I participated in the development of EVA

"it is good."

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was Asuka's birthday.

In order to give Asuka a surprise, Fumihiko Ikari did not meet with her during these days. He just told the matter to the European Base No. 2 and asked the other party to cooperate.

During this time, Rei Ayanami also told him something.

Asuka always pretends nothing has happened and finds Rei Ayanami to ask about his situation.

On that day, he appeared in front of Asuka.

When Asuka saw him, the loneliness on her face disappeared and was replaced by a smile. It was obvious that she thought that Fumihiko Ikari appeared in front of her because of her birthday.

But she still pretended nothing had happened and said something.

"You seem to be quite free lately."

Fumihiko Ikari wanted to tease Asuka so he responded in the same nonchalant manner.

"Have it?"

"You didn't come here once in half a year before."

"Yeah, it's true. I've been quite free lately, so I came to see you and Li."

have a look?

After all, Asuka is only a six-year-old child and cannot hide her emotions well.

Ikari Fumihiko clearly noticed that she was getting a little anxious because he didn't mention the birthday, and her mood also became even more depressed.

After her mother's death, she lost all expectations for her birthday. Her contact with Ikari Fumihiko gave her expectations again, which is why her emotions fluctuated so drastically. Otherwise... no matter how sad she was, she would not show her weakness in front of anyone.

She forced herself to respond as if nothing had happened.

"Li isn't here. She has other tasks today. Um... I have to go to training too. I don't have time to hang out with you."

Fumihiko Ikari was a little worried that Asuka would cry if he continued teasing her like that, so he immediately said something.

"Close your eyes."

"What? Why do you want me to close my eyes?"

Although she said this, Asuka still closed her eyes, apparently realizing that Fumihiko Ikari asked her to do this because of her birthday.

Seeing this, Ikari Fumihiko couldn't help but chuckle.

Then he called up a code box from the void and entered an instruction.

In order to prevent Asuka from peeking, he covered her eyes with his hands. The countdown ended after he finished it. Then, a feeling of loss emerged from the bottom of his heart. The next moment, the data of the two were transferred to the virtual game.

20:02:06

586. Porcupine

After letting go of his hand, Ikari Fumihiko whispered something.

"You can open your eyes now."

Asuka opened her eyes and what she saw was a huge cake that looked like a castle.

wrong!

This is no longer a cake, but a castle built of cakes.

The air is filled with the rich aroma of cake.

Her eyes were full of surprise.

But he quickly came to his senses and subconsciously looked around.

I found myself in a square that looked a bit dreamy. The surrounding plants emitted colorful lights. These lights shone on the surrounding objects, covering the surroundings with a rainbow-woven gauze.

The cake castle was placed in the center of the square, with Fumihiko Ikari and Rei Ayanami standing beside it, and it was surrounded by dense crowds of people.

Her first impression of these people was that they were not normal people.

Because most of the people around me dress strangely and behave differently from ordinary people.

Not many of them were standing on the ground honestly. Most of them were stepping on the sturdy plants around them. She even saw some people building human ladders to stand on those sturdy plants, as well as people riding strange creatures. Among them was a sturdy man riding a pink pig that was completely disproportionate to his body.

Too much information flooded into her mind at once, causing her to freeze in place again.

"Don't just stand there, put this on first."

"what?"

Asuka was stunned for a moment and then came to her senses.

Looking at the red princess dress handed to her by Ikari Fumihiko, she asked in a daze.

"Where do I change this?"

"Just equip it directly."

On equipment?

Asuka obviously didn't understand.

Fumihiko Ikari was not surprised. Asuka not only had to go to school on weekdays, but also had to receive driver training. Even if she was a genius, she would not have time to deal with these things.

"Remember the equipment bar in your mind, and then follow the novice's guide."

Asuka obviously hadn't come to her senses yet and responded blankly.

"Oh……"

After a while she successfully put on the princess costume.

At this time, Fumihiko Ikari sent a message to the studio owner, and the scene suddenly erupted into chaotic noises.

"Happy birthday!"

