Chapter 527: Textbook Tsundere
Asuka indeed had the thought of apologizing to Shinji Ikari, but that "I'm sorry" rolled around in her throat a few times and was ultimately forcefully swallowed back down by her stubborn pride.
As a result, what was originally an attempt to ease the tension evolved into a minor argument due to her awkward way of expressing herself and Shinji's equally poor communication skills. The already stiff relationship between the two not only failed to improve but became even worse.
That terrible conversation took place on a Saturday morning.
Asuka paced back and forth in the living room for ten minutes, finally waiting until a sleepy-eyed Shinji came out of his room.
She took a deep breath, pretended to lean casually against the dining table, and opened her mouth in a tone that sounded as unlike an apology as possible: "Hey, idiot Shinji, about... that Angel thing last time."
Shinji was just about to pour some water. Hearing this, his footsteps paused, and he looked at her somewhat confused.
Asuka avoided his gaze and stared at the floor: "Although I did cleanly take care of it, but... about all that messy impact afterwards..."
She tried to find an appropriate word, but words like "pollution" and "destruction" spun on the tip of her tongue and just couldn't be spoken.
"...Anyway, it's not like I completely failed to notice."
Shinji's originally peaceful mood sank at the mention of the Angel and the subsequent impact.
He thought of the dead little fish in the sea, and the exhausted expressions of Dr. Ryo and the researchers. His tone couldn't help but carry a hint of depression: "Oh... is that so."
This flat reaction of his was misinterpreted by Asuka as coldness and accusation.
Her temper flared up instantly, and her voice rose a few pitches: "What's with that attitude of yours?! Is it wrong to destroy the Angel? If I hadn't arrived in time, who knows what would have happened!"
"I didn't say you were wrong..." Shinji tried to explain, but his voice weakened, "It's just... that sea that was finally recovering..."
"Sea! Sea! Sea! Is that sea the only thing you know?!" Asuka interrupted him, her frustrated pride making her speak without thinking, "Destroying the Angel and protecting more people is the most important thing, right! How could a guy like you, who only knows how to shrink back and care about these trivial details, possibly understand real combat..."
"I didn't mean it like that..." Shinji took a half-step back, overwhelmed by her imposing manner. He wanted to argue back, but felt that whatever he said would be pale and powerless.
He pressed his lips tightly together, ultimately just lowering his head and saying softly: "...Forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I told you."
This sentence, giving up on communication, completely infuriated Asuka. "Right! I don't understand! And I don't want to understand what a coward like you is thinking!"
She glared at him fiercely, turned around, and slammed her bedroom door shut with a loud bang.
Shinji stood there, looking at the tightly closed door, feeling a wave of frustration in his heart.
He clearly didn't want to fight, so why did it turn out like this again?
And behind the door, Asuka slid down to sit on the floor with her back against the door panel, angrily hugging her knees, yet feeling even more stifled than before.
She clearly... didn't want to go and fight either.
Now, their relationship had become even stiffer.
The suffocating low pressure in the apartment made it impossible for Asuka to stay any longer.
After thinking it over, she finally gritted her teeth and sought out Rei Ayanami, someone she believed would at least not argue with her and seemed relatively "easy to talk to."
She pretended to be tough and expressed that she wanted to "go see that supposedly miraculous marine restoration zone." Rei Ayanami just looked at her quietly for a few seconds. No emotion could be seen in those red eyes, but she still nodded.
Under Rei Ayanami's silent guidance, Asuka set foot in the Ninth Research Institute for the first time.
The scene before her was completely different from the "clean" image of a high-tech research institute she had imagined.
The air was filled with a faint smell, a mixture of the sea and an almost imperceptible scent of decay.
Although the previously polluted seawater had become clear again under the continuous work of the "Seed of Metatron," the traces of the disaster were still shocking.
Staff and automated equipment were busily working. Wearing protective suits, they were salvaging and cleaning up massive amounts of marine life corpses from the water and the shore.
