Chapter 147 145. The smell of Ayanami

She had cherished her Unit-2 so much before, but now she suddenly changed her mind. Ikari Shinji felt that this must have something to do with him – although it sounded very self-righteous, and made people feel that you were too self-righteous.

“Asuka, are you coming too?”

Akagi Ritsuko looked like she was just looking for trouble: “Then I’ll adjust my schedule.”

It’s called adjustment.

In fact, it is just adding another machine to the experimental machine.

…just a few issues with the order.

If there were only Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami, they would each go to the corresponding hangar and pilot each other’s machine.

If Asuka is added temporarily, the machines will have to be arranged one by one in order.

Unit-01, Unit-00, Unit-02.

Ritsuko Akagi arranged the order without hesitation.

The three machines were adjusted to the best condition in the hangar. The purple-green armored Unit-01 was first transported to the experimental hangar by tracks and fixed in place by a fixture. Shinji Ikari took a look and the giant did not react to his gaze. It was quiet and silent like a dead object. The experimental hangar was also equipped with special tempered glass, so the experimental status of the machine could be seen from the observation window above.

The pilots had already put on their combat uniforms, so the experiment began quickly.

“——I, I’ll go first!”

Asuka raised her hands high.

“Then Asuka will pilot Unit-01 first.”

Ritsuko Akagi agreed to Asuka’s willful request without any concern.

Even though Asuka had said that Unit-01 was a fourth-rate machine when she first met Shinji Ikari, when it was her turn to pilot Unit-01, she couldn’t help but feel eager to try. She thought that seeing Shinji defeat the Angel so easily, if she was the one controlling Unit-01, maybe she would be able to do it too… No, of course she realized that this was an illusion and it was just her dormant jealousy that was playing tricks on her.

She stepped into the cockpit.

As the hatch closed and LCL liquid was injected, the cockpit soon became dark. The indicator light came on. The transmission track outside was transporting the cockpit to the side of Unit-01, making a subtle mechanical driving sound.

first contact.

Asuka feels good.

It was no different from her experience in Unit 2.

It was the second contact. The pilot was connected to the machine’s nerves, and only in this way could the machine be controlled. Although Asuka had flown Unit-02 many times, this was her first time to experience Unit-01, and she couldn’t help but feel nervous. However, as the nerve connection was completed, Asuka was suddenly surrounded by a sense of familiarity. She was stunned for a moment, and then stopped talking in the communication channel.

“I always feel…”

“What’s wrong?” asked Ritsuko Akagi.

“No, nothing.” The eldest lady answered very quickly.

Everyone in the communication channel could hear something was wrong. As the person in charge, Ritsuko Akagi frowned. Asuka was a girl who couldn’t hide her thoughts. From her insincere reaction, was there an accident in the experiment? The first experiment of body swapping had an accident. Although Ritsuko Akagi was not a superstitious person, she still felt a little uneasy about it. She asked:

“Asuka? Are you really okay?”

“…It’s okay!” Asuka’s voice sounded a little crazy, but she still reported that she was safe on the communication channel. Then she emphasized in a relaxed tone: “It’s really okay.”

Only then did Ritsuko Akagi feel a little relieved.

But when Asuka came out of the cockpit of Unit-01, the serious experiment leader still carefully observed the girl’s expression, as if nothing was wrong.

After making sure that there was really no problem, Ritsuko Akagi allowed Rei Ayanami to enter the cockpit.

Rei Ayanami will pilot Unit-01.

It can be said that this is the main purpose of this experiment. Akagi Ritsuko thought that if it could be successful, perhaps the existence of pilots would not be necessary in the future – instead, clones would be used as a replacement. Although this is still a cruel plan and a challenge to ethics and morality, it is much more humane than asking these teenage boys and girls to go to the battlefield.

She glanced at her white hands.

Anyway, this is the only and best way. She can only move forward, following the signs whose reason no one knows, and then wait for it to bring a result that cannot be seen at all.

Humanity’s study of the apostles is far from enough.