The reason why the sounds were not uniform was not because of poor rehearsal, but because many people at the scene were passers-by who heard the news and came over out of curiosity to join in the fun.

But even so, the scene was still shocking enough.

Uh……

The ups and downs of the chaotic momentum are scary enough.

Fortunately, neither Asuka nor Ayanami Rei had anything to do with ordinary people, so they were not scared to tears.

The rehearsal was disrupted, but Fumihiko Ikari didn't care about it. Instead, he liked this kind of range.

Before Asuka could react, colorful magic and spells rose up and exploded in the sky like gorgeous fireworks.

Asuka, who had just come to her senses, lost consciousness again and stood there staring blankly at the gorgeous sky.

The fireworks made of magic and law lasted for a long time, and she came back to her senses again.

"It would be nice if Unit 2 was here too..."

When Ikari Fumihiko heard this, he was stunned for a moment, obviously not expecting Asuka to say this.

Does Asuka know the reason for her mother's sudden death?

Probably not...

He felt that Asuka should love Unit 2 because she loves the unit so much, after all, Unit 2 was the hard work of her mother.

Coming back to his senses, he spoke back.

"It's okay. We have a video recording. We can call Unit 2 to watch it later."

"Ah."

After a pause, Asuka spoke again.

"Can you tell me why?"

"what?"

Fumihiko Ikari was a little confused and couldn't follow Asuka's thoughts at all.

"what why?"

Asuka shook her head at this moment.

"nothing……"

It’s not that she doesn’t want to know the answer, but she doesn’t want to know the answer, or be deceived.

Fumihiko Ikari was a little confused for a moment, what Asuka wanted to ask, but he still said something.

"Has anyone ever spoken to you?"

"what?"

"The more someone has something on his mind, the more likely he is to say "nothing" when he wants others to pay attention to him."

Asuka was silent.

"..."

Ikari Fumihiko thought for a moment before reacting.

"In fact, from the moment I met you, I have never paid attention to Unit 2, or your identity as the second qualified person. I have always paid attention to you as Asuka."

Asuka smiled, a very happy smile, but shook her head.

It is clear……

This was the answer she hoped for, but deep down she didn't believe it.

Although she was seven years old, she had only been loved by her mother since she was born. After losing her mother, she never felt loved again in her life. And all the people who came close to her were because of Unit 2 and her identity as the second qualified person...

In this case, how could she believe what Fumihiko Ikari said.

Fumihiko Ikari didn't know what Asuka was thinking, but he could analyze some things from her expression.

"Well... I was initially interested in you not because of Kyoko, but because of Unit-02 and your status as the second qualified person. I wanted to train you to be a tool for my own profit... Don't you think this is more logical? Unfortunately, some things don't follow logic...

To me, it doesn't matter whether you are the pilot of Unit 2 or not.

I only care about you as Asuka."

Asuka's resolve was shaken by these words, but it didn't collapse.

The adoptive parents said they loved her and that we were a family, but in reality... they never really cared about her. They just took advantage of her status as the second qualified person to gain benefits.

She doesn't care about it.

She has no blood relationship with her adoptive parents, who raised her. Naturally, she has to create enough benefits to repay their kindness.

Apart from that, the most important thing was that she was afraid.

This fear comes from her mother's death, the feeling of losing everything, and she doesn't want to experience that feeling again.

Fumihiko Ikari looked at Asuka in front of him, and a theory proposed in the movie flashed through his mind.

The relationship between people is like a group of porcupines huddled together for warmth. If you get too close, you will be pricked, and if you get too far away, you will feel cold.

At the same time, I couldn't help but say something.

"Asuka is Asuka."

Asuka remained silent.

Ikari Fumihiko didn't say anything else, just smiled calmly and said this.

"Almost, time to make a wish and blow out the candles."

"Uh……"

Asuka was stunned for a moment, then came to her senses and asked back in confusion.

"How do you blow out the candles on such a big cake?"

"Just make a wish and leave the rest to me."

After saying this, Fumihiko Ikari sent a message to the studio owner.

The scene was immediately filled with the singing of Happy Birthday. At first the singing was uneven, but as time went on the singing became more uniform.