A rift, the Spear of Longinus?

Back home,

Huang Zhetian took up his knife and started cooking.

Under the astonished gazes of Shinji and the others, he prepared eight dishes.

Those eight dishes took a full two and a half hours.

A handwritten sign congratulating Misato on her promotion was taped to her front door.

The slightly messy handwriting on white paper, with tape at all four corners, looked utterly ordinary.

Once all the dishes were served, everyone cheered and congratulated Misato.

"Congratulations!"

As soon as Misato got home, she changed into her tank top and shorts. It seemed only at home did she become the truly carefree Miss Misato again.

Everyone raised their drinks for a toast. Misato alone held not a glass of juice, but a can of beer...

"Thank you... thanks, Zhetian-kun and Suzuhara." With her usual smile, Misato politely thanked everyone.

Huang Zhetian picked up some peanuts and ate them with his orange juice, glancing at Misato's beaming smile. She seemed delighted with her promotion.

Oh, come on. She said she wasn't happy in the car, but now that she's home, she has to pretend she is. Being an adult really is exhausting...

"No, no, this guy Zhetian came up with it. He asked Kensuke and me to help buy the ingredients, too." Toji immediately laughed and raised a hand to explain.

"Thank you again, Zhetian-kun." Misato froze for a moment, then quickly recovered and turned to Huang Zhetian with a grateful smile.

"No big deal. It's just like any other day, only with another dish or two." Huang Zhetian tilted his head back for a sip of orange juice and waved it off.

"Anyway, why's the Class Rep here too?" Toji asked Hikari Horaki, looking displeased.

Hikari Horaki looked displeased as well.

"I invited her! Right?" Unable to stand it, Asuka snapped back at Toji from beside him, then cheered together with Hikari.

"Where's Rei?" Misato asked, puzzled.

"I invited her, honestly. But she's really hard to deal with." Asuka pursed her lips and answered dismissively.

In fact, Huang Zhetian had prepared a vegetarian meal at the start and quietly sent it to Rei Ayanami. He had asked someone to deliver it...

"Speaking of which, Mr. Kaji sure is taking his time." A little bored, Asuka swirled the orange juice in her hand.

"Is Mr. Kaji really that handsome?" Hikari Horaki asked Asuka curiously.

Whether a man was handsome was always a subject girls cared about.

"Of course! Compared with these losers sitting here, he's in a completely different league! There's no comparison at all!" The instant Kaji came up, Asuka turned into a fangirl defending her idol.

As she talked, she put down every aspect of the boys present.

Naturally, our protagonist Huang Zhetian wasn't spared her mockery either.

My heart hurts. Damn...

At that moment, his inner expression was that of someone stabbed in the chest and coughing up blood.

Could a wet-behind-the-ears kid really not compete with a mature, charming man?

Apparently not.

"What did you say? Say that again if you've got the guts!" The two idiots opposite her immediately lost their cool, glaring at Asuka and shouting.

Beside Misato, Shinji still looked gloomy. Watching the scene before him, he couldn't find anything to say that would let him join in...

"Are you still uncomfortable at gatherings like this?" Misato asked with some concern.

"Relax a little. You can just listen. If something comes up that you can talk about, join in. If not, start a topic yourself... just be yourself, Shinji." Huang Zhetian finished his last sip of orange juice, crushed the can with one hand, and tossed it into the trash behind him as he offered advice.

"I'm fine. I'm just not used to being around so many people. Why does it have to get so noisy whenever there are lots of people?" Shinji couldn't understand why people always had to make things lively when they gathered.

"Humans are social creatures. When we're together, we have feelings to share and things to talk about, so we don't get bored. We gather to keep loneliness away..." Huang Zhetian said, propping up his chin.

"Yes, Zhetian-kun's right. That's exactly it." Misato took a small sip of beer and agreed.

"Speaking of your promotion, that means you've earned other people's recognition, right, Miss Misato? Right, Zhetian-kun?" Shinji asked them both. He was actually trying to find a topic.

"Yes, you could put it that way." Misato watched the two idiots bickering with Asuka and answered calmly.

"So that's why everyone's so happy? But you're not happy, are you?"

"That's not quite it. I am a little happy. But that's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you here? Why did you join NERV?"

They talked, one asking and the other answering.

Huang Zhetian was also very curious about why Misato had joined NERV. Was it simply to take revenge on the Angels? Surely there was more than one reason.

He had been in this world for over two years and had forgotten most of the plot details.

He couldn't recall those old details, and the system couldn't help him either.

Misato shook the can in her hand and gave a dismissive answer to Shinji's question and Huang Zhetian's curiosity. "Well, I've long since forgotten all that."

Shinji quietly lowered his head, as though he had expected that outcome.

They ate at the same table, yet had split into two circles.

Things were lively on Asuka's side.

On Shinji's side, the conversation had grown awkwardly quiet.

Just as Huang Zhetian and the other two sat in that awkward atmosphere, unsure how to start another topic,

the doorbell rang.

It was probably Kaji.

What timely rescue.

Because of the heavy rain that day, Kaji's flight couldn't leave for the United States, so his trip had been temporarily put on hold.