But sometimes there is no other choice.

Just as she sighed silently, Rei Ayanami, who had entered Unit-01, had completed the first contact. All the data showed normal, and some of the situations that Ritsuko Akagi was worried about did not occur. The performance of the clones in these data seemed to be no different from that of natural humans. Seeing that everything was going well, Ritsuko Akagi became nervous instead.

——Neural connections.

Ritsuko Akagi kept an eye on the synchronization rate data, and only breathed a sigh of relief when it showed a good number.

With this synchronization rate, there should be no problem in starting Unit-01.

She asked casually:
“how do you feel?”

Ayanami Rei’s answer came from the communication channel.

“…It smells like Ikari-kun.” the girl said softly.

The atmosphere suddenly became ambiguous.

Misato Katsuragi standing by had a strange look on her face.

Shinji Ikari thought to himself, “Isn’t it not nice for Ayanami to say that in public? It’s easy to be misunderstood. Even if everyone knows about this… But he immediately realized that Ayanami is not a girl with this kind of personality. In other words, does the cockpit of Unit-01 have its own smell? However, even Shinji Ikari himself doesn’t know what his smell is like.

“The smell…” Akagi Ritsuko pondered, “If you drive a mech for a long time, the cockpit will be filled with the smell of the pilot… Hmm… It seems there are still many things that we haven’t figured out.”

“I see…” Misato Katsuragi said awkwardly.

so close.

Misato Katsuragi thought it was some kind of play, but it turned out she was wrong.

However, Shinji Ikari noticed a detail. Asuka had driven his own Unit-01 before. So, was Asuka’s abnormality just now because she smelled her own scent in Unit-01?

He glanced over there, only to meet Asuka’s gaze.

When the young lady saw the two men looking at each other, she did not show any shyness, but instead glared at him fiercely.

What the hell. She thought to herself that she had just sat in the cockpit, and the LCL liquid inside was filled with Shinji’s scent. Who could have expected such a thing? She thought her sense of smell was off, or maybe… Asuka swallowed that thought silently. In short, it was all Shinji’s fault. She calmed down a little, and then she thought of another thing. If the machines were swapped, then Shinji and the honor student would also be able to drive their own Unit 2, right?

Wait, the inside of that person’s Unit 2… Asuka began to regret having to participate in this exchange experiment.

But things did not stop because of her inner emotions. Soon it was Unit 0’s turn, and this time Asuka was still the first to drive.

Thanks to the preparation, there were no accidents this time.

The interior of Unit-00’s cockpit is no different from Unit-01’s.

Once the nerves were connected, Asuka soon smelled a faint, unfamiliar floral scent.

Is this the smell of an honor student?
Although the two girls had seen each other’s bodies in the locker room, Asuka still clearly felt the smell for the first time. She thought the smell of honor students was similar to LCL liquid, but she didn’t expect it to be this kind of smell. Speaking of which, she was gradually smelling that bloody smell…

Asuka’s thoughts gradually became distracted.

Do not know why.

A feeling of extreme coldness gradually swept over Asuka’s whole body.

She felt strangely uncomfortable in this cockpit, as if ill-fitting clothes were warning her skin, saying, “If you don’t leave, I’m going to make trouble.” Fortunately, data collection didn’t take too long, but the outside report that her synchronization rate with Unit-0 was extremely low, making it doubtful whether she could actually operate this machine. When she came out of the cockpit, Shinji Ikari was ready to take over.

“whispering sound.”

She smacked her lips in dissatisfaction.

The two passed each other, and Shinji Ikari wanted to say something, but suddenly found that he didn’t have anything to say. The girl had returned to her usual self, and that was fine. The two were both pilots, and they would see each other every day. No matter how small the movement was, it could become an opportunity for them to get entangled again.

“First contact.”

Familiar process.

Shinji Ikari watched the indicator light flash.

“Second contact.”

The sound in Unit 0’s communication channel gradually became blurred, as if it was coming through a hazy glass window.

Nothing unusual.

