Rei Uchikino is well known throughout Shinra Private Junior High. She was one of the smartest students that attended the school and always got good grades. You could say she gave Manta Oyamada a run for his money. She was very quiet and she didn't say much. She didn't attract much attention because of this. In fact, nobody took notice of her until after her death.

Rei didn't have any friends. She was very shy and was afraid to talk to people. This didn't really bother her, though, since she didn't have an interest in making friends. She believed that her studies were more important, and that friends would only hold her back from reaching her goals. However, there was one boy she had developed in interest for. That boy being Yoh Asakura.

When Yoh first transferred into Rei's class she wasn't sure what to think of him. But when he fell asleep during class on his first day she decided that he was nothing but a slacker. The same thing happened everyday since then. In the middle of class Yoh would either fall asleep or listen to music with his headphones over his ears. With each passing day Rei's distaste for him grew an grew.

One morning before class had started, she saw Yoh and Manta laughing together. "Why is Manta of all people associating himself with careless slacker like Yoh?" she said to herself. "I expected a lot more from him." Then her expression softened. As she observed them from afar, she said to herself, "I wish I could laugh like that."

That afternoon Rei walked home from school. As she was crossing a bridge that was built over a river, she noticed Yoh and Manta sitting under a tree near the river. "Them again," she said to herself. "Doesn't Manta have studying to do? Why would he want to be seen with someone like Yoh?"

"See, Manta? Doesn't nature feel great?" said Yoh. Rei blushed at this. She'd never seen this side of Yoh before. She thought it admirable for someone to take a minute to appreciate nature. But then she shook her head, ridding herself of that thought.

Ash she started walking again at a hastening pace, she said, "Hmph. It figures Yoh would have time to do something like that. He does nothing in school but sleep and listen to music. Then in the afternoons, instead of studying, he lies in the grass and gazes at the river." Rei's pace slowed down until her feet had stopped moving altogether. "I wish I could do that," she said in a gentler tone. It was then she realized that perhaps her feelings of detestation towards Yoh was actually the feeling of envy. She wished she could slack off once in a while like Yoh does, instead of having to study all day.

The following day, instead of paying attention to the teacher's lecture, Rei stared at Yoh as he slept. Maybe if I try to be friends with him, he'll teach me how to relax and have fun, she thought to herself. The problem was she wasn't sure how to approach him. At lunchtime she decided to make and attempt to talk to him. Except she didn't know what to say to him. I'll just have to improvise, she thought. She took hold of her bento box and advanced towards Yoh. At this time he had awoke from his mid morning nap and was no longer slouched over his desk. Instead, he sat with his feet on his desk and his hands behind his head. As Rei stood before him, she noticed that his eyes were closed, meaning she'd have to get his attention.

"Hi, Yoh," Rei said nervously. "Um, I noticed you were sitting alone, and I thought that maybe we could eat lunch together. That is, if you want to."

Rei stood silently, waiting for an answer from Yoh, but she didn't get a reply. He didn't even open his eyes. "Uh, Yoh?" Rei said, trying to get Yoh's attention. He whistled in reply. Rei stood there with a puzzled expression on her face. Then something caught her eye. Yoh had his headphones over his ears. He'd been listening to music the whole time she'd been talking to him. She walked back to her seat, her face red in embarrassment. As she sat down she looked around the room. Luckily nobody seemed to take notice of her awkward display. With a sigh, she unwrapped her bento box and began eating her lunch.

After school Rei stood at the entrance gate waiting for Yoh. She thought it would be a good idea to ask him if he would like to walk home together. Rei smiled timidly as Yoh walked towards her. She was about to say something to him, but before she could speak somebody called out, "Hey, Yoh!" Manta came running up and said, "Yoh, do you want to walk home together?"

"Sure," said Yoh.

The small smile fell from Rei's face as she watched the two walk away together. "At this rate, I'll never be able to talk to him," she said to herself.

Rei was lost in thought the whole way home, thinking of Yoh and what she should say to him. She snapped out of her thoughts once she arrived home. "I'm home!" she called out as she removed her shoes. But she didn't hear a reply, only silence. You see, Rei's parents work until late at night, so she doesn't see them often.

With a lonely sigh, Rei went into the kitchen for a snack, then upstairs to her room to do her homework. She sat down at her desk and took from her bag the necessary textbooks needed for her homework. She went right to work, but just couldn't concentrate. Her mind kept going wandering back to Yoh. A half an hour later she still hadn't made any progress with her studies. She tapped the eraser end of her pencil on her notebook in frustration. Then she had an idea. She started vigorously writing in her notebook. She thought that if she couldn't talk to Yoh, then maybe she could write him a note. It took her a while to decide what she wanted the note to say, but eventually she came to a conclusion and finished writing out the note. After that she didn't have trouble concentrating for the rest of the night.

