Author's Notes: 5 reviews for Chapter 11! (insert sad face) That's not very encouraging. Chapter 1 and 2 have been revised with extended descriptions and further grammar checks because it got rejected from EFO.
The reasoning behind the title of the last chapter was because warmth follows the cold. It was a light chapter that involved just some warming conversation between Shinji and Asuka.
I hate it when authors force their music onto their readers so I'm going to omit actual song titles from the dance. It's up to you, the reader, to imagine what song is playing. Perhaps, it'll match what you're listening to while you read.
Thanks to Hitori Kennin for the pre-read. As thanks, he gets a cameo in this chapter. I've had this chapter done for a while so I apologize for not uploading it earlier. I was a little busy watching FLCL, the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and now I'm onto Full Metal Panic.
Disclaimer: I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion and am writing this fanfic for pure enjoyment.
CHAPTER 12: THE DANCE
Shinji slid the door to his apartment open to see darkness in front of him. There was no one home as expected. Shinji flicked on the lights and started taking off his shoes. Glancing at the microwave clock, he noted that it was 4:25 already. There wasn't much time to get ready. He quickly shuffled into his room, picking out a pair of black slacks and white shirt to wear to the dance. It wasn't much different from his school uniform, but almost all his clothes looked the same. It was a fact that irritated Asuka very much. She once threatened to not hang out with him because she didn't want to be seen with someone that dressed as poorly as he. Shinji didn't care, but she still hung out with him, probably because their parents were so close.
Shinji shook his head. There wasn't enough time for him to start reminiscing. He gathered up the clothes and took it with him to the shower. After a quick 5-minute shower, Shinji stepped out the bathroom already donning his outfit. He strolled into his parent's bedroom to examine himself in their full-size mirror.
Shinji: Hmm... I don't look half-bad.
Grabbing his keys, wallet, and cell phone from the kitchen table where he left them, Shinji put on his shoes and headed for school. Along the way, he noticed a familiar person in the distance, but he couldn't quite put a name to him until that person quickly closed in.
"Hey Shin-man," yelled Touji as he slapped Shinji on the back.
"Hey Touji."
"You headed to the dance too?" Touji thought it was peculiar to see Shinji headed to the dance. Being a reserved person, he didn't seem like the kind who would be interested in going to an event like a dance.
"Yeah." Touji looked around and noticed that Shinji wasn't accompanied by his usual red-headed companion.
"Er... where's red?"
"She's not going to the dance." Touji had a shocked look on his face. When he didn't notice Asuka around, he had assumed that Asuka was going to meet Shinji there. He never would have thought that Shinji was going to the dance with someone else other than Asuka.
"Wait... who did you ask out then?" If Shinji didn't ask Asuka to the dance as a friend, Shinji must have asked another girl that he was possibly interested in. Touji ran through the list of girls that were close to Shinji but came up with no one that Shinji would go with besides Asuka and Hikari. And he wouldn't go with Hikari because...
"You first. Who are you with?" asked Shinji.
"Um... Hikari." Shinji was glad that Touji made a move on Hikari. He had once remarked in the presence of Asuka how interesting of a couple Touji and Hikari would have made. Asuka reacted in disgust of her friend going out with a Stooge, but she did let it slip that Hikari had been infatuated with Touji for a long time. Of course after she let that slip, she threatened Shinji under pain of death that he tell no one about that, especially Touji. She didn't want Shinji to prompt Touji to start a relationship with her friend.
"How did that happen?" asked Shinji, curious as to why Touji would ask Hikari. If there was a person more dense than Shinji, it was Touji.
"Well, I caught her glancing at me in class that day when the dance was announced, and so I was like what the hell, she might be interested. When I asked her, she seemed pretty excited," boasted Touji, proud of his charm.
Shinji: She's been glancing at you like that since the 5th grade.
"So? You gonna spill? Or do I have to beat it out of you," said Touji as he raised his fist in mock attack.
"I'm going with Ayanami." Touji's jaw dropped. He admitted that Rei was definitely cute, but he never would have thought that Shinji would have asked Rei. From what he could gather, Rei hated Shinji since day one.
"How did that happen? Why would you ask her? I thought she hated you." The questions spilled out of Touji as he was really curious as to what Shinji was up to. Everything he knew about his friend had changed the last couple of minutes.
