Shinji came to conscious only in the evening.

"That ceiling again.” - He said, opening his eyes.

"I told you you'd meet again."

The answer to me was silence. It seems that Shinji is 'a little' offended to me. However, they didn't let him sulk, and five minutes later they dragged him away for interrogation.

"So, you're saying they were demons?" - Man in the suit of the NERV security service summarized up the results of the frank confession.

“Yes.” - Shinji nodded gloomily.

"What are they called?" - The investigator asked, looking at a picture on the projector screen of three demons devouring an angel, and Eve standing next to him in the pose of a well-trained maitre with a towel on her right hand and a monocle in her left eye.

"They are not called. They come by themselves.” – Shinji said a pearl, remembering the emotions broadcast by these creatures.

"So, they can come back at any time?" The man shrugged.

Demons by their very appearance inspired supernatural terror. The first consisted of many tangled palps and tentacles covered with greedily evolving mouths. So, perhaps, should look Azathoth - the supreme god of the pantheon of the Necronomicon. The second had four legs, each of which bifurcated at the first joint, after which this tendency was repeated at the second and third joints. And at the end of each limb was a hand combined with a mouth. In principle, even the torso of this monster could be mistaken for two of its 'arms' coming out of the 'belly'. The third was a shapeless mass of mouths. They climbed on top of each other, were one in the other, broke through the flesh in unexpected places to be able to bite and eat at least something. In general, the shape of this demon's body resembled a worm, and of all three it caused the greatest destruction, because after its movement in the ground remained deep ditches, covered with vile mucus.

"If I offer them a worthy sacrifice." - Shinji answered to the last question after a long silence.

"I think you shouldn’t do it without a good reason.” - The investigator tactfully declined this offer.

“As you say.” - Shinji shrugged. - "But I can't handle the angels without their help."

This interrogation was observed through the mirror edging by a concilium from Misato, Akagi and Gendo, and the expression read on their faces could be described as 'WTF?'. However, in Misato's case, it was a game, because Mesucko is completely controlled all her actions and even thoughts.

"But why demons?" - The man persisted, switching to the next frame, where three demons stood in threatening poses in front of Eve-01.

"Well, we're at war with the angels.” - The pilot repeated my argument. – “And the angels fighting the demons. So, we are demons ourselves. It seems quite logical that we call on our distant relatives to help us.”

The chain of reasoning was perfect, but for some reason the investigator could not agree with it. So, he temporarily put aside the slippery subject of demons and moved on to more prosaic matters.

"During the battle before the appearance of demons, our equipment recorded the appearance of a strange glowing circle under Eve-01's left palm.”

A photo of this moment appeared on the screen, clearly showing part of the magic circle.

"This is the summoning circle that I used to sacrifice people to the demons.” - The demonologist nodded.

"You mean the ones who were hiding in the UX-337 shelter?" - A photo of an underground bunker appeared on the screen, with people lying on the floor in various poses, their faces contorted with pain.

“Yes. But I didn't want to do it.” - Shinji began to burst into tears, looking at the work of his hands. - "But he made me.”

"Who is he?" – Investigator finally caught on to the most important word for him.

“Demon. He comes and goes when he wants to. He taught me how to summon demons. It is because of him that Eve is able to resist the angels. He is the very embodiment of horror. And even now he's sitting next to us and threatening to start playing the flute if I keep talking about him.”

The investigator rubbed his nose in puzzlement and sighed heavily.

"Perhaps it will be better for a psychiatrist to deal with this issue. Or would it be more correct to call the exorcists right away?” - He muttered to himself. - “I got the whole picture of what happened.” - He continued in a normal voice. - "We will ask you further questions after we have considering... the information we have received. And consecrate the aspen stakes with garlic.” - He said the last sentence again under his nose. The idea that to fight angels it is necessary to call demons did not want to fit in his consciousness.

I watched this circus from the front rows, while simultaneously reading superficial thoughts from the heads of key figures.

"What's going to happen to me now?" - Shinji whined as he watched the investigator put the documents in a folder marked 'Top secret'. - "Am I going to be charged for killing two hundred people?"

