In Tokyo-3, the battles against the Angels have almost become routine. But for Shinji Ikari, pilot of Eva Unit-01, a single, painful question gnaws at his heart. His father and NERV Commander, Gendo Ikari, has never praised him. He's never even had a real conversation with him.
Caught in this gloomy mood, Shinji bickers as always with his classmate and Eva Unit-02 pilot, Asuka Langley Soryu. 'How long are you gonna mope around?! Do something for yourself for once!' Asuka yells. Shinji mutters b
Evangelion IF: Tomorrow, with a Smile - The Apostle's Mockery, the Father's Blade
The alarm tore through the city.
The classroom window glass shuddered violently. The textbook on the desk seemed to dance with tiny vibrations.
"...An Angel, huh."
Shinji gripped the edge of his desk until his fingertips turned pure white.
Deep in his chest, something tightened painfully. His heart pounded so hard it felt like the sound was reverberating directly against his bones. Inside his head, Asuka's words from last night and his father's cold voice swirled around and around in a vicious loop.
*"I don't think of you as a spare."*
*"Never assume a tool has a will of its own."*
(What... am I supposed to do?)
He glanced at the seat next to him. Asuka was already on her feet. The twin-tails of her waist-length blonde hair swayed softly. Her defiant blue eyes already held the gaze of a warrior.
"What are you spacing out for?! We're going!"
Asuka grabbed Shinji's arm and yanked him forward. Her hand was shockingly hot.
The two of them pushed through the crowd and ran for the school gate. The other students were flowing in the opposite direction, heading toward the shelters. Running against that current made them feel somehow unreal, like they weren't part of this world.
The sun blazed down mercilessly. Ever since Second Impact, this city had been stuck in eternal summer — a sky everyone had long since gotten used to. But today, that blue felt eerily ominous.
■■■
Nine hundred meters underground. NERV Headquarters, Central Command Center.
On the massive main screen, a Pattern Orange warning continued flashing in sickening, lurid colors.
"Reporting! Target has descended on the eastern shore of Lake Ashi and has now breached Tokyo-3's Defense Line 23a!"
Operator Hyuga Makoto's voice trembled faintly.
The command center was engulfed in an oppressive heat and barely suppressed tension. Everyone's hands were slick with sweat, their eyes glued to the screen as if trying to devour every pixel of information.
"Enemy A.T. Field intensity... unmeasurable! It's on an entirely different order of magnitude from previous Angels!"
Katsuragi Misato bit her lip. Her long black hair, reaching down to her chest, swayed faintly. She stole a glance at Ikari Gendou, seated in the commander's chair.
Gendou sat with his hands folded in front of his face, utterly motionless. Behind his glasses, his deep brown eyes revealed absolutely nothing of what he was looking at. He was like a statue carved from ice.
Misato let out a small breath, then gripped the microphone.
"We'll drag the Angel outside the city limits. Unit-01, Unit-02, emergency launch! We'll pull this off, just like always!"
■■■
The cockpit of Eva Unit-02. The lukewarm liquid of the LCL filled every part of Asuka's body. She was already used to this smell — so similar to the scent of blood.
"Hah, different order of magnitude? So what. Against my Unit-02, any Angel is just a target!"
Her voice was brimming with confidence, just like always. But deep in her heart, a faint, nagging sense of dread lingered.
(This pressure... what the hell is this?)
It felt like an invisible giant's hand was slowly crushing her entire body. Her skin prickled with pain.
"...Asuka."
From the cockpit of Unit-01, Shinji's voice cut into the comms. His voice was even smaller than usual, trembling.
"What?!"
"...Be careful. Don't push yourself too hard, like that time."
*That time.*
In Asuka's mind, the moment from the previous battle flashed back — the moment Shinji had tried to shield her.
Asuka faltered for just a second.
"...D-Dummy! You just make sure you don't get in my way! Let's go!"
■■■
The shores of Lake Ashi.
The Angel was there.
