You Too Can See the Star of Ultra

Zero patted Shinji's back as he reassured him. "No matter what, I'll support you, Shinji."

"Big Brother Zero..." Shinji leaned against Zero's arm (though there was actually nothing there to lean against)...

Shinji smiled from the heart. "Thank you."

He had never felt this kind of care from anyone other than his mother.

"But I still want to see what Father meant by Unit-01." For some reason, he kept feeling that he had a special connection to this thing called Unit-01.

As though he had known it long ago.

"Hmm... I'd like to see what this thing is, too." Zero was a little curious about it as well. After all, by Ultraman standards, he was still a young man, and naturally, like most young humans, he was interested in mechs.

He also needed to make sure it wouldn't hurt Shinji.

As they talked, Shinji felt something resting on his chest. He lifted the blanket and found a pair of... toy-like glasses.

Shinji picked up the glasses and examined them closely. "What are these?"

The glasses had a silver base with alternating red and blue around the edges, and pale yellow lenses in the middle.

Zero explained, "Oh, those? They're proof that you and I are united as one. When you're in danger, put them on, and you can transform into me."

"Really?" As soon as Shinji said that, he popped the glasses onto his face.

Nothing happened...

"Why isn't it working?"

Zero looked at Shinji, speechless. "You want to transform in here? Let me tell you, you'd get yourself into trouble... I forgot to mention that you need my cooperation to transform when you put those glasses on."

"I see. Well, that's probably a good thing."

While they were chatting, someone opened the door to the hospital room.

"Who's talking?"

Shinji hurriedly hid the glasses.

"Shinji, you're awake?" Misato walked in and spoke with relief when she saw that Shinji Ikari had woken up.

Shinji remembered the postcard of a scantily dressed woman enclosed with the letter his father had sent him...

"Are you... Miss Misato Katsuragi?" he asked.

Misato answered with a smile, "You guessed right!"

"I'm Misato Katsuragi, chief of operations for the Tactical Operations Department, First Division at NERV Headquarters."

"And this is NERV Headquarters, underneath Tokyo-3 in Japan. We're an organization dedicated to fighting the Angels."

"Oh, right. An Angel is the monster you ran into yesterday."

She gave a brief introduction, then looked at Shinji Ikari's face.

To her surprise, however, Shinji barely reacted after hearing her explanation, as though none of it particularly interested him.

"Huh? That's not quite the reaction I expected." Misato put her hands on her hips. She had thought a child his age would have at least some interest in things like saving the world.

But Shinji really wasn't interested in any of that. He had only come here because he wanted his father to need him.

Zero, however, was very interested.

Realizing that sounded a little rude, Shinji awkwardly added, "It's not that I'm completely uninterested..."

"Well, you'll learn more about it once you join NERV." Misato didn't mind.

"Stay in the hospital for observation tonight, and you can be discharged tomorrow. I'll buy you some everyday essentials today. Starting tomorrow, you'll be living with me."

Shinji was very surprised, and so was Zero.

They remembered that, outside the hospital room, the commander had arranged for Shinji to stay in the base dormitory.

"I'm looking out for your physical and mental well-being, too," Misato said, pointing at Shinji with a smile.

The base dormitories were all single rooms. Making the lonely Shinji live there would be far too cruel, so she had taken it upon herself to arrange for him to live with her. That much was within her authority.

"Get some rest. I'll come pick you up tomorrow." Misato left the hospital room.

Zero remarked, "That lady... I feel like she has ulterior motives..."

"N-no... surely not." Shinji was speechless, too.

"Big Brother Zero, how did you defeat that monster called an Angel?"

"I crashed into it and killed it. I honestly didn't expect it to be so weak..."

"No way... Are you joking?" Shinji was stunned. The Angel that humanity couldn't hurt with any of its weapons was actually "too weak" in Zero's eyes.

"It really was weak. I'm not exaggerating when I say the humans in our world could have beaten that thing back when Ultraman was on Earth."

"Who's Ultraman?"

"Uh..." Oh no, Zero thought. This was going to take a long time to explain...

Still, he began explaining. "It's a long story."

"He's the second eldest of the Ultra Brothers, a team made up of the Land of Light's strongest and most experienced warriors. Ultraman himself is the director of the Space Garrison's Milky Way branch, as well as a professor at the Land of Light's university. Our bond with humanity began with his encounter with a human."

"'Ultraman' is the name the people of Earth in my world gave our kind."

"In our world, six thousand years ago, before I was born, Ultraman came to Earth while pursuing the space criminal Bemular. But he accidentally collided with a fighter piloted by Hayata Shin, a member of the Earth Defense Force's Science Special Search Party."

"To make up for his mistake, Ultraman decided to give Hayata his own life, uniting with him as one."

"As he lived among humans, Brother Ultraman gradually discovered their strengths and limitless potential, and resolved to protect them."

"From then on, our Ultra race formed the deepest of bonds with humanity. One Ultra Warrior after another came to Earth, either uniting with a brave human warrior or taking on human form, fighting monsters and invaders from space."

"Eventually, the humans in our world gained the power to protect themselves, and the last warrior, named Mebius, left Earth."

"After that, our kind often met humans out in space. They really did... make our wish come true."

Zero looked gently at Shinji. "Shinji, do you know what our greatest hope for humanity is?"

"What is it, Big Brother Zero?"

"We hope that one day, you'll be able to soar through the universe alongside us. Until then, we'll be the shield of your world."

"Shinji, open the window and look up at the sky."

Shinji went over to the window, opened it, and gazed into the night sky.

Zero granted Shinji Ultra vision. His gaze passed through the vast multiverse until it finally settled on a radiant, emerald-colored planet.

"That's my home, the Land of Light, also known as the Star of Ultra. Now you can see it, too."

Its beauty left Shinji speechless. "I can see the Star of Ultra, too."