"That's not for me to decide.” - The man disavowed from making such an important decision. - "Commander Ikari personally leads the investigation, so it's best to ask him any questions about the consequences.”

Shinji from the described perspective only fell into an even deeper depression, imagining how he would be death sentenced under the sound of the national anthem of Japan.

"Don't be afraid, no one will kill you.” - I reassured him. - "If something goes wrong, I'll feed you to the demons. To them." - I nodded to the photo of the ‘Holy Trinity’ that had fallen out of the paper folder. From this perspective, Shinji's eyes were filled with sacred horror.

In general, the whole story ended in a couple of days... with nothing. In the morning, Shinji was released from his cell and sent to school without any complaints. Misato took him, so she had to take the first shot.

“Misato... I don't want to pilot Eve anymore.” - The pilot said as the car drove to the surface and rolled through the sunlit streets.

"But why, Shinji? You're hero. You saved us from an angel!” - She began to pour expired and slightly rotten propaganda into his ears.

"It's not obvious that I'm a hero." - Shinji muttered, remembering that he had received no gratitude for his efforts. - "And I don't want to kill people."

"You must kill angels. We all hope on you.” - Captain Katsuragi continued to bend her line.

“Misato! I killed two hundred people. Doesn't that bother you at all?”

“It is bothers me. Because you didn't warn anyone. But in battle, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. When the first angel attacked, more than two thousand soldiers were killed. They deliberately gave their lives in order to neutralize the threat.”

"But there was no use from it.” - Shinji said darkly.

"Exactly!” – Mesucko continued happily, influencing to the brains of her carrier. - "And this time you defeated an angel, sacrificing only two hundred people. This is at least ten times more effective than in the first battle.”

"But they were innocent victims. Civils.” – Shinji didn’t give up. - "There were children among them!”

"That's why I'm saying you should have told us about it. And we would have thought of something.”

"For example?"

“For example... for example, they would sacrifice the soldiers. They're useless anyway.”

Shinji looked at Misato's inspired face and fell silent angrily. It has finally come to him that the expediency of sacrificing people to demons he discussing with the demon. The rest of the way passed in silence, although Misato made several attempts to talk to the pilot.

At school, Shinji's appearance did not cause much excitement. Although some congratulated him on his victory over the angel. Especially warm congratulations came from Toji and Kensuke.

“Shinji, you are a real hero!” - Turned to his 'boss' Toji after they sat down at neighboring desks. - "I didn't know that you had to fight angels in these conditions. For all of us, you agreed to contact with... contact with these monsters. I still can't sleep, remembering the way they looked at us.”

“Thank you.” - Eve's pilot was able to pronounce it.

Officially, it was believed that the people in the shelter were killed by an angel's attack, so none of the civilians even could not even think that they were killed by the one who was supposed to save.

After the end of the classes, Shinji unexpectedly cast a spell of eye aversion on himself and ran away, heading to the train station. There he sat down on the first train and plunged into his thoughts, without paying attention to the surroundings.

"Are you decide to run away?" - I asked an hour later, when the cassette in his player once again switched to the other side.

“Yes. I don't want to pilot Eve anymore. Let someone else do it.”

“That's why you're sat on a train on the circular route.” - I nodded. - "According to Freudian. Running in a circle and returning to the source.”

Confirming my words, the train stopped at Tokyo Central Station #3, where the story of ‘Shinji the pilot’ began. Shinji ran out of the train in exasperation, where he was immediately pinned down by figures in black suits and dark glasses, working for the NERV security service. Half an hour later, Shinji appeared before the eyes of the commander of the NERV, Ikari Gendo.

"Shinji, I want to talk to you about your last battle.”

"Yes, father" - The pilot said, keeping his gaze on his shoes.

"All of us here at NERV are working tirelessly to save humanity from the threat of the angels. You are as much a part of our organization as any other employee. This means that you must follow all the rules and regulations that form the image of a highly moral and heroic Evangelion pilot.”

"Yes, father.” - Shinji agreed even more quietly.