It was a massive, distorted sphere. Its surface was smooth as a mirror, eerily reflecting the surrounding scenery. The blue of the sky, the green of the mountains — everything was warped, melting together.
The two Evas deployed to the left and right, positioning to flank the Angel.
"I'll strike first! You provide backup!"
Asuka shouted as she thrust Unit-02 forward. The thrusters on its legs ignited, and the red machine closed in on the Angel in a straight line.
But.
*ZANG!*
The moment Unit-02's Progressive Knife touched the Angel's A.T. Field, sparks flew. But the blade stopped dead, just a few meters short. As if it had been seized tight by an invisible wall.
"You...!"
Asuka gritted her teeth and pushed the unit's output to maximum. The arm armor groaned and creaked. The artificial muscles screamed in protest.
That was when it happened.
The Angel's surface suddenly bulged outward.
In the very next instant, countless thin tentacles shot out in all directions from that mirror-like surface!
"Wha—!"
One of the tentacles, as if it had been aiming for it, seized the Umbilical Cable extending from Unit-02's back.
*SNAP.*
The thin, sharp sound of severance echoed all the way into the cockpit.
"The cable's been cut?! From this distance?!"
The main monitor lit up with the indicator: "EXTERNAL POWER LOST." The warning alarm signaling the switch to internal power blared in a grating rhythm.
【OPERATIONAL LIMIT 4:59】
■■■
"This is bad! Unit-02's cable! Send rescue!"
The command center erupted in commotion. Misato's voice couldn't hide her panic.
"Asuka!"
Shinji tried to rush Unit-01 toward Asuka.
"Stay back, Shinji! This is a trap! You fall back!"
Asuka's shout was in vain. Countless tentacles now coiled around Unit-02's limbs. They were like thorns of steel. The armor dented inward with a horrible creaking sound.
"You hentai! Don't touch me!"
Unit-02 thrashed wildly. But the tentacles didn't budge. Like a cat toying with its prey, the Angel slowly lifted the bundle of tentacles.
And then, it slammed them down in one motion.
*DOOOOOOON!!!*
The ground shook. A massive cloud of dust erupted. Unit-02 had been smashed onto its back against the concrete ground.
"Ugh... aaaah!"
Asuka's groan leaked through the comms.
"Asuka!"
Shinji's vision nearly went white with terror.
But.
*I mustn't run away.*
(I won't run away!)
He forced the fear welling up from the depths of his throat and turned it into a scream.
"Uwaaaaaaaah!"
Unit-01 charged at the Angel at full speed. The Pallet Rifle in its hands spat fire. But every bullet was deflected by the Angel's A.T. Field.
A new tentacle sprouted from the Angel's surface. It lashed out like a whip—
*SLASH.*
In a single strike, it swept Unit-01's legs out from under it.
Shinji felt an impact as if his body were being torn apart. The unit toppled clumsily and slammed into the ground. The LCL sloshed violently inside the cockpit, like being thrown into water.
In that opening, the Angel's main body slowly turned back toward the fallen Unit-02.
And then.
From the Angel's main body, a single tentacle emerged — thick, and sharp as a spear. Slowly, as if taking aim, it pointed its tip directly at Unit-02's head.
"Stop it... stop iiiit!!"
Shinji's scream echoed hollowly.
The tentacle tore through the air and was unleashed.
*CRUNCH!!*
A sickening sound reverberated across the battlefield.
The tentacle had pierced Unit-02's head with pinpoint accuracy.
"...A... gu..."
Asuka's short scream, heard through the comms.
After that, Unit-02 never moved again. It simply lay there, limbs splayed out like a broken machine, silent.
On the cockpit monitor, the warning 【PILOT VITALS DECLINING】 flashed red — red, and red.
■■■
"A... ah... Asuka...?"
Meaningless sounds spilled from Shinji's mouth. His vision blurred with tears.
(It's a lie, it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie.)
His mind went completely blank. The warmth drained from his fingertips, fading away.
"Asuka!! Answer me, Asuka!!"