"I don't really know. She just one day came up to me and said 'I misjudged you.'" Shinji shrugged to indicate his confusion about the whole thing.
"Ohhhh. That's why Ayanami was asking about you today." Touji had been puzzled by Rei's approach during lunch. He had no idea why someone who seemingly hated Shinji would care about his whereabouts. With the knowledge that Shinji was going to the dance with Rei, it all made sense.
"Wait a minute. Where were you today? You didn't show up to school," asked Touji, realizing that Shinji didn't tell him why he was absent. It had to be something important. Shinji wasn't the kind of person who would skip school for trivial reasons.
"Asuka got really sick yesterday, and no one was around to take care of her," explained Shinji. Shinji was still concerned about Asuka. He left in a hurry because he was short on time, so he didn't get a chance to notice the façade that Asuka was hiding behind. It seemed that she feigned feeling better in order to push him to go to the dance. It was too late to turn back now though. He had already promised Rei that he would be at the dance.
Shinji: I'll check on her after the dance.
"Who the hell gets sick during the summer?" laughed Touji, enjoying the fact that his daily tormentor was out of commission for a while. Shinji knew that Asuka had gotten sick from running around in the cold rain, but he couldn't understand why she would do something like that. Feeling like he couldn't explain it to Touji, Shinji chose to shrug and change the topic to something else.
"Hey, is Kensuke going?" Shinji had hoped that Kensuke had gathered up the courage to ask Kana, the girl that he had been infatuated with for the past month. Sometimes, it scared Shinji the lengths to which Kensuke would go to observe girls. Once, Shinji had caught Kensuke in the middle of installing a camera on the window sill that overlooked the interior of the girls changing room. Other times, Kensuke would just stalk the girl of the month until she notices him and drives him away. The next day, he'd be infatuated entirely with another girl.
Shinji: He's so hopeless...
"To the dance, you mean?" asked Touji for clarification. They had been talking about the new game center that was opening near Shinji's apartment, but Touji had a suspicion that Shinji was really referring to the dance. Shinji nodded and looked at his friend for an answer.
"Nope."
The two stopped underneath the stairs that led to the school. Shinji glanced at his watch. It was 5:06. They were late, which wasn't surprising since they really took their time in walking as they conversed. Shinji noticed that Touji was sighing in defeat.
"Huh? What's wrong?" asked Shinji.
"Well... if the class rep is anything like she is about class, she'll hate me for being late," explained Touji, cringing as he thought about his ear being pulled.
"Then we better hurry up then." Shinji started running up the stairs, knowing that Rei was also waiting for him. With haste, both he and Touji made it to the gym where the dance was being held in record time. They bent over, panting, trying to catch their breath from the exhausting run. With their heads looking down, they weren't able to notice two people walk up to them.
"Touji, you're late," said one of them. Touji looked up and almost fell backwards at the sight of an upset Hikari. Sensing the tension, Hikari's frown changed to a smile as she grabbed Touji's hand, leading him away to the dance. Touji offered no resistance, just glad that Hikari was not as angry as he expected.
"Hi, Shinji." Shinji looked up to see Rei in a magnificent blue dress, complete with white arm-length gloves and blue high-heels. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of Rei, temporarily banishing any concern for Asuka to the back of his mind. His smile elicited a similar smile from Rei, making her even more beautiful in Shinji's eyes. Rei offered her arm for Shinji to latch on to as they both stepped into the gym.
As Shinji entered the gym, he realized that it was much darker inside the gym than it was outside. In the process of decorating the gym for the dance, they had blocked the skylight on top of the gym, and now the only thing illuminating the gym were the lights strung along the wall. In the middle of the dance floor, a ball coated with mirrors shimmered, reflecting the lights in an entertaining pattern. Shinji had heard of such an object, an archaic throwback to the pre-Second Impact days. He thought it was odd for such an object to be present at their dance.
The student council that Hikari was a part of certainly did a fine job in Shinji's opinion. The walls were lined with different colored streamers, creating a seemingly lively atmosphere. On one side of the room, there was a long table containing an incredible variety of snacks and drinks, an amount of that Asuka would salivate at. On the opposite side of the room, there were doors that led to the changing rooms.
