forth in the sky, robot guards patrolling back and forth, large screens that cycle through various school-related scenes, as well as teaching buildings and student dormitories that are full of romance and imagination.

"Is it your first time here? No wonder," the person who guided Shinji Ikari was the head teacher of the class he was about to study. He was an elderly man with white beard and hair, who always squinted his eyes. He told Misato Katsuragi that Shinji Ikari He was not dissatisfied with the behavior of running away after leaving him behind. He slowly led him to the classroom and murmured: "Since the second impact, human beings have had to unite to maintain the population from extinction. Many blocked technologies have been unblocked, and each other Sharing, only then did I realize that I had actually been able to realize the life in science fiction works for a long time, but it could not be popularized due to various reasons.”

His words were very smooth, as if he had said the same thing countless times:

"In order to deal with the threat of the 'Apostles', the Third New Tokyo City needs to have sufficient protection or rapid evacuation technology. Technologies such as those used in the 'Assembly Garden' that are simply high in technological content but have almost no protective capabilities are unable to They are used in places that may be attacked by the 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'. It can also increase their confidence in the future, so the 'Assembly Garden' The name, under the surface meaning of 'gathering qualified people', also means 'gathering the world's cutting-edge technology'."

If the underground fortress and the lifting skyscraper show the military strength of the Third New Tokyo City, and the Assembly Garden shows the strength of the Bunka River in terms of people's livelihood, it has to be said that, at least for now, Shinji Ikari is really interested in this city. The city is confident.

——

"Students, this is the new classmate who has transferred here today. Everyone should get along well."

When Shinji Ikari was brought to the classroom by his class teacher, he finally found a familiar feeling. Although the classroom walls were made of adjustable light and dark glass, and everyone's desks and chairs came from under the floor, the clothes worn by the students in the classroom The uniforms of the same style and the curious eyes they look at the "transfer students" are exactly the same as those 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……"

The next moment, there was a fire 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? Show it off?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

The first reaction was normal, but the further it went, the more outrageous it became. The most outrageous thing was that the head teacher not only didn't care, but even took out a cup of tea from nowhere, sat down behind the podium and started drinking it happily.

Because he did not enter the battle and could not use his "superpowers", Shinji Ikari spent all his life's learning to cope with the warm greetings and curiosity of his new classmates.

After the classroom gradually became quiet, the head teacher said slowly: "Find a seat and sit down."

Hmm... Shinji Ikari took a rough look at the seating situation in the classroom.

Although it was really lively just now, if you look closely, you will find that the 5x6 layout of this classroom is not full, and nearly half of it is empty. It is obvious that it is probably because of the previous "Third Apostle" attack incident. Unsafe parents in Sanshin Tokyo picked up their children.

As for the rest, either their parents are local and unable to leave, or they have no guardians and can only rely on themselves.

As soon as he thought about this, Shinji Ikari suddenly felt a little heavy on his shoulders.

If this is also within his father's plan, then he is really powerful.

Don’t think about it if it’s far away. As for the seats…

When Shinji Ikari began to carefully observe the classmates in the classroom, he almost immediately saw a familiar girl with short blue hair. She was sitting in the second-to-last row by the window, holding her chin with one hand and looking expressionless with blood-red eyes. Staring at himself.

At this time, she was naturally not wearing the white tights used to drive the EVA. Instead, she was wearing the same white shirt, red tie and blue skirt as the other female classmates. But what was more eye-catching was the bandage and hoodie covering her right eye. Drywall, bandages, and right hand hanging in front of the body.

Ayanami Rei...

Her appearance is consistent with the hallucinations that appeared in Unit 1. She is suspected of losing the sense of pain, and she was seriously injured without realizing it. Judging from her father's reaction at the time, it seems that she is able to forcefully fly Unit 1 at a certain price. She is a very mysterious girl.

According to Shinji Ikari's own conjecture, she may be a qualified person trained by Nerv since she was a child to drive EVA. She is like a doll in the window and basically never goes out, but now it seems...

As a qualified person, she should have reached the age to cultivate interpersonal relationships and try to adapt to society.

I understand, it was no accident that I was placed in this classroom. In addition to the high-sounding reasons mentioned by Misato Katsuragi, she was probably responsible for taking care of Rei Ayanami.

Of course, it doesn't matter if it was purely because of my own overthinking before. If the apostle comes and wants to attack, at least I don't have to go to two more classrooms to find someone.

Really, even if she wasn't weak and pitiful, just as a comrade-in-arms, I wouldn't leave her alone.

Shinji Ikari ignored the invitations of other students to "sit here, sit here" and walked straight to the seat next to Rei Ayanami and sat down behind the table and chair that automatically rose.

"Please take care of me," he said.

"..." Rei Ayanami stared at Shinji Ikari for more than ten seconds. When he thought he had said the wrong thing, he spoke and replied in a smooth tone: "Okay."

...?

1999. Death World Demonic Fog City 6