Asuka cried out happily and hurried to her feet. "It must be Mr. Kaji!"

But a moment later, Asuka was unhappy.

And so was Misato...

When the door opened, there was more than one person outside.

Akagi had come along too.

"I came straight from headquarters, so we came together," Kaji explained.

Kaji really was handsome. Whatever he wore suited his laid-back, debonair air.

"How suspicious!" Misato and Asuka looked at the pair, their faces slightly flushed.

"Are you jealous?" Akagi teased.

"Of course not!" Misato immediately recovered and denied it, grabbing a beer from the table to drink and hide her fluster.

"Hmph, I've got a temporary boyfriend. Why would I be jealous? He's the one who should be jealous!" Asuka promptly dragged Huang Zhetian into it as a shield.

Hmm... Asuka's still a little hard to get along with, even after a month together. Forget it. I'm here for her. The relationship between us doesn't matter. Once all this is done, I'll hurry over to the Rebuild version. Being used as a shield still hurt Huang Zhetian a little, and he thought this with some disappointment.

He felt as though everything he'd done before had been based on a lie.

Because Asuka always looked at Kaji with more affection than she showed him.

Fuck you! Wake up, hey! Asuka likes you! Don't go off the rails of my plot!! (Author)

After all, the person Asuka liked was still Kaji.

Huang Zhetian began losing confidence, never realizing that Asuka had already started falling for him...

That unfortunate misunderstanding would lead to tragedy later in the story...

"Congratulations, Major Katsuragi." Kaji bowed slightly with a solemn expression, showing Misato his respect.

But a moment later, his roguish look returned, and he joked, "Looks like I'll have to watch my mouth from now on."

"What are you talking about, idiot?" Misato held up her can, her face a little flushed-

"Still, the Commander and Deputy Commander leaving Japan together is unprecedented! Leaving you in charge here shows just how much they trust you." As Kaji said this, his gaze drifted toward Huang Zhetian.

Huang Zhetian understood and stayed silent. In truth, he was simply feeling too hurt to respond.

Shinji looked surprised. "Father isn't in Japan?"

"Commander Ikari is in Antarctica right now..." Akagi's voice softened a little as she said it...

"All right, don't just stand around talking. Sit down and eat." Huang Zhetian quickly interrupted Akagi and invited the two to sit.

Then he got up and went out onto the balcony alone for some air. Right now, he really wanted a cigarette. Even though he had never smoked in his previous life, when he had already been twenty-three.

"Forget it... now that there's a rift between us, my A.T. Field should be stronger too, right?" Huang Zhetian's departure from the table didn't seem to affect Asuka at all. She continued chatting and laughing with Kaji and the others.

That thought seemed to give him an explanation to console himself.

"Oh, Chinese food? I don't get to eat it often. Let me try this chicken. Mm, such a clean flavor." Kaji picked up a piece of poached chicken, dipped it in a little soy sauce, and chewed it before giving his satisfied verdict.

Akagi tasted the bitter melon soup and found it more invigorating than the coffee she brewed. After finishing a bowl, she asked for another.

What a strange woman, liking bitter things so much... Huang Zhetian glanced back, somewhat speechless. Although his bitter melon soup did taste better than usual, it was still bitter... he wasn't used to drinking it either. Making it this time had been an accident. He had only cooked a small pot to perk himself up a little.

He hadn't expected Akagi to drink it all...

Meanwhile, in Antarctica,

blood-red seawater stretched across the entire region as far as the eye could see.

Auroras appeared in the sky.

Yet through the sea breeze, filled with an eerie atmosphere and the stench of decay,

several human warships sailed.

They created the only ripples in that lifeless place.

"A place where life cannot survive... a dead world-Antarctica. No! Perhaps we should call it hell." With his hands behind his lower back, Fuyutsuki gazed calmly at the blood-red water and the pillars of ice left after the melting, speaking with some feeling.

"And yet we humans have established ourselves here! And we're doing perfectly well..." Gendo Ikari paid it no mind. Instead, his tone carried the superiority of someone looking down on all creation.

"Because science protects us."

"Science is humanity's power."

"That very arrogance caused the tragedy fifteen years ago... the Second Impact! And this is the result. The punishment is far too severe. This truly is a dead sea!"

"But the contamination has been removed, and the world has been purified."

"Even if it is full of sin, I still hope for a world where humans exist."

As always, the two argued back and forth, debating their views and the root of the problem.

Gendo Ikari looked down at the long shaft wrapped in an enormous sheet of cloth.

"The script has changed... we'll make use of Huang Zhetian when the time comes."

"When is that scheduled?"

"After a few more battles with the Angels, we can put it into use."

Beep-beep!

An incoming call sounded.

"Report! A call from NERV Headquarters! An Angel has been detected in satellite orbit above the Indian Ocean!" A staff member delivered the report to them.

"What is it this time? What sort of show will unfold while I'm away?"

"I wonder if anything unexpected will happen." Fuyutsuki was still a little worried.

If an unforeseen variable arose, things could turn ugly.

"Relax... with him there, there's nothing to fear." Gendo Ikari smiled faintly, a cold edge to it, as though every outcome lay within his control.