Even though Shinji was late, it seemed that the dance hadn't really started. There wasn't anyone of official capacity to start it so everyone ended up gathering around the snack and drink table, striking up conversation with others. Rei followed the crowd and led Shinji by his arm to the table. Releasing his arm, she reached over the table to get a cup and began to fill it with punch. Shinji felt awkward standing by the table, doing nothing except for staring at Rei. When Rei finished getting her drink, Shinji proceeded to do the same, filling his cup with the red, over-sweetened drink. They stood by the table in silence, unsure what to say to each other as they both sipped their drinks.
"How's your drink?" asked Shinji as he tried to start a conversation with the first thing he could think of. Unfortunately, the first thing he could think of was the drink as he was overwhelmed by the sweetness of the drink. He had grown used to the mildly bitter taste of tea such that drinking something so overly sweetened was absolutely revolting.
Shinji: Stupid question... I'm drinking it too.
"Erm... alright," answered Rei, puzzled by Shinji's choice of topic. She had imagined that he would start talking more about music as it was the common thread between the two.
"Hey, Shinji!" a voice called out from behind Shinji. Shinji turned to see the source of the voice, finding himself staring at a familiar pair of heterochromatic eyes.
Shinji: Blue and green eyes. It can only be...
"Hi, Mitsuki," said Shinji cheerfully as he remembered the name of the person who possessed those strange eyes. It was nice to see her again. He had not seen her around since the night of their date. It seemed like she almost went out of her way to avoid Shinji.
"Are you here with her?" Mitsuki's eye scanned Rei's figure, sizing up her competition.
"Huh? Oh yeah," replied Shinji, realizing that she was referring to Rei, his date to the dance.
"Does that mean you're over Soryu? Why didn't you tell me?" pouted Mitsuki, remembering what she told Shinji before she hung up on him during their breakup call. She assumed that if Shinji decided to forsake a relationship with Asuka, she would be the first that he would call so that they could pick up where they left off. Shinji's eyes widened as he recalled the same phone call, and he started to back away from Mitsuki as his natural reaction to run away from problems kicked in.
"I-It's not like t-that. We're just... friends," explained Shinji. He had stopped backing up when he found the courage to answer Mitsuki. He wasn't lying either. Truthfully, he never thought of Rei in a romantic manner. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a frown form on Rei's face. It seemed that obviously Rei had feelings for Shinji, and she was disappointed to hear that the dance wasn't a real date between them.
"Fine. Whatever," said Mitsuki, believing that Shinji was just making up an excuse so he wouldn't hurt her feelings. She quickly turned away and ran off to a different part of the gym, presumably back to the arms of her date. Before Shinji had the time to react to the event that just transpired, several members of the student council stood up on the makeshift stage to announce the start of the dance.
Rei ignored the announcement being made, feeling that it was unimportant compared to what she was feeling. Instead, she took the time to direct her thoughts inwards. From what she saw from Shinji, she didn't feel like he had any romantic intentions towards her. He treated her like a friend. It was only awkward because they weren't that close yet they were at a dance together. But Rei wanted to be more than friends, which was why hearing Shinji say that they were just friends hurt so much. Deep down, she had hoped that maybe he would change his mind.
Over the past couple of days, Rei took the time to observe Shinji. She knew that Shinji and Asuka were close friends, but for the past week, he was just cold to her. She was surprised that he had ditched school to take care of Asuka. But did that matter? He was here, at the dance, with her, not Asuka. Clenching her fist to illustrate her resolve, Rei decided that she would show Shinji a good time at the dance and worry about his decision later.
The announcement ended, and Shinji couldn't find anything else to turn his attention but Rei. Awkwardly turning to look at her, he was surprised to find her in a pensive state. He couldn't help but stare, taking the beauty that seemed to illuminate the dim room.
"What?" asked Rei, curious to why his eyes were fixed onto her for so long.
"Um... you're just beautiful," explained Shinji. Rei couldn't help but to smile at the compliment. If Shinji was noticing her physical beauty, it was a good thing to furthering her goal.
Music had started to play, and many couples shuffled to the dance floor. There were still many people encircling the snack table, enticed by the variety that they couldn't help but to gorge themselves. Shinji looked at the dance floor and back at Rei.
