Chapter 149 147. Dreams are the continuation of reality (Part )
After returning to Kassel College.

Shinji Ikari wrote the combat report with great difficulty.

This thing, which is specially used to torture elite butchers, is like the yogurt lid that can never be licked clean. You have to do it every time you open a box of yogurt.

I should have written a report when I was still lying in bed, but there is no such thing as “I knew it earlier”. He spent more than a day to finally write a decent report. But Shinji Ikari was not relaxed at all – he didn’t know what the Operations Department thought of his internship.

The good news is that I heard that not many people died in the mission this time.

Things are also going smoothly with my junior schoolmate Rei Ayanami.

After confirming the relationship, within two weeks, the two of them quickly completed the dating-holding-kissing process. If he can pass the internship, then his life recently can be called smooth sailing.

The only bad news was that not long after he was discharged from the hospital, the news about him and his junior schoolmate became a hot topic on the college forum, and someone from the news department posted: “Sad! The long-single junior schoolmate has finally found his partner. Who has won her heart? You’ll never guess! Click in quickly to hear my detailed explanation.”

Seeing the title, he hardly dared to click into the post.

This evening.

He was sitting in front of the computer in his dormitory, working on the paper assignment that the professor had handed down today.

There was a beeping sound.

I received an email from the Executive Department in my personal mailbox.

Shinji Ikari opened it and took a look.

——It shows that his internship was finally passed.

Now I am a complete winner in life. I have achieved everything I wanted. Is there anything I cannot be satisfied with?

But when Shinji Ikari saw this email, he suddenly felt empty, and he couldn’t feel happy at all. This shouldn’t be the case. Imagine if one day you fell into the rabbit hole like Alice, and finally defeated the Queen of Hearts after going through so much hardship, and even your comrades along the way were not missing any limbs or anything, and everyone held a celebration party… He should be very happy, but now he always feels like something is missing.

Is my injury not healed yet?

“I always feel depressed.”

He said lazily, like a depressed rabbit.

“Depressed people usually don’t say they are depressed, but like mushrooms, they surround themselves with umbrellas in a corner.”

Hearing his words, his roommate said while picking his toes, “If you are sick, you should get treatment, brother. If one day you become a corpse in the dormitory with colorful mushrooms growing all over your body, it will be too late then.”

“I’m not sick.”

“It’s not up to you to decide. It depends on the doctor.”

“…I’m really not sick.”

“Didn’t you just get a girlfriend?” The senior brother’s eyes suddenly seemed to be looking at some class enemy who deserved vigilance. It was probably because of this reason that he was so aggressive from the beginning. “Logically speaking, you should be so happy at this time that you don’t know what to do. It can’t be that you haven’t seen your girlfriend for a while, so you have a withdrawal reaction, right?”

“…Maybe?” A rather hesitant voice.

“…”

The senior brother gritted his teeth and one could even hear the sound of his deep breathing, but Shinji Ikari still continued, “But I do have something I want to ask you for advice on. I’ve been dating her for such a while and I haven’t given her many gifts. I don’t know what to give her.”

“Giving a gift to a girlfriend…what’s so difficult about that?” The senior brother sneered.

“?”

“—pack yourself up and send it over.”

“…What a bad idea.”

“Then you should find another military advisor to give you advice.” Senior Brother Goutou curled his lips in disdain.

Just change people!
Shinji Ikari wanted to complain in his heart, but immediately thought of his own social circle, which was not very good.

He basically knew the “elites” of the Executive Department, a bunch of killers who would only say to him, “If you don’t have women in your heart, you will be a god when you draw your sword.” If they were to fight a hybrid, they could come up with all kinds of tactical plans, but once the target was changed to love or a girlfriend, the ideas they gave would be like the idiotic plots in a domineering CEO drama. So everyone knew that the Executive Department was a bunch of butchers, a bunch of rough people who only knew how to wield swords and guns.

But there are a few exceptions among this group of rough guys.

For example, Senior Brother Chu.

The president of the Lionheart Society.

The next day when he went to the professor to hand in his paper assignment, he was still thinking about this question.