Baskets of fish that had lost their luster and turned belly-up were being transported away. The once colorful coral reefs had now largely turned a lifeless grayish-white, like underwater tombstones. Some seaweed accumulation areas had also rotted and blackened, emitting a foul odor.
In sharp contrast to these zones of death were those still-intact ecological areas that had been urgently isolated and protected.
There, the seawater was azure, fish swam about, and the corals retained some of their colors, tenaciously displaying what life should look like.
Asuka stood frozen, looking at this bizarre picture where life and death coexisted. Hearing the muffled exchanges of the staff, burdened by exhaustion and heartache, her originally straight back unknowingly stiffened slightly.
When she destroyed the Angel, all she saw was the target disappearing from the strategic screen. She had never imagined that the price of victory would be presented before her eyes in such a concrete, such a tragic manner.
An unprecedented, heavy feeling pressed down on her heart. It wasn't just the annoyance of "messing up," but a genuine sense of guilt born from facing the consequences of her actions directly.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found that any words seemed pale and powerless in the face of the scene before her.
Just as Asuka was staring blankly at the cleanup site, her heart filled with complex emotions, a calm voice sounded beside her: "You are the pilot of Unit-02, Asuka Langley Soryu, correct?"
Asuka snapped back to reality and saw a young man with a steady temperament, wearing a researcher's white coat, standing beside her at some point.
She subconsciously straightened her posture, recovering that proud stance, and raised an eyebrow slightly: "So what if I am? Are you the person in charge here?"
"I am Ryo, in charge of the ecological restoration project here." Ryo paid no mind to her attitude. His gaze swept over the area being cleaned up, his tone flat and straightforward. It didn't sound like a reprimand, but rather like he was stating an experimental report: "Data shows that when the Seventh Angel disintegrated, its LCL pollution core exactly covered the southeast quadrant of the restoration zone. Because the kill point you chose at the time did not avoid this area, it led to us losing approximately forty percent of the purified waters, as well as over sixty percent of the cultivated marine life. Rebuilding these ecological modules is estimated to consume fifty percent more time and resources than the initial restoration."
Every number was like a tiny needle piercing Asuka's heart.
Her hands at her sides clenched unconsciously, her fingernails digging into her palms, but she forced a nonchalant expression onto her face: "Hmph, how can you consider so much during a battle! The priority in that situation was obviously to destroy the Angel as quickly as possible! This little bit of loss... is nothing compared to the destruction the Angel could have caused!"
Her voice was louder than usual, as if this could cover up the wavering in her heart.
Ryo listened quietly, neither refuting nor agreeing. However, that gaze, which seemed capable of seeing through people's hearts, made Asuka feel as if her bravado had nowhere to hide.
"Since you've caused a loss," Ryo finally spoke again after she finished, his tone still lacking any fluctuation, "then use your actions to make up for it. The institute is currently short on hands, so you can stay and do some work within your capabilities."
Asuka widened her eyes and almost jumped up: "What? You want me to do chores here?! I am an—"
"—outstanding pilot, I know," Ryo interrupted her, his tone even carrying a very faint, almost soothing hint. "Precisely because of this, missing one or two routine training sessions won't hurt. I will go communicate with Lieutenant Katsuragi and apply for the necessary work assistance permit for you."
He said this as if it were a matter of course, directly making the decision for her and not even giving her room to retort.
Asuka's chest heaved, her face written all over with dissatisfaction and defiance. Her lips moved, wanting to say something sharp to counterattack, but as her gaze swept over those cleaned-up corpses of marine life, the words that reached her lips were swallowed back down.
She ultimately just gave a fierce "Tch!", turned her head to the side, and used her silence to express her tacit consent.
Ryo said no more, merely gesturing for Tanaka next to him to arrange some basic work for her.
Although Asuka kept a straight face the entire time, she still followed along.
She knew that she was truly in the wrong this time, and although this out that Ryo gave her made her lose a bit of face, it was also the only way to make her feel a little better inside right now.