"Do you want to dance?" asked Shinji as he held out his hand to invite her. Rei merely nodded and grabbed his hand, allowing him to lead her to the edge of the dance floor. As soon they arrived, Shinji let go of Rei's hand, and for a while, they both stood in silence with their arms at their sides, not knowing what to do.
Surprising even himself, Shinji found his hands awkwardly wrapping around Rei's waist, pulling her in a distant embrace. The kind of embrace shared between two people who were unsure of each other, feeling too awkward to embrace closely. Rei was surprised by Shinji's bold move but decided to just settle into the dance, gently swaying side to side as she enjoyed the warmth of Shinji's hands around her waist. The warmth didn't last long as Rei found herself pried from Shinji's grasp and pulled away.
Shinji was confused. He found himself enjoying a calming dance with Rei, but then he felt Rei being yanked away with something else grabbing onto him, almost possessively, and pulling him into a tight embrace. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into a pair of brown eyes that burned with desire.
"Hi, Shinji. How nice of you to dance with me," said Keiko with a grin as she tightly clutched Shinji. Shinji was speechless. He had never had someone throw herself at him so willingly. He glanced to his side, seeing Rei struggling against Yahiko's grip.
"Let her go," yelled Shinji at Yahiko. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist as he tried to summon the strength and courage to break from Keiko's embrace, in order to defend Rei and at the risk of being beaten again by Yahiko. Shinji found his face being forcibly turned by Keiko's hands so he could look into her eyes.
"Forget her. I have so much more to offer," said Keiko as she pointed at her dress. She was wearing a slim white dress that hugged her figure tightly. Shinji's face started to turn red as he realized that her dress was quite revealing, leaving nothing to imagination. He was surprised that they had let her into the dance with wearing something so revealing. In his mind, he was quite disgusted by the show, yet his eyes were drawn by the low cut of the dress, showing off her...
Shinji felt himself forcibly separated from Keiko, breathing a sigh of relief to see that Rei had broken Keiko's death grip on him. He hadn't realized that during the time that he was staring, Rei had broken free from Yahiko and stomped on his feet with her heels. Shinji glanced over to where Yahiko was. Yahiko was still jumping up and down, clutching his foot and howling in pain. He snarled at Rei before he turned away to retreat, realizing that it was useless to retaliate now that the student council had turned their attention to the commotion. Meanwhile, Keiko stared in shock at Rei. She was seething with rage, not expecting the timid girl to show so much resistance. Like Yahiko, Keiko chose to retreat so as to not draw the attention of the student council to her revealing dress.
Rei closed in on Shinji, choosing to embrace him closely after what had just transpired. Shinji blushed red, not used to the closeness that Rei was showing him and also unsure of how to return her affection. Both of them just danced in silence as a slow song started playing. Feeling relaxed by the song, Rei rested her head on Shinji's shoulder.
Shinji let out a quiet gasp as he felt Rei's warm head settle on his shoulder. A torrent of memories rushed into his head. Of the last time that someone had rested their shoulder on his head. It was Asuka on the day that she came back from Germany. They were on the subway heading home. Asuka was exhausted from the jet lag and found herself inextricably drawn to Shinji, choosing to rest her head on his shoulder as she faded into a slumber.
The song had stopped, and Rei lifted her head from Shinji's shoulder. Shinji kept dancing, failing to notice that the song had ended. Rei pulled back to look into Shinji's eyes, noticing that Shinji was lost in another world.
"Hey, are you okay?" asked Rei, concerned by the look in Shinji's eyes. Shinji shook his head, trying to loosen the grip of the memories on his conscious thoughts as he returned to the real world.
"Huh? Yeah..." said Shinji, sad that the temporary lapse into happy memories had ended. When was the last time that he was happy? Was it when he was taking care of Asuka and sharing a nice afternoon with her? The thought of taking care of Asuka led him back to the thought that had plagued him before the dance. Was Asuka feigning being better? What if she was back at the apartment suffering without him?
"What are you thinking about?" asked Rei, noticing that a look of concern had spread over his face.
"Um... just wondering whether Asuka is alright at home."