Senior Brother Chu is a big shot, very popular in the academy, not only with the girls, but also with the boys. To be specific, he is the kind of male protagonist with great personal charm in the movies, always rushing to the front line in battle, with a cold face but a warm heart, working hard to the point of sweating every day, and maintaining a calm expression in the face of any difficulties, so he can kill both men and women and become the president of the Lionheart Club in the academy.

It’s just such a small matter to trouble you, big brother… uh… it seems that it is not impossible. It’s a good opportunity to meet up with Brother Chu. We haven’t reminisced about the past since returning from the mission.

Shinji Ikari felt that he had become inexplicably braver.

“…How about watching the fireworks?”

Senior Brother Chu said.

After he explained his purpose, a very popular senior in the academy immediately gave him advice.

But, watching fireworks, can this be considered a gift? Generally speaking, it is a kind of program that comes with festivals and festivals. In TV dramas, the male and female protagonists kiss romantically under the customary program… Ikari Shinji is still thinking about it, and Senior Brother Chu continued, “Although I have been to Japan before, I don’t know much about the customs there. Watching fireworks… should be in line with your customs, right?”

“Isn’t it too cliché?” asked Shinji Ikari.

“Is it cliché? Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, what matters is the person who accompanies you to do it.”

When he said this, Brother Chu’s tone was still indifferent. He was clearly speaking some obvious chicken soup for life. The flavor of the chicken soup was so rich that it was about to overflow, but he was not passionate at all. It was as if he was talking about a very ordinary thing.

But this chicken soup tastes pretty good.

Shinji Ikari was thoughtful.
“I understand. Thank you, Brother Chu.”

“You’re welcome.” Senior Brother Chu asked calmly, “By the way, how is your injury?”

“It’s ready.”

“That’s…that’s good.”

“Brother Chu, what about you?”

“It’s just a minor injury. It will be almost healed in the few days after I come back.”

“…”

The two men finally fell into an awkward situation where they had nothing to say. Ikari Shinji thought to himself that it would be great if he could be a qualified supporting actor, just like Senior Brother Chu who was out of tune with him. After all, why did he bring up this matter with Senior Brother Chu, when he had never seen Senior Brother Chu have a very close relationship with any woman?

But he couldn’t think of any place to respond, not even to discuss his own condition.

“You completed the task well this time.” Senior Brother Chu took the initiative to say, “You should have passed the internship, right?”

“It’s over.”

“Congratulations.” Even though he was congratulating, his tone was very calm. After that, the two chatted about some other topics, and Shinji Ikari, who had nothing else to do, finally said goodbye and left.

Before leaving, Shinji Ikari paused.

He couldn’t help but say:
“Thank you.”

“?” Senior Brother Chu expressed his doubt with his eyes.

“It feels like we haven’t seen each other for a long time.” He scratched his head and said that even Shinji Ikari himself didn’t know why he said such a strange thing. Senior Brother Chu looked at him strangely, but fortunately he was not a person who would go to the bottom of things – or maybe he just hadn’t encountered anything worth going to the bottom of yet.

Wait until the conversation is over.

Shinji Ikari did not worry about his worsening condition, nor did he go to the academy’s psychologist to see what was going on. Instead, he began to plan the fireworks.

what?
You said that we can just arrange the fireworks show and then take our girlfriend to watch it?
This won’t do, it’s not romantic at all. At the very least, the hero and heroine have to fight a big boss, then experience a fast and furious car race, with adrenaline soaring and heart pounding, and finally stop the car in the mountains with only the two of them, looking at the beautiful starry sky. The heroine thought that this was enough, and then fireworks were set off in the sky, and the hero said happy birthday by the way. I guess the heroine would be moved by the romance.

But the reality is not so complicated.

There is no big boss to use as a prop.

So Shinji Ikari was thinking of having an ordinary date for a day, walking around, and then taking his girlfriend to watch the fireworks.

As he was thinking, he sent an email on his mobile phone.

“Would you like to go out for a walk together tomorrow?”

“Okay, Ikari-kun.”

It took a long time before Rei Ayanami replied to the email to express her agreement.

