A change-you really thought you could detect me?

Kensuke and Toji kept chatting.

"Have you heard the rumors about that transfer student?" Kensuke asked, jerking his chin toward Shinji.

"What rumors?"

"Could he be the pilot of that huge robot we saw last time?"

"No way... Who would let a minor do something that dangerous?"

"Anyway, I just think it's a pretty big coincidence. How about we..."

As they chatted, Shinji spotted the blue-haired girl sitting by the window.

She was covered in bandages. Gauze covered her right eye, and her right arm was bandaged too, hanging in a sling around her neck. It was clearly broken. Propping her chin on her left hand, she gazed out the window as if nothing in the classroom had anything to do with her.

Isn't that the girl I met in the cockpit yesterday? I think her name was... Rei Ayanami...

"That's impossible. Yesterday, she was lying in bed and could barely get up. How could she come to school today?" Zero, who knew human anatomy well, grew suspicious.

"I get the feeling there's something off about this girl. Why don't you go say hello?"

After an internal struggle, Shinji decided to greet her.

"Hi. Didn't we meet yesterday?"

The girl ignored him.

"What a weirdo..." Both Zero and Shinji were at a loss for words and decided not to embarrass themselves any further.

"Let's try again after school. I feel like she's hiding some secret we don't know about."

Zero could already sense that some enormous secret lay behind the EVAs, Gendo Ikari, and NERV. He needed to gather information.

Math class ended. (During class, Zero had sat on the floor and listened along, only to fall asleep... His snores were so loud that Shinji had whispered to wake him up, which got Shinji scolded by the teacher for talking in class...)

After the break, the same elderly teacher returned, this time carrying a history textbook.

"We'll be studying history this period."

The math formulas from the previous lesson were still on the blackboard.

"Him again...? First math, now history. Is he the only teacher in this school?" Zero grumbled.

He recalled his school days in the Land of Light, with the kindly Professor Manny and the patient teacher Eddie. They taught all sorts of things an Ultraman needed to know, along with the history of the Land of Light and Earth.

As for what exactly they had taught... Zero, a poor student, had already forgotten almost all of it... After all, he had spent so many years training under Leo and Astra on K76, then years fighting across various universes. He had long since forgotten most of that knowledge he never used.

"...And so humanity faced its greatest trial. In the final year of the twentieth century, a massive meteorite from space struck Antarctica. The continent of ice melted in an instant, causing sea levels to rise and shifting Earth's rotational axis. It also brought about abnormal weather that threatened the survival of living organisms. Thousands of species and half of humanity vanished forever. This is what we all know as the Second Impact."

Damn it. Why couldn't I have come to this world back then? I could have protected all those lives. An Ultraman's concern for vulnerable life led Zero to that thought.

But after thinking it over, he felt that the official account was rather implausible.

"Did that meteorite have ten Skydons packed inside it? It actually knocked Earth's rotational axis out of alignment?"

"No wonder this planet felt off when I arrived. Its rotational axis is tilted."

"When I leave someday, I'll see if I can straighten it out."

"No... The meteorite story might just be a cover for something. I need to keep investigating."

Most of the students were staring into space rather than looking at the computers in front of them. They were surely long since sick of this official narrative.

"Human society collapsed, and those who survived the catastrophe endured a terrible nightmare. Yet in just fifteen years, we have managed to recover to this extent. This is due not only to humanity's strengths..."

Shinji was staring into space out of boredom when a message suddenly appeared on his computer.

"Are you the pilot of that purple robot?"

Remembering that nobody had told him to keep it secret, he typed "yes" and sent it back.

What?!

The classroom erupted in an instant.

Everyone except the class representative and Rei crowded around Shinji. The class representative tried to maintain order, but nobody listened to her.

The teacher was still standing by the window reminiscing about the past, paying no attention to the commotion in the classroom.

"Hey, how did you get picked?"

"Did you pass a test?"

"Weren't you scared?"

"What does the cockpit look like?"

Although Shinji was more outgoing than he had been in the original story, he still struggled to handle a situation like this.

And so...

Zero, the social butterfly, took over.

"Sorry, the specifics are classified, but..."

"That Angel yesterday was defeated by the purple robot I piloted-Unit-01."

"I was at a disadvantage at first because it was my first time piloting it and I had no experience. But once I got used to the controls, I beat it pretty easily."

To keep things from sounding too over the top, Zero left out "yours truly" and "twenty thousand years."

Shinji remained surrounded by his classmates all day, right up until school ended.

Naturally, kids their age were interested in this sort of thing.

He also had a great time talking with Toji and Kensuke, and with Zero's encouragement, he became friends with them.

He was trying to embrace life and connect with everyone. It was tiring, but it felt pretty good.

"You really made a great change today, Shinji. I'm seeing you in a whole new light." Zero never held back his praise for Shinji's progress.

If he had received guidance like that back then, he would never have come so close to making a terrible mistake.

Shinji took the initiative to approach Rei Ayanami. She looked at him with confusion and a hint of anger.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you do that to the Commander?"

"I..."

"Ritsuko wants you and me to go to her for testing tonight." Before Shinji could answer, Rei Ayanami stood up and left.

"Why's this girl sticking up for that old geezer?" Zero genuinely couldn't make sense of it.

"Wait, a physical examination?!"

"I wonder if that trick will work... If it doesn't, I'll just come clean..."

Shinji returned to NERV and entered the laboratory.

"We're going to give you a full physical examination now."

"Have you felt any discomfort anywhere lately?"

"No."

"Then let's begin."

Gendo Ikari monitored the equipment remotely. He wanted to see for himself exactly what had happened to Shinji.

After going through seven or eight machines, Shinji was fed up and kept asking, "Are we done yet...?"

Zero had gone offline during the process. Shinji had no idea where he had gone.

Once the tests were complete, Ritsuko frowned at the tablet in her hands. Gendo Ikari, looking at his computer, did the same.

None of the readings showed any abnormalities.

Shinji was just an ordinary boy. There was nothing unusual about his body, and all his data was normal.

Then how had he launched himself over a dozen meters into the air, shattered blast-resistant glass with a single kick, and completely immobilized an adult?

And how had he performed those moves while piloting Unit-01?

Neither of them could make any sense of it, so they had no choice but to let Shinji leave.

Zero returned to Shinji's side, drenched in sweat.

"Good thing I learned how to enter electronic devices and alter their data from X back then. Thank goodness that trick worked..."

Shinji: So this is what an Ultraman can do? Forgive my utterly inadequate imagination. ∑(O_O;)