Chapter 3: My Cheat? It's Here—

Accompanied by Gendo Ikari, Fumihiko Ikari met the rest of the team. As expected, things were as bad as he thought. He was assigned to the equipment assembly work, staring at the messy wires and various components, which made his head throb. This job required a solid professional foundation, leaving no room for shortcuts.

Realizing this, he felt numb. The graduate students beside him were even more so.

"??? Did I assemble it incorrectly? I shouldn't have... Wait! If not, why would the doctor stand behind me and watch?"

The graduate student nervously flipped through the files in his hand, carefully checking, but couldn't find anything wrong with the assembly.

"... No, I didn't mess up?"

"Uh... Dr. Fumihiko, did I... mess up the assembly?"

Fumihiko Ikari didn't respond, just staring at the files in the graduate student's hand. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"It's nothing; I was just thinking."

The graduate student let out a sigh of relief. "Doctor, please don't scare us like that by standing behind us lost in thought; it's terrifying," he thought. But remembering the doctor's status, he chose to keep quiet and get back to work.

Feeling the student's nervousness, Fumihiko Ikari realized he'd scared himself earlier. Wait, why should he be afraid? His sister is the head of the research department. With such a background, he could slack off all he wanted, and no one would dare say anything.

"Don't slack off; get back to work. Yes, I'm talking to you..."

The one speaking was, of course, the true authority in the team, Professor Ishida.

Really? So harsh?

Since all future research depended on him, Fumihiko didn't want to challenge his authority.

"Uh... okay."

He picked up the files the graduate student had put down. Originally, he just wanted to pretend to check the data, but to his surprise, he found that he could understand the contents.

Wait! No way—I shouldn't be able to understand these advanced terms, right? Could it be... residual knowledge from the original brain's owner??

So, the original memories weren't erased?

I can't access them as freely as controlling my body? Is it a mismatch between soul and body?

Can't figure it out—

But he breathed a sigh of relief. The heavy burden in his heart lightened somewhat.

He couldn't help but think about how, in the original story, the protagonist witnessed his mother disappear during the initial activation test of Unit-01 around four or five years old. That meant the EVA would be completed within the next three years. The development of such a magical creation in just three years seemed surreal.

Looking at the graduate student hard at work, an idea popped into his head.

"Do you play games?"

Since he couldn't go online, he thought of finding games that could be played on a LAN. After all, this was another world; he didn't know what games existed here.

The researcher was unsure of Fumihiko's intentions but responded carefully, not wanting to upset him.

"Sometimes."

"Any LAN games? Share them with me, and we'll play together after work."

The researcher froze.

Really? Dr. Fumihiko, a legendary genius, plays games?

"I've only played some card games and board games, not much into computer games. Uh... Akagi plays more; you could ask him."

During the team introduction, only he and Professor Ishida had formally introduced themselves. The dozen or so graduate students hadn't spoken much.

"Can you bring Akagi over?"

"Sure."

Soon, the graduate student returned with a bespectacled, scholarly-looking woman.

"Dr. Fumihiko, you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, I heard you play video games?"

Akagi silently cursed. Even after a world-ending event, there were still people who judged others for their hobbies.

"Yes."

"Any LAN games? Share them with me; let's play sometime."

Akagi hadn't expected that the famous genius would want to play games.

"Games have built-in anti-piracy; I'm not sure how to bypass that."

Is that even a problem? Just find someone who knows how to handle it.

He was about to ask if there were any programmers on the team when he remembered.

Bioengineering is a broad term encompassing many subfields, including bioelectronic engineering.

"Go ahead and continue with your work."

"Okay."

Seeing Professor Ishida working intensely, Fumihiko went into the office and found the team roster.

The first name was—

Ishida Ame.

Doctor of Bioengineering and Neuroscience.

Next was his own name.

Fumihiko Ikari.

Doctor of Bioengineering.

This had little to do with computer science, right? He probably couldn't crack games?

Uh—

Let's put off the game copying for now.

After going through the materials, he understood his job responsibilities and was ready to blend in as a slacker. But as time dragged on, he realized it was getting late.

How could these people be so hardworking? Working hours should be like 9-5, with an hour for lunch.

But it was almost 10 PM, and no one seemed to want to leave.

They all just stood around, waiting for someone else to make the first move. Clearly, they were afraid of being labeled as not working hard if they were the first to leave.

This is twisted—

In such an atmosphere, he felt uneasy being the first to leave. But knowing the leader hadn't left, these people wouldn't either.

After hesitating for a moment, he headed out of the lab.

With the leader making the first move, the others finally dared to pack up and leave. Despite slacking off all day, he still felt exhausted. Lying in bed, he complained about still being tired even after transmigrating into the elite class.

After some complaints, he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, or more accurately, while he was still half-asleep, he was forcibly woken up.

This is too much!

Long working hours are one thing, but not letting people rest properly is another—

Seeing Gendo Ikari's serious expression, he suppressed his anger.

"What's going on? Is something wrong? Could it be an earthquake warning?"

"Your team leader, Professor Ishida, has died."

Ishida Ame is dead!

???

At first, Fumihiko didn't react. After all, they had only recently met. But after a moment, the implications hit him hard.

What the hell—

The team had just been formed, and now he's dead?

I was looking forward to him taking me along to do great things... and now he's dead?

Damn it—

He's dead; what am I supposed to do?

Though he was internally devastated, he showed no sign of it externally. It wasn't that he had strong self-control; it was more due to the mismatch between his soul and body, resulting in expression management issues.

But outsiders couldn't tell.

Gendo Ikari, initially worried that Ishida Ame's death would affect the project's progress, was relieved to see Fumihiko so calm.

Bioengineering was already a new field with few top experts, and after the Second Impact, which wiped out half the population, only three top experts remained. Now, with Ishida Ame's death, only two were left, one in China and one in the United States—both invaluable talents unlikely to leave their countries.

As for Fumihiko and Yui Ikari?

Just as there are differences between people, there are differences between PhDs. The former had just graduated, while the latter didn't even have a degree as high as the former's. Yui's position as head was more due to her involvement in SEELE's Angel research from university and her knowledge of many classified details. After her father's death during the Second Impact, SEELE placed her in this position.