It’s not that she deliberately dragged it out for so long, but there are other reasons. Ikari Shinji can imagine this school girl’s flustered performance when facing the mobile phone. It’s obviously the 21st century, but when facing these electronic devices, she sometimes behaves like an antique – just thinking of this adjective, he can’t help laughing.

However, one or two flaws would make it more adorable.

So he left school and contacted the fireworks company.

Although tomorrow is a day off, Kassel is not a casual institution.

It was just that freshmen still had some concerns, but he was not in that range. He made a report to the college’s artificial intelligence Norma, and after confirming that she would send a car to pick him up, he slipped away.

Of course, this can be done by spending some money on the academy forum. But Ikari Shinji still wants to go out and look for places suitable for couples nearby. To be honest, there are really no good places for dates in the school. You can’t expect that when you are on a date, there won’t be people from the equipment department making explosions around you, right?

“It just so happens that I don’t have any classes this afternoon, so I’ll come out and see for myself.”

Ikari Shinji thought.

He wandered around Chicago from noon to dusk, and barely picked out a few decent places before planning to go back to the college, where he could ask some seniors to help him reserve a seat.

At this time, night was about to fall in Chicago. The mirrors of the skyscrapers were gradually becoming darker and the neon lights on the streets were beginning to flicker.

In the past few years since he came to the college, he has rarely gone out for a walk.

I usually eat, live and study in the college, and sometimes I even feel that the college is my home. After all, before meeting someone important, people always tend to call a place they have stayed for a long time home.

Shinji Ikari walked to Chicago Station.

The trains to the academy all have fixed times, which may be early or late, and no one knows the exact time, but they will always come, but some mixed-bloods with high bloodlines always have privileges. He waited indifferently for Norma to come and pick him up as agreed, but he didn’t notice that the number of pedestrians around him gradually decreased without any warning.

When he noticed it, the Chicago station, which used to have occasional pedestrians, was completely deserted. The sunset outside the station was like coagulated blood, and the dark red light reflected on the platform, as if it was a horrific murder scene.

At this moment, a train that had just entered the station made a loud bang, slowed down and stopped in front of us.

He looked.

What an empty carriage.

From the front to the rear of the car, there was only a small figure inside.

It’s normal that there aren’t many people at this late hour… It’s normal. It’s not like Shinji Ikari has taken the school bus before, and it’s not like this. He hesitated. This weird scene was problematic no matter how he looked at it. It was like a wizard with a wand cast a Muggle-repelling spell, and then there was a noseless magic battle with green light. Normally, he would have left immediately instead of being brave. But somehow, it was as if a voice in his heart told him: Stay.

…Speaking of which, we should be wary of this strange sound.

But Shinji Ikari still stepped into the car.

After he got on the bus, the door was immediately closed.

Perfect conditions for murder in a closed room, Ikari Shinji thought inexplicably. At this time, the train started quickly and slowly moved towards an unknown distance. The sound of the wheels rubbing against the track was inaudible. He looked left and right, his eyes locked on the only living person in the carriage, so he strode over and sat down on the long iron seat opposite.

Sitting opposite was a little girl wearing what was obviously a school uniform.

Contrary to Shinji Ikari’s expectations, she had a certain inexplicable inhuman feeling and exquisite beauty, which was out of tune with the surrounding environment. Although her face was blurry, her childish beauty could still be felt. Shinji Ikari felt that this little girl looked a little familiar. Could she be a family member of someone in the academy?

He tried to see it more carefully, but found it was a waste of effort and didn’t care.

Neither of them spoke a word.

One should listen to music while waiting for the bus. He felt like he had this habit. He opened the music player on his phone a little awkwardly and glanced at the song titles. For some reason, they were all old songs from the last century. He wanted to put earphones in his ears to block out the outside noise, but at this moment there was finally movement from the other side.

The little girl spoke:

“You, don’t want to stay here?”

“What did you say?” Ikari Shinji looked at the murderer in a locked room, “Little boy, are you still asleep?”

“You haven’t woken up yet.” The little girl said in an inhuman tone. Her voice was flat, as if she was narrating some fact.

Whose child is this? So rude.

Ikari Shinji thought.

Of course I knew I wasn’t awake yet.

(End of this chapter)