Chapter 195: Bitter Choice
Lacus slowly pushed open the door of the rooftop. Hearing the "da da" sound from the heels rhythmically hitting the ground from behind, Ayanami Rei turned around expressionlessly to look at the visitor, "You are really interesting, always like to meet on the rooftop."
Lacus took off her sunglasses and put a confident smile on her face, "Unlike you, I'm open and honest."
"I'm not doing anything unseemly." Ayanami Rei slightly bowed, "I have now bent on the pursuit of nothing more than to complete Dr. Aeolia and Dr. Ade's ultimate goal, Mrs. Lingus, you must have misunderstood."
"Stop calling him 'Ade', don't be so affectionate." Lacus's gaze turned cold, "I don't know why Ade trusts you, but for me, you are always a ruthless woman. Don't pretend to have amnesia in front of Ade if you really want to gain trust, don't you think, Ikari Yui?"
"But nowadays, I'm no longer able to interfering with my past life, don't you think it's convenient for everyone to start over in the name of amnesia?" Ikari Yui smiled lightly, "I can understand your eagerness to protect your husband, and I envy your deep love to your husband, but preconceived prejudices can interfere with people's judgment."
"Time will tell if it's prejudice or not, I'm happy with the relationship you and I have at the moment, it's beneficial to remain guarded." Lacus pulled a mini player out of her pocket and tossed it forward, "This is the purpose of calling you out today. I need an answer."
Ikari Yui caught the gadget and pressed the play button, and Lacus's surprised but delighted voice came from inside, "Cagalli, this dress looks great on you, why haven't I seen you wear it before?"
"That, uh, I just bought it." Cagalli's tone was well expressed through the audio, "Actually, Kira gave it to me, it's the first time he gave me a dress. I thought he was a man with little aesthetic quality, but I didn't expect him to be so discerning. Hey hey, I'm glad I didn't waste my money."
"Is this the new fall/winter model that just came out?" Lacus asked curiously, "I remember it was not cheap, but yes, Cagalli, you usually live too frugal, it is time to enjoy life. By the way, the two children will have a birthday soon, right? I have to give them a big red envelope. You can keep it for them first."
"It's really not necessary!" Cagalli said sharply, "Lacus, I appreciate your kindness, but it's really not necessary, now that our family is, uh, how shall I say, much better off financially."
"Is it Kira-san who got another promotion?" Lacus smiled, "Then congratulations, his hard work has finally paid off."
"It's not a promotion either, it's, uh, it's …" Cagalli stammered for a moment, "You mustn't tell anyone, Kira said to keep it a secret. "
"It's better not to say anything if it's confidential." Lacus said worriedly, "I don't necessarily want to pry into your family's secrets, and this little thing won't affect our friendship."
"It's okay, it's okay, how can this be considered prying into secrets, Lacus, you're concerned about me, I understand." Cagalli paused, "Kira… he actually found a part-time job, it seems to be a test pilot of His Highness' institute. He also didn't tell me more, said that there is a confidentiality agreement."
This is the end of the recording.
Ikari Yui sighed and threw the mini player back, "It's a dangerous thing to be friends with you. If poor Cagalli knows the truth, she will cry."
"There is no conflict between treating a friend sincerely and prying on information in passing, we all have our own rules in life, so why talk such meaningless nonsense?" Lacus hummed elegantly, "If I guessed correctly, this so-called institute should be Dr. Aeolia's institute, right? What kind of moves is he doing again?"
"It bothers me that you always let me out to do this kind of betrayal." Ikari Yui's gaze gradually became firm, "I'm sorry, this time it's a big deal, I really can't tell you anymore."
"After the final dogma was occupied by Kaworu Nagisa, Ikari Gendou seems to have nothing to do." Lacus raised an eyebrow, "I wish he would have retired earlier and gone home to take care of himself and can get his pension successfully."
Ikari Yui smiled without saying anything.
"Cold-blooded woman." Lacus laughed and shook her head, "I remember that Shinji-kun is in his junior year, right? And he has a pretty little girlfriend named Asuka? It's really enviable. But because of the disappearance of EVANGELION-01, the security measures for him are almost gone, so I have to feel worried about his security."
"Lacus!" Ikari Yui glared angrily, "Don't be too much!"
"I'm a woman who will do anything to get happiness, it's not the first day you've learned that, so why waste your expression in front of me? Put away your superb acting skills and save it for Ade and Dr. Aeolia." Lacus stretched out her white palm, "Give me it."
Ikari Yui was silent for a moment and took out a data disk from her pocket and put it in Lacus's palm.
"I can't believe you've counted this far, Mrs. Ikari, who exactly do you think is the terrible woman?" Lacus weighed the item in her hand, but her eyes drifted to the hem of Ikari Yui's coat, "There is something else in your pocket, right? Give it to me, or is that the thing you will use for bargaining?"
"Ade must live very tired with such a wife. Do you know that sometimes he says that he needs to work late, but actually he stays with Loran?" Ikari Yui said, pulling out a mini player from her pocket, and throwing it out, "Don't you think it's a failure to be such a wife?"
"Of course I know, but it is necessary to give him a certain amount of freedom." Lacus raised her hand to catch it, "His Highness Loran is a good person, it's better to be with him than to be with other women. I understand his attraction to NTs."
"It's not just the attraction to NTs, Ade's whole person needs to be studied carefully." Ikari Yui frowned, "Enough about that, listen to it, it's Kaworu's self-talk recorded by the collar on his neck."
Lacus pressed the play button, and after a short airflow sound came Kaworu Nagisa's magnetic voice, "Been tricked? Yes, Lilin is such a cunning creature."