"I thought she was feeling better." Rei frowned, upset that even after their moment, Shinji was still thinking about Asuka.
"That's what I thought, but I think she was faking it," explained Shinji.
"Why would she do that?" Rei inquired. Why would Asuka fake feeling better?
"I don't know... maybe to make me go to the dance." Shinji's statement implied that he didn't really want to go to the dance with her. It implied that he would rather be at the apartment, taking care of Asuka. It was at that point when Rei realized that she couldn't compete with Asuka. Not with someone who had known Shinji almost her whole life. Rei made up her mind; as much as it saddened her, she would have to let Shinji go.
"Go!" yelled Rei as she broke the embrace between the two.
"W-what?" stammered Shinji, confused as to why Rei was angry with him.
"Go to her," whispered Rei, finally able to contain her anger and sadness.
"Are you sure?" Shinji had wanted to leave ever since the slow song ended, but he couldn't bear to hurt Rei's feelings. And now, Rei was ordering him to go and take care of Asuka.
"Take care of her."
"Okay..." Shinji had turned around to leave when Rei called him.
"Shinji?" Shinji stopped mid-step and rotated his head to listen to Rei.
"I hope we can still be friends." Shinji was her first real friend in Tokyo-3. They had so much in common. She didn't want to lose him, even if he wasn't interested in her romantically. Shinji smiled and nodded to assure Rei that she was still his friend before he ran off. Rei did nothing but watch as Shinji ran away, slipping away from her.
"You're in love with her. You just don't know it yet," remarked Rei to no one. Rei heard the shuffling of steps in front of her and found herself face to face with a boy with blue-green eyes and dark brown hair. She searched her mind for the name of the boy. She had seen him in her classes and knew that he had just recently moved to Tokyo-3.
"Hi! AJ DiStefano. I just moved here from America," said the boy. He seemed eager to meet Rei. Rei smiled back, surprised that the boy had the boldness to approach her. Another song started, and they started to dance together, both content to be just there.
Shinji had sprinted halfway back to Asuka's apartment when he had to stop to rest. As he stood on the sidewalk panting, he noticed a convenience store across the street from where he stopped. For some reason, Shinji couldn't help but think of the commercial for a popular brand of melon flavored ice cream. The commercial made it look so good.
Shinji: Maybe Asuka would like some melon flavored ice cream.
Shinji crossed the street and waltzed through the open door of the convenience store. A musical chime went off, alerting the cashier to the entrance of a new customer. The cashier looked up from the newspaper that he was reading to glance at Shinji, making sure he wasn't a hooligan, before returning his focus back to the newspaper.
In one of the freezers towards the rear of the store, Shinji found what he was looking for. The container art of the ice cream looked as good as it did on the TV commercial. He licked his lips in anticipation of sharing the ice cream with Asuka. Shinji, carrying the most popular item in the store, walked up to the cashier's counter, where the cashier had already ringed up the item. He looked at the price of the ice cream and dug into his pocket, looking for change to pay for it. He coincidentally pulled out the exact change needed to pay for his purchase. Happy that he didn't exert much effort counting his change, Shinji exited the convenience store, speeding up to his sprint towards Asuka's apartment.
Within a few minutes, Shinji arrived at the entrance to Asuka's apartment. Like a routine, he entered the lobby, called for the elevator, selected the 5th floor, and waited for it to bring him to his destination. Not wanting Asuka to exert the energy to open the door for him, Shinji opened the door to her apartment with the spare key underneath the welcome mat.
It was dark, but there were intermittent flashes of light. Shinji turned to look at the source of those flashes, setting the ice cream on the kitchen counter. It was the TV on mute. He walked over the sofa to find Asuka asleep, still clutching her phone. She had her knees pulled up to her chest like she was cold and unable to move, and instead, she just curled up into a fetal position for warmth. Shinji was upset with her for not going to bed, but he was angrier at himself for leaving her in this condition.
He got up and retrieved a blanket from Asuka's room, gently wrapping it around Asuka. He felt her forehead; it was slightly warm. Shinj relaxed a little, knowing that Asuka's cold didn't get any worse while he was gone.
Shinji: Maybe she was just tired.
