The rain fell heavily, but the sky was still bright and sunny.
As Shinji Ikari meditated beneath the waterfall, he suddenly sensed some kind of signal from outside.
His nerves tensed. Before he even opened his eyes, his hand instinctively rose to catch it.
Thud-
"Not bad. You've completed today's training perfectly. Next, finish your spear practice. I still have somewhere else to take you."
Hearing Huang Zhetian's words, Shinji Ikari opened his eyes and found a small white cross in his hand.
He examined the cross in his palm, then looked up at Huang Zhetian in confusion.
"That's Misato's necklace. She left it for you. I got it from Kensuke, intending to give it to you."
Huang Zhetian hopped easily down from the stone pillar he had erected, a fish still dangling from his fishing rod.
Shinji Ikari asked, "Miss Misato... why did she give this to me?"
Huang Zhetian slung an arm around his shoulders, picked up his clothes from the ground, and headed up the hillside.
"A blessing? A prayer? Who knows? Maybe you can ask her yourself later. Come on. Next stage: spear techniques!"
"Okay! I'll do my best!"
The rain kept falling, but the clear blue sky had turned gloomy.
Village-3 [Third Village]
Asuka lay on the bed playing her game console. After so many days, she still hadn't cleared the game.
Either she failed to pick up the small point bonuses in time, or the time limit ran out.
If she carefully collected every single point, half the countdown would soon be gone, leaving her without enough time to finish.
But if she ignored the small bonuses and ended up just a few points short of Huang Zhetian's record, like last time, it would drive her mad.
Still unable to beat the record, Asuka