Lacus looked alertly at Ikari Yui, who put up a finger to indicate that she should continue listening.
"I don't know where Father is, there is nothing to tell you. No, how would I help Lilin? My genes wouldn't let me do that, it's your freedom to do what you want, and I certainly won't stop it."
A long pause.
"That's right, it blew itself up to stop that thing, it just failed. Now? Now that thing is subordinate to a third party that is neither us nor Lilin, but it has to be on Lilin's side, right? After all, Ade has already chosen a side. Who is Ade? It's the guy who feels a lot like Lilith and Adam, but he's not our father, so don't get me wrong."
A short pause.
"Whatever, just do it, I will neither help nor stop it. Yes, I will naturally come out when I am needed. As for now, just let me quietly watch the story unfold, I wish I could live to see the end."
This is the end of the recording.
"It's dangerous, Kaworu Nagisa." Lacus narrowed her eyes, "Won't you consider getting rid of him right away? I don't think there's much need for him to see the end of the story."
"His spirit hasn't been pushed to its limits, so there's no means to conveniently dispose of him yet." Ikari Yui gestured with her eyes at what Lacus was holding, "Besides, where are we going to get this information from after getting rid of him?"
"Getting rid of him and then we won't reveal any information at all." Lacus tossed the player back, "Why didn't you tell Ade about such an important piece of information? He would have been able to come up with a better means of handling it than I did."
"Ade… he …" Ikari Yui sighed, "… he's too kind to his 'own person', and I'm afraid he can't steel himself when he really has to kill 'it'. However, it won't be a problem to the hard-hearted Ms. Lacus."
Lacus reacted almost instantly, "Do you mean Alice? Will she be a problem?"
"She won't be a problem, she is already a problem." Ikari Yui asked with a solemn expression, "Has that child's ego boundaries been getting blurred lately?"
"Yes." Lacus nodded, "I sidetracked Ade and he said it was a cognitive disorder caused by excessive mass on the ELS side, and that it should get better with repeated hints."
"But do you still think so after just listening to this thing?" Ikari Yui shook the player in her hand, "According to my speculation, I'm afraid that the angel side is repeating the same thing it did to TurnA back then, this time for the entire ELS satellite, and very coincidentally, there's an angel, whose ability is quite similar to the Eleventh Angel Iroul, still wandering around. "
"…The Thirteenth Angel Bardiel?" Lacus immediately thought, "I remember that according to the description in the information given by Ade, the Eleventh Angel Iroul is dedicated to electronic warfare, while the Thirteenth Angel Bardiel is more targeted at organic lifeforms?"
"ELS, or Alice, is now a metal-based lifeform." Ikari Yui tilted her head to look at the artificial sky, "You know the result if the entire ELS is eroded by the angel, not to mention that TurnA has been integrated with ELS."
"Is there any proof?" Lacus asked, "After all, it's all just your speculation."
"Of course there is." Ikari Yui pointed her finger to the sky, "Theoretically, ELS will arrive at the Earth-Moon orbit after two months, but due to the sudden acceleration and intermittent boson jumps that started yesterday, it is expected to arrive in two days. As to whether it will enter the orbit smoothly in two days or something else, who knows?"
"Two days?!" Lacus finally showed a surprised look, "Didn't Ade know?"
"Ade certainly knows it, only he will not look worried in front of you." Ikari Yui laughed softly and fished out another vial from her pocket, "Your custom-made virus for Alice was finally finished before the date came. Just inject it into Alice, or trick her into swallowing it, and theoretically, it will be able to conduct back to ELS via quantum waves and wipe them all out."
Lacus took the vial and looked at the fluid inside and said in a daze, "Anyway, Ade knows about it, wouldn't you just give it to him?"
"I have to continue to be the naive and reticent Ayanami Rei, and you're more used to playing the bad guy, right?" Ikari Yui smiled and said, "Ade doesn't know about the Thirteenth Angel Bardiel. You can make up a good excuse to trick him to do it or do it yourself."
"Is there no other way?" Lacus gazed up at Ikari Yui, "I don't … want to see him in pain anymore if I have a choice, I cherish the happiness now."
"I thought you wanted as few women in the family as possible, it seems I misjudged you?" Ikari Yui shook her head gently, "There is no way out, if you hadn't gotten Alice's sample and commissioned me to create this virus beforehand, right now, I can't even take out this only solution."
"Trick him into doing it, or do it myself." Lacus could not help but laugh out bitterly, "Is there a difference?"
"Of course there is a difference, if the means are different, you and he will each suffer differently after Alice's death." Ikari Yui slightly owed, "Then, Ms. Lacus, I have to finish the MS test work arranged with Kira-san today, I'll leave if you don't have other things."
Ten seconds later, Lacus heard the sound of the door opening and closing from behind her.
Ikari Yui's attitude just now was nothing but a message to her - the virus still has a backup. If she doesn't do it, Ikari Yui will eventually do it.
"So I can also play dumb until the last minute and let you be the bad guy, you're implying that I should do that, right?" Lacus clutched the vial of clear liquid in her hand, "Ikari Yui, you are underestimating me too much."
It was afternoon when they got home, Momoka had gone to pick up Mineva from school, C.C. was lounging on the couch, watching TV, and Ange was sitting next to her, playing a game on her phone. After saying hello to everyone, Lacus found Ade and Alice in Ade's room.
Alice was lying weakly in Ade's arms at the moment, looking as if she was sick, and even her speech was breathless, "Ade, I'm not feeling too well."
