I participated in the development of EVA

"I can't help it. My identity is here! I buy my own food and clothing. Compared to getting something for free, I will spend more tax money on security."

"What dangers could you encounter?"

In Ritsuko Akagi's view, Fumihiko Ikari is humanity's hope in fighting against the Angels, and no one will attack him.

"No matter what happens in this world, there will always be some crazy people whose thinking is different from that of ordinary people."

Ritsuko Akagi obviously did not agree with Fumihiko Ikari's words.

"No! Why do I feel like you're just thinking too much?"

"I hope so."

Fumihiko Ikari did not make any excuses. Like her mother, Ritsuko Akagi had all her talents in scientific research and was rather stupid in other aspects. Otherwise, she would not have been outshined by Gendō Ikari and her daughter in the original work.

Putting aside Seele, the anti-human organization that appeared in the original novel, the anti-EVA faction that emerged in the last meeting due to concerns about the hidden dangers of Apostle technology has no problem with the concept itself. There are too many things in Apostle technology that are beyond human cognition, which is indeed worthy of vigilance. However, there are some anti-EVA and anti-magic personnel among them.

Hearing the perfunctory attitude in Ikari Fumihiko's words, Akagi Ritsuko asked back in dissatisfaction.

"No matter how you look at it, your death won't be of no benefit to anyone, right?"

"If I die, Li can inherit my bottles of Coke in the refrigerator."

"..."

After hearing this, Ritsuko Akagi felt a little stupid for taking this topic seriously.

"I'll go and inspect it."

"Go."

Fumihiko Ikari looked at Akagi Ritsuko's departing back and sighed. His last nagging was just to piss her off. He wanted to be alone for a while. When he was with Ibuki Huimi, he didn't think there was anything wrong with not celebrating his birthday. Now that they've separated, he realizes that his attitude towards life is wrong.

Now that we have crossed over and started a new life, it's time to move on from the past.

Even if not for yourself, you have to consider Rei Ayanami. If you continue like this, your life trajectory before the time travel will be replicated in Rei Ayanami.

He had no habit of celebrating birthdays before he traveled through time. Ibuki Huimi didn't want to recall old memories after the second impact, and he didn't care about birthdays. Therefore, he didn't know Ayanami Rei's birthday. He used a computer nearby and logged into the Three Sages Database with his own permissions, and found out the relevant files about Ayanami Rei and began to study them.

Rei Ayanami was activated on March 3th, which was also the birthday that Yui Ikari set for Rei Ayanami's disguise identity.

Uh……

Isn't this today!?

There's really no time to adapt.

He thought about how to celebrate Rei Ayanami's birthday. They could have a meal together, blow out the candles, and then go to KTV to sing a song. This was all he knew about the birthday process.

There is no KTV inside NERV, and such a process is not suitable for Rei Ayanami.

After thinking for a while, he decided to ask Ritsuko Akagi who had just left.

When Ritsuko Akagi received a text message from Fumihiko Ikari, she rushed over breathlessly.

"No, I just got to the bottom and you called me to go back? There's no boss as annoying as you."

"That's because you lack the social beating."

"Tell me! Why did you suddenly call me back? What do you want to do?"

"Today is Li's birthday. I don't know how to handle this."

"Rei's birthday?"

"Correct."

Fumihiko Ikari was not surprised. It was actually normal that Ritsuko Akagi did not know Rei Ayanami's birthday.

Rei Ayanami's file has the highest level of confidentiality. Ritsuko Akagi, who is still an intern, has no authority to access it, and the two of them don't have much interaction on a daily basis.

"How are you going to prepare it?"

"I don't know, that's why I ask you."

"How did you do it before?"

“No.”

"You... this is too..."

Ritsuko Akagi didn't know what to say.

But after thinking about her own situation, she fell silent. Since the second impact, she was like Ibuki Huimi, no... most of the people who survived the second impact. The happier their lives were before the impact, the more likely they were to selectively forget their birthdays, because birthdays were too closely linked to the good memories of the past.

She was surprised before that Ikari Fumihiko didn't celebrate Ibuki Huimi's birthday because she felt that after they were together, they would come out of the shadow of the past together and support each other to start a new life.

"Actually, there's nothing to worry about. Just prepare a gift and a cake. If you want to have a lively party, invite some friends. If you want to keep it simple, just spend it as a family."

"You and your mother should come over tonight! Otherwise, it would be a bit lonely for Li to spend her first time with just her and me."

