Chapter 10: Breadth of Acknowledgement

Chapter 10:
Breadth of Acknowledgement

 

Tokyo-3 continued to suffer aftershocks from the direction of the Ogasawara Islands after Yomotsu Hirasaka shook the plate beneath it, but school was still open. An entry plug still sat in the middle of Shinji’s classroom. The students were in the black uniforms of yesteryear, and while they’d initially found the plug an annoying addition to their routine, they soon grew used to it.

Nerv command had issued a statement to the students to maintain the situation. Super Eva hadn’t quite managed to prevent the Third Impact from happening, but he was keeping it at bay and was currently undergoing modifications in the cage. Shinji’s vision of the BLS layer, which had manifested over the school like a ghost, was their only chance of seeing what was inside the Super Eva. As such, they couldn’t afford to change the environment.

All the students of the school were children of Nerv staff. In fact, the students with the entry plug in the middle of their classroom were all pilot candidates. As young as they were, they deserved to know what this was all about. Indeed, they were fortunate to be in this position, despite the world almost ending a few days prior. They might enjoy this bit of strangeness during their remaining time on Earth.

Asuka laid her face flat on the table, a strange posture for her to be in. Shinji asked her what was the matter.

“Ugh… Just leave me alone, Shinji.” Asuka mumbled, not bothering to lift her head. Her golden hair glistened on the table. She couldn’t help herself. though, and eventually said, “They found Unit Two.”

Shinji tried to remember what had happened during the Asuka/Eva synthesis’s final moments.

“That’s weird. I thought it got atomized after being bitten by Mari’s Wolfpack.”

“Right?” Asuka finally looked up.

“Your forehead and nose are red.”

Asuka’s face appeared tired and gloomy, as it usually did when she was thinking about something.

“The Longinus Ring generated the spatial lens while in orbit, which atomized Yomotsu Hirasaka and reconstituted it on the other side, close to Earth.”

“Yeah. That’s how the moon slab managed to land here.”

Why is she reviewing this? Shinji thought.

“I was completely integrated into Unit Two’s synthesis, so when it got atomized, I got reconstituted by the spatial lens, too. That’s how I managed to return to my human form.”

“Uh-huh. Even Mari reverted to a normal human after all the animal DNA that was spliced into her.”

“That’s right,” Asuka said. Then she glared at Shinji, “You never liked Mari, did you? She was really sad because she couldn’t get into this school, you know!”

“Don’t look at me,” Shinji balked, “I don’t know how any of this stuff works.”

In fact, Mari couldn’t step into the school because she was an unknown factor to Shinji.

“But this is still your dream. Can’t you just acknowledge her so she can come in? And the teachers, too? You know what? Never mind.”

Shinji sighed. Was that really how things worked here?

“Anyway, back to my point. What if Mari and I weren’t the only things reconstituted by the spatial lens?”

Shinji finally saw what Asuka was getting at. “So, you’re saying Unit Two got reconstituted, too. On Yomotsu Hirasaka, no less. But I’m pretty sure Wolfpack ate it clean.”

“Maybe it wasn’t completely digested yet. I don’t know, maybe the Ark’s life-form data in its belly got reconstituted around Yomotsu Hirasaka. No, that wouldn’t work. Maybe it’s operating on a different time scale.”

Shinji realized that this wasn’t the meat of Asuka’s worries. “You want to take Unit Two back, don’t you, Asuka?”

No one could tell if Eva-02 was still usable, or if they could retrieve it, given the dangers. But making the most out of Eva-02 latent powers had become Asuka’s life’s purpose. She sighed deeply. All Shinji could do was offer her a shrug before the school bell rang. Everyone scurried back to their desks. Shinji kept an eye on Asuka while returning to his.

What’s gotten into her? It isn’t like Asuka to be this scared.

Little Rei Six slid inside the classroom from the back—almost late, though still in uniform.

The final member of the classroom entered, and it was enough to stun everyone into silence, even Asuka, though a smile still touched the edge of her lips.

Their homeroom teacher had made an appearance at last.

Asuka called out to the class representative. “Shinji!”

“Oh! All rise!”

“Terribly sorry about the trouble,” said the homeroom teacher. “It seems the school has finally seen it fit to let me in.”

So this is how it works…

Shinji understood what Asuka had been trying to tell him a little better. Now, how far could he open up his dream to the outside? Toji was currently in the command center, while Trois was tuning up Eva-0.0 so it could be refit with a new arm. Rei Six was trying to fill the void left by the two absentees, but she was failing spectacularly.