stonecrandall The 4th eligible candidate
The 4th eligible candidate
Misato pushed open the door, slammed the folder on the table, and said, "Unit 4 exploded."
Lu Mingfei stood at the kitchen doorway, carrying a garbage bag, wearing an apron, his hands still covered in dish soap foam.
Unit 4, gone?
"The entire Second Branch is gone." Misato pushed the documents towards them. "Unit 4, equipped with the S² engine, was conducting a startup test... The entire base was wiped out."
"What about Unit 3?"
"The shipment is currently being transported from the United States to Japan, and the trial will begin in Matsushiro."
Lu Mingfei nodded. Matsushiro is not far from the Third New Tokyo City.
"Are you going on a business trip?" he asked.
"Um."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of the three of them." Lu Mingfei smiled.
"You're going too."
Lu Mingfei paused for a moment, quickly going through the logic in his mind: Misato went to Matsushiro, and he also went to Matsushiro, what would he do? Logistics support?
"Am I supposed to follow you the whole time?" he probed. "Wouldn't that be considered an abuse of power?"
"Lu Mingfei." When she called him by his full name, it meant she was serious.
"You have been selected as the fourth Child to participate in the activation test of Unit 3."
"...What?"
"These are the selection results from the Marduk Organization. The fourth eligible candidate, Lu Mingfei." She pointed to the documents on the table.
"What have I done to deserve this..."
"Lu Mingfei."
"When I learned that you were the Fourth Child," she reached out and patted Lu Mingfei on the shoulder, "I felt for the first time that maybe this time would be different."
"You're a few years older than them; you're more mature and gentler. You're a kind adult, and it's right for someone like you to pilot the EVA."
Lu Mingfei also dreamed of being a hero. He had witnessed the cruelty of the battlefield and seen blood. In those sleepless nights, he imagined himself piloting a giant mech to protect the city and the people who mattered to him.
Lu Mingfei felt that if he said I was no good again, he would be betraying his pride.
"...Misato. 』
"Um? 』
"Are you trying to trick me?"
"Just do me a favor." She smiled. "Didn't you promise to take care of those three kids?"
"I made a promise."
"Fighting alongside them, standing in front of them on the battlefield," Misato looked at him earnestly, "isn't that the best way to take care of them?"
Lu Mingfei found himself unable to find a rebuttal.
"Alright." Lu Mingfei held up one finger. "If anything goes wrong after I log on, shut down the computer immediately."
He had seen Unit-00 and Unit-01 go berserk, and felt that the probability of EVA going berserk was quite high.
Misato couldn't help but laugh: "What's going on in your head?"
"It's a pretense of survival," Lu Mingfei said.
Miri looked at him for a while, and her gaze suddenly softened.
"Thank you," she said.
Lu Mingfei scratched his head sheepishly.
-----------------
Lu Mingfei stood in front of the mirror and put on the tight-fitting black combat suit. This thing was much harder to put on than he had thought; the elastic fabric clung tightly to his skin, making him look like a sausage.
"With that look, he looks like he's about to film a tokusatsu movie."
Lu Mingfei sighed and pushed open the locker room door.
Asuka was standing in the corridor.
"You're the fourth Child?" She tilted her head, scrutinizing Lu Mingfei from head to toe, her eyes sweeping over him. A smirk played on her lips. "What a joke—look at your dead fish eyes."
Lu Mingfei was stunned.
What are you doing here?
"Let me see who's so overconfident."
Where are Shinji and Rei?
"I don't want to come with that brat and the doll."
Lu Mingfei realized what was happening. "You skipped class to get here."
"That's called a tactical retreat, junior."
Asuka stepped forward; she was half a head shorter than him, but her presence was a head taller.
"Lower your head." Asuka commanded.
Lu Mingfei bent down, and Asuka stood on tiptoe to insert the neural connectors on the top of his head into his hair, one on each side, to make sure they were symmetrical.
"……Thanks."
"Don't misunderstand." Asuka took a step back, crossing her arms again. "I just couldn't stand how slovenly you looked; it was embarrassing."
Lu Mingfei knew that the harsher her words were, the softer her heart was. Having spent so much time with Asuka, he had long since figured out this tsundere's grammar—denial first, concern second, with a layer of thorns in between.
"Lu Mingfei."