After sprinting for so long, Shinji was tired and felt like he deserved a little rest. He plopped on the sofa, a bit rougher than he had intended. The sudden shift in weight on the sofa inadvertently woke up Asuka. She groaned loudly, upset at being woken up from a wonderful dream.
She was dreaming about looking over Tokyo-3, from one of the vantage points on the mountain road. She was lying on the grass with Shinji next to her. In her dream, everything felt alright. It was as if all the pieces of life were in just the right places. To be disturbed and wake up in a dark room was not something she enjoyed until a warm hand reached out and patted her shoulder.
"Shinji?" she called out into the darkness. She didn't know why she called for him. After the confusion from waking up settled, she realized that she had fallen asleep in front of the TV after talking to Hikari. Hikari said she would call her after the dance. Hikari was not one to break promises, so if she didn't call yet that meant that the dance was still going.
"Hai." The response emanated from a soft voice that could only belong to Shinji.
"Is the dance over? Have I been asleep that long?" asked Asuka, confused as to why Shinji was in her apartment.
"No, I just came back to check on you."
"I'm fine! I don't need any help!" yelled Asuka, her natural reaction to any offering of help. She had to be an independent person, after all.
"Sorry... I just felt guilty, leaving you here like this." The lights turned on as Shinji walked over to the wall and flicked the switch. Asuka noticed that while she was sleeping, Shinji had wrapped a blanket around her. Some of her anger left her as she was grateful for Shinji's gesture.
"What happened about Rei? Do you feel guilty for leaving her there?" Shinji froze for a while as he considered Asuka's words. He had never thought of it that way. However, he pushed the guilt to the back of his mind because for a moment, he felt at peace.
Shinji decided to change the subject. "I got you some ice cream," he said as he walked over to the kitchen counter to retrieve the carton of ice cream. Asuka's mood brightened as she saw the flavor of ice cream that he had bought. It was like he could read her mind. It was the exact brand and flavor of ice cream that she had been craving for the past couple of days.
Asuka eagerly received the carton from Shinji's hands. She pried it open hungrily when she realized that she was missing something. Asuka looked into Shinji's eyes. He knew what they were missing and went back to the kitchen to retrieve two clean spoons. Handing one to Asuka, they both started to ferociously consume the ice cream. After just a few minutes of being opened, the ice cream was completely consumed. Both of them patted their stomach, settling into the sofa with a look of euphoria on their faces. Asuka turned to look at Shinji and poked him in the chest.
"Hmm?" Shinji turned his attention towards Asuka, expecting her to say something.
"You know, it's hard to be angry at you sometimes, baka."
"I know."
End Notes: Awww... WAFF. Props if anyone identifies the reference to another Evangelion fanfic that I read.
Pagewise, this chapter was short, but it still has just as many words as my other chapters which means that this chapter is dense with description. For some reason, this was a hard chapter to write. I had to pause many times because I didn't know how to continue. For taking so long, I present an omake.
OMAKE!
Shinji entered the convenience store ready to buy a carton of ice cream for Asuka. Subliminally, the ice cream called for him, but soon Shinji started recalling commercials for many of other the snacks located in the store. They called at Shinji.
"Shinji! Buy me! Buy me!" they moaned.
Shinji couldn't resist. Showing little control, he started snatching snacks off the shelves. He had to make several trips to the cashier's counter before he could get all of them.
"How are you going to pay for this?" asked the cashier. Shinji grinned and pulled out a NERV credit card. It said Gendo Ikari on it with a picture of Gendo when he was younger. Young enough to look like Shinji.
"Do you want these in bags?" asked the cashier, unsure if he even had enough bags to bag the items that Shinji had bought.
"Do you have a truck?"
In Asuka's apartment, she woke from her slumber to the sound of knocking on the door.
"Now who could be knocking at this hour?" she asked out loud as she glanced at the clock. It said 1:24 AM.
Asuka flung the door open, instantly regretting it as a pile of snacks and drinks flooded into her door. In the process, Shinji became pinned on top of Asuka by the pile of snacks.
"There's enough snacks here to last me a month. Is this for me?" asked Asuka in a very kawaii voice. Shinji couldn't do anything but nod, not wanting to get on the red-head's bad side if he said no. Suddenly, Asuka flung herself onto Shinji, kissing him repeatedly while muttering thanks in between kisses.