Ritsuko Akagi originally wanted to say: You go to your mother's side by yourself, I can't make the decision.

I only reacted when the words were on the tip of my tongue.

"Two people? Where's Sister Huimei?"

"She resigned."

Ritsuko Akagi was stunned.

She was more surprised than Ibuki Huimi's resignation.

“Can I really quit my job here?”

"Correct."

In Ritsuko Akagi's opinion, Ibuki Megumi's resignation should be the decision of NERV's senior management, and she does not feel that Ibuki Megumi has left.

"I've resigned, but that won't prevent me from coming back to celebrate my birthday with you, right?"

"She left this way."

Ritsuko Akagi still finds it hard to wrap her head around this.

"Where can she go if you're still here?"

"She was going to achieve her life goal of becoming a teacher. That's what she said before she left."

Only then did Ritsuko Akagi react.

"Are you separated?"

"Ah."

Upon hearing the news, Ritsuko Akagi was happy at first, but then she was puzzled. The two had been together for so long and she had never heard of any conflicts. She really couldn't understand why they suddenly broke up.

"Why?"

Fumihiko Ikari didn't want to continue talking about this topic.

"There's no need to ask so many questions. Let's just talk about Li's birthday."

Ritsuko Akagi suppressed her confusion and responded.

"I can't make the decision on my mother's side. You need to go and invite her yourself."

"Ah."

18:07:20

453. Actually it is normal

Time was a bit tight, so Fumihiko Ikari did not go to the Three Sages project team, but took out his mobile phone.

Naoko Akagi answered the phone.

"..."

While Fumihiko Ikari was thinking about what to say, Naoko Akagi did not speak first, but waited silently for Fumihiko Ikari to speak.

"Today is Li's birthday. Are you free tonight?"

"Someone needs to supervise the dismantling of the Three Sages."

Faced with this situation, he didn't know what to say.

"Ok."

"Any thing else?"

"Ritsuko will be there."

"Oh, anything else?"

"Gone."

"Then I'm hanging up."

"it is good."

Naoko Akagi hung up the phone, and Fumihiko Ikari swallowed the four words "a single man and a single woman". It would be easy to make things worse if he continued to talk about this.

He turned his gaze to Ritsuko Akagi.

Akagi Naoko didn't go, so only Akagi Ritsuko went...

"Why are you looking at me? I don't have the final say over Mother's affairs."

"nothing."

Forget it...

Outsiders don't know that Ibuki Megumi has left, so even if she is alone with Akagi Ritsuko, no bad rumors will spread.

"How's it going? Is mother coming?"

"She will be overseeing the dismantling of the Three Sages."

"Uh……"

Ritsuko Akagi was stunned for a moment before she reacted.

Ikari Fumihiko looked at himself after hanging up the phone just now. It was because his mother was not going there, so he was going alone, which meant that the two of them would be alone tonight.

She suddenly became nervous and combed her hair in confusion.

"Aren't you going to invite anyone else? I remember your cousin's husband is back."

“I don’t have a very good relationship with him.”

"Huh? Not so good? Didn't you go out together often before? I thought you had a very good relationship."

Is this the reason why outsiders mistakenly believe that I have a good relationship with Ikari Gendō?

indeed.

Coupled with the blood connection and the fact that they had often gone out together before, it was easy for people to misunderstand their relationship.

"At that time, Ikari Yui would always shamelessly follow."

Akagi Ritsuko didn't understand the details of Ikari Fumihiko's private affairs, and she didn't have the right identity, so it was not easy for her to discuss it.

"What about the others? There are so many people in the institute, there must be some people with whom we have some connections."

Ikari Fumihiko thought about it carefully and actually found two people. "Besides you and your daughter, the only people I can talk to are Dr. Ito and Sakuragi Haruna. If I invite the former, she might be mistaken for a gift, and I don't have much contact with the latter. Although we can be considered as people with the same hobbies, we can't really talk much."

Are they really just a single man and a single woman? This is too abrupt.

Although she knew nothing would happen, Ritsuko Akagi was still stunned for a moment.

"that's it?"

"What about you?"

"Uh……"

Compared to Ikari Fumihiko, Akagi Ritsuko has a smaller social circle.

"Miri is my only friend."

"That's it."

Fumihiko Ikari took out his cell phone and dialed Saori Hashimoto's number.

"Make arrangements. Tonight is Li's birthday. Prepare a cake and dinner for three people."