The next day, Rei waited after school until most of the other students went home. When she was sure that the coast was clear, she slipped the folded up letter she had written the night before into Yoh's shoe locker where he was sure to find it. Rei blushed in embarrassment. She never felt this way about a boy before, and thought it was silly to go through such lengths just to talk to him.

Rei went to the school's AV room to try and clear her mind. "I might as well get some studying done while I'm here," she said. She tried to keep the door to the AV room open, but the doorstop that was attached was broken, so the heavy door kept swinging shut. It wasn't long until she gave up on the door and started looking through her school bag for a notebook. She took out some textbooks and stacked them on the corner of the table next to the door until she finally found her notebook. As she pulled her notebook from her bag her elbow hit the stack of books, knocking them off the table sending them toppling to the floor, landing right in front of the door. Rei groaned in frustration. "I'll just clean that up later," she muttered as she took a seat at one of the computers with her notebook and pen in hand.

That evening Rei her time looking up information on the Internet and taking notes. She was so engrossed in her studies that she didn't notice how late it was getting. She didn't even hear the door lock. That night one of the more irresponsible teachers stayed late after school to grade papers. When she was locking up she didn't bother checking to see if there was anyone else that still occupied the school. So when she locked the AV room poor Rei was trapped inside.

Then tragedy struck. On the opposite wall from where Rei sat was an electrical socket. A spark shot out of the socket and landed on a page of an open textbook that was left on the floor. The book caught fire, and soon the fire spread to the rest of the books laying on the floor. It was then Rei smelt the alarming scent of smoke. Her body stiffened up in her chair as she turned her head to discover a fire burning behind her. Her eyes widened and a scream escaped her lips as she jolted out of her seat, knocking the chair over. She rushed over to the door, hastily grabbing onto the handle and turning it roughly. But the door didn't open. She tried jiggling the handle some more, but it still didn't open. In a panic she started banging on the door and crying for help. "Help! Help! Somebody help me!" she screamed in horror as the flames climbed up the wall. But her cries for help were in vain, for the last remaining teacher had already gone home. And unfortunately for Rei, there was no window in the AV room to escape through. She was trapped with nowhere to go. Suddenly, flames shot up separating Rei from the door. The overpowering smoke filled her lungs, making her cough and desperately gasp for air. She fell to the floor and soon passed out due to lack of oxygen. A man living in the neighborhood saw the smoke billowing from the school and called the fire department. They got there just in time to control the fire and put it out before the whole building caught on fire. But sadly, they didn't get there in time to save poor Rei. When they found her, he body was covered in burns and she had already stopped breathing. Perhaps if they had arrived at the scene a moment sooner she could have been saved. But it was too late.

The next day, all the students went to school just like any other day. But when they got there the faculty announced the untimely death of Rei Uchikino, and declared that school will be canceled for the day. Many of the students cried for the poor girl. The poor girl that no one seemed to notice until she was gone.

The day after, the school resumed back to normal. Well, almost back to normal. Many of the students walked gloomily down the halls, mourning the tragic death of the honor student. Some of them even felt guilty for never getting to know her.

That day when everyone returned to school, Yoh and Manta running through the front entrance gate, late for class. "We're so late! You just had to sleep in again, didn't you?!" Manta shouted to Yoh.

"Relax. We're only ten minutes late," said Yoh.

They ran into the school and went to their shoe lockers to remove their shoes. When Yoh opened his locker he found a folded up sheet of paper sitting on top of his slippers. "Hurry up, Yoh," Manta said. Yoh took the piece of paper in his hands. "What's that?" Manta asked, pointing at the folded paper in Yoh's hands.

Yoh unfolded the sheet of paper and said, "It looks like a letter."

The letter read:

Dear Yoh,

You probably don't know who I am, but actually we're in the same class. We've never been formerly introduce; my name is Rei Uchikino. I've been meaning to speak with you, but at every opportunity I had something would happen that kept me from talking to you. This is kind of embarrassing, but I wanted to tell you how much I admire you. This may seem shocking to you, considering that you hardly know who I am. But I was hoping that maybe we could be friends.

You know, not many people notice me So I was wondering, have you ever really seen me?

Sincerely,
Rei Uchikino

After Yoh read the letter he looked down the hallway to his left where a young girl stood watching him. She timidly smiled at him. Then she giggled before playfully running down the hall. Yoh smiled, and said, "Yeah. I see you, Rei."