"Um? 』
"You may be older than me—" Asuka's tone suddenly became unnatural, "but when it comes to piloting EVA, I'm the senior."
"Yes, yes, yes."
"Answer concisely!"
"yes!"
"...You agreed so quickly." Asuka glared at him. "Let's go, Misato is waiting for us."
She turned and walked forward, her red ponytail bouncing behind her.
Thank you, Asuka.
"snort."
She quickened her pace, and Lu Mingfei followed, suppressing a laugh.
Behind the observation window, Misato Katsuragi and Ritsuko Akagi stood side by side.
Through the bulletproof glass, they could clearly see the two people in the corridor. Asuka walked in front, occasionally turning back to say something; Lu Mingfei followed behind and responded, and then Asuka immediately kicked him in the shin.
"That's nice," Misato whispered.
Ritsuko Akagi turned to look at her.
"Someone like this should have been piloting the EVA from the start." Misato sat down next to Ritsuko. "I had a nightmare the other day; I dreamt they sent me a twelve-year-old child."
"So you're happy it's Lu Mingfei this time," Ritsuko said.
"Although he's still a child, he's at least eighteen years old; he's an adult."
"And he's kind," Misato added.
"She has a strong sense of responsibility," Ritsuko added.
"Be sincere to people," Misato said.
Most importantly, he cares about everyone; he's not the kind of person who only thinks of himself.
"When did you become so familiar with him?"
"It wasn't me, it was Ibuki Maya."
"Isn't she from the Technology Bureau? She has absolutely no connection to Lu Mingfei's logistics department. How do they know each other?"
"When MAGI screened Lu Mingfei's hiring report, Maya was in charge of processing it, and she also conducted the interviews." Ritsuko Akagi picked up her cup. "After Lu Mingfei joined, he often went to the Technology Bureau to see her. Sometimes he would bring her coffee, sometimes he would just sit there and chat without doing anything."
Misato paused for a moment, then looked back at the glass.
In the corridor, Lu Mingfei said something, and Asuka smiled briefly before immediately straightening up, raising her hand to slap the back of his head. Lu Mingfei didn't dodge and was hit squarely, clutching his head and making an exaggerated expression of pain.
“That guy,” she suddenly said, “is always so clueless, nice to everyone, always trying to hold onto everyone… really…”
The rooftop of the Third New Tokyo City First Junior High School.
"Asuka's really unfair," Shinji Ikari complained. "She skipped class to go see Brother Lu Mingfei."
"That's outrageous!" he said, turning his head. "Shall we go to Matsushiro tonight too?"
"no."
Rei Ayanami said.
Why?
"To ensure EVA's immediate deployment capability, headquarters needs at least two pilots on standby at all times. If she leaves, we can't leave."
"See? That's it!" Shinji slapped his knee. "She knew we wouldn't be able to escape, so she ran away! She did it on purpose."
"but."
Rei Ayanami looked at him.
"Knowing that Brother Lu Mingfei is the Fourth Child," Shinji said, "I'm truly happy."
He looked up, his eyes shining.
"The thought of fighting alongside Brother Lu Mingfei in the future makes me feel much more at ease."
He turned his head to look at Rei Ayanami.
"Li, you think so too, right?"
Rei Ayanami looked at him and nodded slightly.
"Um."
NERV Headquarters, Commander's Office.
Gendo Ikari sat behind the table, his hands clasped together and resting on his chin, the white light reflected from his glasses obscuring his eyes.
Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki Kōzō stood beside him, holding a report in his hand. His gaze swept over the last line of the report before he gently closed it.
"How ironic," said Fuyutsuki. "SEELE is very satisfied with the choice of the Fourth Child, saying that they finally picked a normal person."
Gendo Ikari remained silent.
After waiting a moment, Dongyue continued.
"Conventional genetic testing failed to match the human genome map, and blood component analysis revealed seven unknown proteins. A being that is not human, suspected to be an Angel, appeared in Tokyo-3, was marked as an anomaly by MAGI, selected by the Marduk Organization as the Fourth Child, and readily accepted by SEELE—"
He turned around and looked at Gendo Ikari.
"Ikari-kun, what are you doing?"
"Since the Puppet System is already complete," Gendo Ikari finally spoke, "let's see what our Fourth Child really is."