Love
They stared at one another from across the laboratory. Occasionally their eyes would meet and Shinji would blush a little. Whilst Shinji looked at her with interest, it was almost as if Rei saw straight through him, her eyes concentrating on a quality beneath the veneer. She appeared to hold no feelings of shame for such obvious staring.
From afar, Asuka watched them, mulling over the situation to herself privately.
'That Shinji Ikari has always been no good to me. I still remember his fascination with that goody two-shoes Hikari.' Asuka smiled to herself. 'He was nothing but a desperate flirt with her that one time during French class. He had a little, je ne sais pas, crush on her, perhaps? And as soon as some newer and more distant girl came along he fell completely in 'love' with her instead.'
Asuka groaned internally. She hated that word: love. Love like that emotion her mother had for a lifeless doll. She knew that love could be easily manipulated inside a person's mind or toyed with until love had no connotations of affection left. It was the ultimate mental illness. She hated to think that such a bond could ever live to control two people's lives so utterly and be so impenetrable to forces in the outside world.
'What does Rei have that I don't?' she thought, her hands folded under her chin to support her head. 'All the other boys live for my figure. I've spent countless nights planning and co-ordinating my outfits for the next day. I put so much effort in and that fool never notices.' Her thoughts were interrupted by the booming voice of Mr Fox, their bespectacled chemistry teacher whose weight fluctuations altered week to week from chubby to morbidly obese.
"Alright class, I'm going to need all of you to pair up with someone else. I'd much prefer it if you just worked with the person sitting next to you."
A unified guffaw erupted from within the classroom, with everyone scrambling to sit next to their desired partner. Students were seated alphabetically and, as luck would have it, no-one got on with the people near to them in the register. Call it an unfortunate coincidence of high school.
Rei pottered over to Shinji's desk, her footsteps quiet and uniformed.
"Would it be okay if I worked with you, Mr Ikari?"
"Erm sure, I mean that would be—" he halted himself, not wanting to appear stupid for the umpteenth time in front of new company. "I'd like that."
She glared at the vanilla-haired girl sitting next to Shinji and she quickly got up, scuttling away like a tiny cockroach fearing the presence of man.
"Aren't you going to ask how I knew your name, Shinji? I thought someone as curious as you would be quick to ask such an obvious question." Her eyes followed the boy coming round to hand out lab equipment.
"Well, yes, I had been wondering how you knew. I mean, I thought you were new here."
"I am. My parents and I have just moved here. My father works as an engineer for a local water company. My mother as a teacher at a primary school." Her delivery was matter-of-fact with just the bare amount of information. "I know your name, Shinji, because I've spoken with your," she chose her words carefully, "principal."
His eyes faced down. "Oh, right."
"He's a very intriguing man, is he not?"
"I wouldn't know."
"Well, nevertheless, he told me to speak to you if I had any queries about school. I do. I'm having trouble finding where I should go for break next. Maybe, if it's alright with you, I could spend some time with you and get to know your school a little better," her face warming to form a quiet smile.
Asuka had overheard the entire conversation, of course. If there was new gossip being discussed in a crowded, noisy hallway during break, Asuka could move in, reconnoitre and retreat like a spy into the night. Hearing a conversation two rows away was child's play. By now, the veins on her temples had become bulbous, her eyes had dilated to reveal the built-up fury inside, and her fingernails were becoming blunt stumps after carving 'I HATE REI' into the wooden desk in front of her; if anthropomorphised, the desk would have surely been beaten to death by her all-consuming rage. Asuka was pissed.
"I can't believe that you think that you can just come in here and steal Shinji away from me. That man, no, that boy, is mine to control, missy, and I will not have some snivelling, domineering, bad dye job bitch come in here and take him away from me!" She paused to breathe, her one weakness. She had outdone herself again and stunned the entire class into silence. It was not unbeknownst to Asuka that she had this effect on people.
'Wait.' Her eyes passed from left to right. She repeated this process again but slower in order to digest it all. Her eyes glanced down at her watch. The entire class had left five minutes ago when the bell sounded for break.
"Scheiße!"