A few days later, when Shinji stepped into the Ninth Research Institute again, an entirely unexpected sight greeted him.
Souryuu Asuka Langley, the girl who always held her head high, was currently wearing a noticeably oversized blue waterproof jumpsuit, the sleeves rolled up several times. She clumsily wielded a long-handled algae brush, laboriously scrubbing the grime and remnants of dead algae from the inner wall of a large water tank.
Her orange hair was damp with sweat, clinging messily to her forehead and cheeks, and her fair skin was smudged with several obvious streaks of dirt. She looked completely disheveled, a stark contrast to the radiant, confidently soaring ace pilot she normally was.
Shinji involuntarily stopped upon seeing this.
He remembered the polluted ocean and the dead creatures, and he still harbored some resentment, but seeing her messy, working appearance seemed to dissipate some of that dissatisfaction, replaced by a complex, indescribable emotion.
He hesitated, but slowly walked over, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible: "Um—Souryuu-san—you, you're here too."
Asuka immediately looked up at the sound. The moment she saw it was Shinji, a flicker of startled panic at being caught in such a state flashed in her red eyes, but it was instantly replaced by a stronger, almost defensive assertiveness.
Like a cat with its tail stepped on, she immediately straightened her back, and despite holding the ridiculous cleaning tool, she lifted her chin and retorted with a thorny tone: "What do you want? Idiot Shinji! Did you specifically come to admire this sight of me? What a vulgar hobby!"
This familiar, aggressive attitude was like a bucket of cold water poured over Shinji's attempt to reconcile.
The calm expression he had struggled to maintain cracked. His eyebrows furrowed slightly, and his voice carried a hint of suppressed displeasure: "I didn't come here to laugh at you! I just—wanted to check on the restoration efforts—"
"Ha? Help?" Asuka scoffed, deliberately eyeing him up and down with a critical gaze. "You? It would be good enough if you just stayed out of the way! You should go back and fiddle with your Unit-01. This place doesn't need a coward like you interfering!"
The word "coward" was like a needle, accurately striking Shinji's most sensitive spot. His attempt to ease the tension was completely shattered, and a surge of anger, mixed with hurt and misunderstanding, welled up.
His face flushed slightly, he clenched his fists, and his voice rose: "You—! You don't know anything! You just attack people randomly!"
Just as the tension between them flared up again, and the atmosphere became instantly explosive—
Just as Asuka prepared to speak again, and Shinji tightened his face, ready to retort, a calm voice cut in, like cold water extinguishing an imminent flame.
"Work efficiency is too low."
Osiris stood not far away, a data pad in his hand. His gaze calmly swept over the tank and the two youths confronting each other, as if he were merely passing by.
He first addressed Asuka, his tone completely flat: "The cleaning progress for this tank is behind schedule. Dealing with stubborn grime in the corners alone is inefficient."
Asuka seemed to find an outlet for her frustration and immediately countered: "The tools are difficult to use! And the grime—"
Osiris ignored her defense and turned to Shinji: "Ikari-kun, you've arrived at a good time. Go change into work clothes and help her clean up. Some areas require two people working together."
Shinji was stunned and instinctively wanted to refuse: "Dr. Osiris , I—I just came to look, and I—"
He wanted to say that he might not be helpful, or even that he and Asuka wouldn't get along.
"Your physical fitness and coordination are sufficient for this work," Osiris interrupted him, his tone still steady but leaving no room for negotiation. "Every pair of hands here is precious."
"Why do I have to work with him!" Asuka protested angrily, slamming her algae brush heavily against the side of the tank. "He doesn't know anything!"
"Because this is part of repairing the damage you caused." Osiris' gaze shifted to Asuka, his voice still calm, but it instantly silenced her. "Collaboration is a basic requirement for this job and the fastest way to complete the task. Or would you rather clean here alone until late tonight?"
This sentence accurately hit Asuka's weak spot.
She opened her mouth, wanting to argue, but under Osiris' seemingly all-knowing stare, she only managed a harsh "Tch!" and turned her head away.
Shinji felt a strange sense of balance watching Asuka being thwarted, but when he looked at Osiris, the doctor simply motioned with his eyes for him to fetch the tools.
Under Osiris' calm yet intensely pressuring gaze, Shinji also swallowed the words he wanted to say and silently headed toward the tool room.
Soon, Shinji returned, wearing an identical blue jumpsuit and carrying an algae scraper.
He hesitated, then chose to jump into the tank and began quietly cleaning at the end farthest from Asuka.
Asuka kept a scowl on her face the whole time but offered no more sarcastic remarks, only scrubbing the grime in front of her with force, venting her frustration into the work.
Osiris watched the two of them, separated by distance but finally both working. He nodded slightly, then turned and left, leaving the two awkward teenagers in the massive tank, confronting each other with silence, yet forced to complete the task together.
At first, the atmosphere remained awkward, punctuated only by the scraping sounds of the tools and the rush of water.
But shared labor seemed to possess a strange power.
When Shinji struggled to clean a high section of the wall that was just out of reach, Asuka let out a Tsk and silently pushed a step stool toward him.
When Shinji saw her trying to move a heavy rock covered in dead coral, he instinctively went over to lend a hand.
"Thank you—" Shinji whispered.
"—Don't butt in." Asuka turned her head away, but her voice wasn't as sharp.
After a long period of silent work, sweat soaked both of their clothes.
During a break, Asuka looked at the water surface in the tank, which was gradually becoming clearer, and suddenly spoke in a low voice, so quiet it was almost drowned out by the sound of the running water: "Hey—about what happened last time—I'm sorry."
Shinji, who was drinking water, paused and looked at her in surprise.
Asuka didn't look at him, still staring at the water surface, her cheeks slightly flushed, whether from the heat or something else, it was unclear.
"I—I didn't realize it would cause so much damage," she continued, speaking a little quickly, as if afraid she would stop and be unable to speak the words again. "It wasn't—it wasn't intentional."
Shinji looked at her clumsy apology, and the residual resentment in his heart suddenly vanished. He lowered his head and softly replied: "Mmm—I was wrong too—I shouldn't have talked to you like that."
A light breeze blew through, carrying the salty smell of the sea.
The invisible wall between them seemed to have quietly melted away a corner, dissolving in the sweat of their labor and that long-overdue apology.