He tried to stand. But Unit-01 was still entangled in the tentacles. Its legs wouldn't move. It was as if his own will had been severed from his body.
That was when it happened.
Static ran across the main monitor, and a new image cut in.
It was a feed from the commander's seat in Central Command.
Ikari Gendou's cold face was there.
Behind his glasses, his deep brown eyes were like ice — merely cold, looking down upon everything.
For a single moment, Shinji sought help from his father. He hoped, just a little, that maybe he could do something about this hopeless situation.
But the words that came out of his father's mouth were the complete opposite of what he had hoped for.
"Switch to the Dummy Plug."
That voice was far too flat, utterly devoid of emotion.
Misato spun around to face Gendou as if she'd been struck.
"What are you saying?! Unit-01 still has a pilot — Shinji is still inside!"
Gendou didn't even glance at Misato. His eyes were fixed solely on the Angel displayed on the main screen.
"Only an Eva can neutralize the Angel's A.T. Field. We will self-destruct Unit-01, core and all, and take the Angel with it. This is the most certain method, and the one that will minimize casualties."
His voice was utterly indifferent, as if he were discussing tomorrow's weather.
"Wait... please wait, Father! Asuka is still— Asuka might still be saved! And I can still fight! I can still—!"
Shinji screamed at the monitor. With every breath, the LCL clung to the depths of his lungs.
For the first time, he desperately pleaded with his father, using his own words.
But.
"You can no longer fight."
A single sentence.
"You, the pilot of Eva Unit-01, are nothing more than a single component for destroying the Angel's core. A component that has finished its purpose. That is all there is to it."
A component.
Finished its purpose.
Those words slowly gouged out the center of Shinji's heart with a rusted knife.
(I'm... a tool.)
It was something he had vaguely sensed for a long time.
But.
(It really was true.)
Now that he had heard those words directly from his father's mouth, something had definitively ended.
Inside Shinji, the tiny, tiny flame of hope that had been faintly burning all this time... went out with an audible sound.
"Activate the Dummy Plug. Completely sever control of Unit-01. Begin the self-destruct sequence countdown."
Misato was shouting something. But those words no longer reached Shinji's ears.
The lights inside the Entry Plug turned red.
【DUMMY SYSTEM ACTIVATED】
【SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE STANDBY】
【BOOST FUNCTION FORCED ACTIVATION — CONCENTRATING ALL NEURAL CIRCUITS TO CORE】
Mechanical messages streamed across the monitor one after another. And simultaneously, the control sticks began to move on their own, completely independent of Shinji's will.
Unit-01 lurched upright.
With jerky, puppet-like movements, it began walking toward the Angel — one step, then another.
"Stop... stop it! No, I don't want to die yet!!"
Shinji gripped the control sticks and desperately resisted. But his strength was utterly powerless against the machine's force. It was like an invisible giant had grabbed his hands and was forcing him to walk.
【300 SECONDS UNTIL SELF-DESTRUCT】
The countdown began, mercilessly.
(Why...)
(Why did it come to this...)
In Shinji's head, the events of last night flashed by like a revolving lantern.
The sensation of the cold canned coffee.
The warmth of Asuka's body, sitting next to him.
*"I don't think of you as a spare."*
Only those words had been the one single truth.
"Asuka... Asukaaa..."
Crying, he screamed into the broken communicator.
*Bzzzt... bzzzzt...*
Through the noise, faintly.
So very faintly, he heard it.
It was the sound of Asuka's breathing — pained, but still undeniably alive.
"...Ugh... Shin... ji..."
That was her final word.
(Asuka is still alive.)
(I have to save her.)
(I have to protect her.)
But Unit-01 was no longer his.
His body was no longer his.
Shinji lost all strength and curled up into a small ball inside the Entry Plug. Like a fetus, he hugged his knees and shut his eyes tight.
(It doesn't matter anymore.)
(Someone like me... really should never have been born after all.)
Tears dissolved into the LCL and vanished.
【120 SECONDS UNTIL SELF-DESTRUCT】
Only the col
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