Lu Mingfei sat alone in his chair, staring blankly at Nono's retreating figure.
His experiences in the EVA world had taught him one thing-never trust kindness that fell into your lap, because there was always an agenda beneath it.
But Nono's smile just now hadn't seemed calculated. Neither had Caesar's awkwardness. Zero's cookies... all right, Zero's cookies definitely seemed calculated.
Lu Mingfei felt a headache coming on. He rubbed his temples and looked toward the training field.
Impact endurance practice had begun. Students stood face-to-face in pairs, pushing against each other with both hands to test the distance and angle at which they were knocked back. The aim was to let them experience what would happen to their bodies when the power spilling from the King of Earth and Mountains sent them flying.
Caesar and Chu Zihang had been paired together.
The other pairs on the field stopped of their own accord, everyone turning toward those two figures. Caesar's blond hair gleamed in the sunlight; Chu Zihang's was black as ink. They stood facing each other, barely half a meter apart.
Caesar went first, driving both palms toward Chu Zihang's chest. Chu Zihang stepped back half a pace.
Then Chu Zihang took his turn. His push was stronger, forcing Caesar back a full step. The muscles beneath Caesar's tactical vest tensed before he steadied himself.
Then they switched. And switched again. And again.
Veins bulged on both their foreheads, and their feet gouged deep holes in the grass. Every other pair had long since finished, but they were still pushing, as though determined to shove each other down to the earth's core.
"Enough!" Schneider's voice rang out from the raised platform. "Are you trying to push each other all the way to China?"
Break time arrived. Students gathered in twos and threes to drink water and replenish their energy, whispers rising all around.
"Over by the referees, Nono was talking to that S-Rank for ages."
"I saw, I saw. They were chatting and laughing."
"Wait, isn't Nono Caesar's girlfriend?"
"That's why it's a problem."
"Hey, look. Have you seen Zero? The one in the white skirt, over with the medics."
"She's gone over to Lu Mingfei again."
"No way... why?! Is there something special about an S-Rank bloodline?"
At some point, Zero had appeared beside Lu Mingfei. She wore a medic's uniform with a short white skirt, the red cross especially conspicuous on her chest. She offered him a bottle of water, its sides covered in fine beads of condensation.
Lu Mingfei looked at the bottle, then at Zero. A few strands of her long, pale blond hair clung to her temples with sweat. She was breathing softly, a pleasant sound. Her expression, as usual, was no expression at all. Her eyes rested on Lu Mingfei in that same gaze that needed no reason.
Even her offering him water needed no reason.
"...Thanks." Lu Mingfei took the water.
"You're welcome." Zero nodded, then sat down beside him.
Lu Mingfei could feel at least a dozen gazes shooting their way.
The silence lasted about a minute. To Lu Mingfei, that minute felt longer than piloting Unit-03 in the EVA world.
"Don't you... need to go back to the medics?" he asked, trying to break the silence.
"There are no casualties right now." Zero glanced at him.
"Oh."
"What exactly did Lu Mingze tell you to do?"
"Take care of you."
"I told you he's already fallen into a deep sleep. Things have changed. You don't need to do any of this anymore."
Silence fell again.
Lu Mingfei realized that the right way to get along with Zero was to stop searching for things to say. She wasn't someone who needed conversation to fill the silence.
On the observation platform, Professor Guderian gripped his binoculars with both hands, trembling with excitement. "Did you see that? Did you see? Our S-Rank is actively integrating into the group! He's accepting supplies from a medic! That's team spirit!"
"Guderian," Manstein interrupted coolly, "he's just being looked after by his personal nanny."
"Well, but it's symbolic!" Guderian's eyes shone. "He's willing to be out on the training field, willing to accept help from his classmates. That means he's starting to trust this group!"
Schneider's voice came from beside them. "Your S-Rank blasted the leaders of two clubs off their feet during the last Day of Freedom. Now the entire college is watching him. If he can finish this drill quietly as an observer, I'll count my blessings."
"Schneider, you're too pessimistic!"
Manstein adjusted his glasses, a rare look of satisfaction appearing on his face. "In any case, this drill hasn't caused any major damage so far. Very good."
The whistle sounded again. The students hauled themselves up from their break and assembled once more.
Formation maneuver training began. This was the core of the third phase-the basics of a pincer movement. The participants split into two large units to simulate encircling a dragon and attacking it from both sides.
On the observation platform, Guderian grew excited again. "A pincer maneuver! One of the most classic tactics in the history of human warfare! Flanking from both wings restricts a dragon's room to maneuver, forcing it to expose its weaknesses. Of course, a real Dragon King wouldn't be surrounded so easily, but this training is vital to developing the students' ability to coordinate!"
That stance of "organizing everything in the face of a crisis."
Lu Mingfei tightened his grip on the water bottle. Misato, Ritsuko, Shinji, Rei Ayanami, Asuka... they were no longer here. They had remained in a world that was coming to an end.
And here he was, watching another group of people do something similar in a different way.
"Lu Mingfei?"
He snapped out of his thoughts. Over on the raised platform, Guderian was speaking into a loudspeaker and waving at him.
"Lu Mingfei, what do you think of the angle of this pincer movement? Professor Manstein and I discussed it. I think forty-five degrees is optimal, but Professor Manstein says it should be adjusted dynamically based on the terrain. What do you think?"
Lu Mingfei glanced at the formation on the field, recalling the scraps of battlefield knowledge he had picked up despite himself.
"Forty-five degrees is theoretically optimal," he said. "But your units include people with different levels of physical fitness, and battlefield conditions are constantly changing. That means their actual movement speeds will differ. If both wings set out at a fixed forty-five-degree angle, the slower wing will reveal its intentions too early. Their departure angles should differ by five to eight degrees, with flexible adjustments based on battlefield conditions."
Guderian froze for a moment, then nodded furiously.
"Yes, yes, yes! Exactly! That's just what I told Professor Manstein!"
Lu Mingfei watched the young men and women practicing together, then let his gaze pass over the crowd toward the distance. Beyond them stood Cassell College's red-brick buildings. At their highest point, the church spire gleamed in the sunlight.
Farther still lay the underground chambers of NERV headquarters. The enormous EVAs slept, Gendo Ikari stood on a raised platform looking down over everything, and Shinji Ikari stood with his head lowered in the shadows of a corridor.
Don't run away,
Don't run away.
Don't run away!
He saw Asuka's vacant eyes, Rei Ayanami's pale skin, Ryoji Kaji lying in a pool of blood.
He saw Lu Mingze saying to him, "Brother, let me tell you the truth about the world."
He looked at what was in front of him, watching these people run, fall, get back up, and run again.
Everything was so orderly, so normal.