Before the neural connection was completed, Shinji Ikari could only feel the small space in the cockpit. He was originally thinking about his daily arrangements after the experiment, but after realizing that this would cause his mind to lose concentration and affect data collection, he quickly focused his attention.

At this time, Shinji Ikari’s ears moved.

“…”

He seemed to hear some rustling sounds, but when he listened carefully, there was nothing.

No.

There must be some sound.

Shinji Ikari chose to trust his instincts.

It was this intuition that helped him get through countless dangerous situations in the past. He focused his mind on his ears, trying to hear something from the hallucinatory sound, but it was in vain. The sound did not sound again. However, Ikari Shinji felt something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. However, the experimental data should be collected almost. He estimated the time. No matter what the sound was, he had to leave the cockpit of Unit 0.

At this moment he suddenly heard a girl’s voice.

She sang slowly and in a very high and long tone.

Shinji Ikari was stimulated by this inexplicable singing voice as if there was an electric current running through his mind, and a sense of electric shock surged through his body, but in fact the voice was not sharp and harsh. On the contrary, it had a calming power that reminded him of a famous cello piece “Jacqueline’s Tears”, the tone of which was soothing and sad.

Just like the performer named Jacqueline who created it a hundred years later. The genius cellist of the 20th century seemed to live and die for playing this piece. It is said that a cellist said when he first heard her play “Jacqueline’s Tears”: “I’m afraid she won’t live long if she puts all her complex and contradictory emotions into the cello.”

He looked at a point in the cockpit in a trance. A voice was softly singing an ethereal song. Shinji Ikari could not understand the lyrics, but he was gradually absorbed in listening. He heard the rustling sound of ice breaking, the sound of drips slowly flowing in the hospital, the sound of someone pushing the door open, and the sound of a knife cutting through the song.

Everything suddenly seemed far away, and a familiar feeling surrounded him.

Like the smell of Ayanami.

Shinji Ikari couldn’t help but sniff lightly. The familiar smell made him feel at ease, reminding him of the days they had spent together. Yes, this should be the control system of Unit-00, no, it would be more appropriate to call it the soul of Unit-00. The figure of that soul seemed to appear in front of him. The girl at the beginning looked down at him, her eyes moving, her eyebrows flowing with beauty, as beautiful as porcelain.

……

“How could this be… this synchronization rate…”

“Stop the experiment!”

“—Save the pilot!”

……

“Dreams are a continuation of reality.”

Someone whispered in his ear.

Shinji Ikari was startled. He suddenly felt a sense of absurdity that there was a difference between reason and reality. In an instant, his nerves reacted automatically as if they were allergic. He was like a drowning man struggling in some liquid, paddling and swimming around with his hands recklessly, until a pain on the back of his hand brought him back to reality.

“Ikari-kun…? Is something wrong?”

A voice asked.

Shinji Ikari turned his head when he heard that. Ayanami Rei was sitting on a chair in front of the bed, peeling an apple. She was wearing a black shirt and pleated skirt. Her dress style was extremely sharp. Both her figure and face had grown a lot bigger for no reason.

“What’s wrong?” Rei Ayanami asked with concern, “Do you want me to call a doctor?”

Shinji Ikari looked around blankly. He was in a hospital ward, with only him and Rei Ayanami in the ward. The sky outside the window was blue and clear, with clear skies, so clean and beautiful that it seemed unreal. Shinji Ikari looked at the IV drip on the back of his hand and suddenly remembered where he was.

“Sorry, I think my hands are shaking a little bit…” Ikari Shinji said uncertainly.

“It’s okay.” The girl smiled and spoke a long sentence. “After all, Ikari-kun just finished his mission in the Executive Division. He was seriously injured. It will take some time for him to recover.”

She handed over the peeled apple.

Shinji Ikari took the apple and took a bite, then continued to stare blankly. A breeze blew in from the window, disturbing the white curtains. Following the direction in which the curtains were blown, he saw something familiar.

On the wall of the ward.

The World Tree emblem of Kassel College is hanging high on it.

(End of this chapter)