"What did you bring for lunch?" Asuka prodded Rei as they sat down on the field. "Nothing." Unzipping her backpack, she removed two food containers. "Huh? Nothing?"
"I'm not really hungry during lunchtime." She raised an eyebrow. "Did you have a big breakfast, or something?" The girl shook her head. "No. I'm just not hungry." So, that's how she keeps her figure, then?
"You should eat. You don't want to get to class and not have any energy leftover." Asuka held a fork between her teeth as she took the lid off of her items. She had a sandwich with a side of sliced vegetables.
Rei declined. "I have no need to eat right now." Asuka dug in to her meal; the sandwich was delicious, particularly because of the honey mustard sauce. "Mmm! No need to eat? You're crazy! This is the best part of the day."
Her friend blinked at her as she quickly wolfed down one half. "So, why'd you want to hang with me, if you don't even eat lunch?" She spoke with reservation; Asuka loved Rei's company, but didn't want to show it, thinking it made her vulnerable.
"I had nothing else to do." Nothing else to do? I feel so honored… "Not that I dislike being here. But I tend to use lunchtime to get work done." She smiled then, and Asuka felt a little warm. "You must've not heard about the quiz, then."
"Quiz?" "Pop quiz next period. Let's study after." She nodded. "What are you having for lunch?" Rei asked her question rhetorically as she could clearly see what her friend was eating. "Just a sandwich and veggies." She continued to stare as the redhead was about to start on her second half. "Do you want some?"
"No thank you. I don't enjoy meat." "Well, do you want some of these?" She pointed towards the container filled with sliced tomatoes, carrots, and bell peppers. "Misato only buys junk, so I have to pick up this kind of stuff on my own."
Rei smiled politely. "Sure, thank you." She picked up a carrot piece, examining it and chewing on it. Asuka giggled. She eats like a squirrel. "Ow," she complained, licking her lips. "Harder than I thought." "H-harder? Have you had a carrot before?"
"I don't think so." "What?! What about a pepper?" She shook her head, and the German girl speared one of the pieces with her fork, handing it to Rei. "Try it, then!" "Okay."
She bent down, confusing Asuka, before she moved her head over to the fork, eating directly off of it. I meant for her to grab it… The intimacy the action displayed caused her heart to skip a little.
Rei chewed on the pepper, making all sorts of strange faces. "Oh my… crunchy…" When she swallowed, she burped soon after, as if just drinking something carbonated. "Oops, excuse me." Asuka didn't mind because of how entertained she was.
"I don't suppose you've had a tomato either, then?" The girl shook her head once more. So, again, Asuka got a piece onto her fork, feeding it to Rei. She savored on it for a minute. "Thoughts?" "Like a pepper, but softer. I think that's my favourite."
How the hell could she exist on this planet without eating vegetables? It didn't add up. She thought for a moment, not realizing Rei was staring at her. "Asuka?" "Oh, yeah?" "Can I have another more tomato?"
"Oi, Shinji, Shinji! We need to talk about that girlfriend of yours!" Suzuhara stopped him just as he got up from his seat. "Huh? Girlfriend?!" Aida stood between them. "Asuka! She's crazy, man! She almost killed me today!"
He relaxed, realizing they were overexaggerating. "Almost killed you, huh?" "Yeah! She pinned me up against a wall like some kind of judo master!" He laughed. "Let me guess, she wanted those pictures of Rei?"
"Mhm. But how the hell did she even know about 'em?" "The entire school knows about them, man." "No, but like, how'd she know it was me that found 'em?" "Actually, now that you mention it, it does seem kinda weird…"
Shinji began to sweat, and tried to slip away. "Hey, what the hell did you tell her, Shinji? You sell us out?" He shook his head. "W-what? No way! Why would I do that?" Suzuhara grabbed him. "I dunno. Why would ya do something like that?"
"O-okay, maybe I did tell her Aida had them." "You dick! She almost ripped my head off!" "She found out I had one! I couldn't like, just let it pass." They both shook their heads. "Shinji, you rat…"
"Hang on. I did find out something kind of interesting." "Oh yeah? What's that?" He took a breath, trying to dramatize the news. "Asuka had one of those pics." Aida and Suzuhara looked at eachother.
"How the hell did that happen?" "I-I dunno. It's not like I gave one to her." "You guys think she bought it off someone?" "That's the only thing that could've happened." As if a hivemind, the three boys suddenly got quiet, all thinking.
"If Asuka bought one…" "That means…" "She either wanted to get rid of it…" "Or she's into Ayanami!" Shinji's two friends began to freak out. "No way, man! No way!" "It sorta makes sense. Think about the way both of 'em treat guys. They got no interest."
"Wait a sec. Asuka was probably just being nice, and stopping the picture from circulating." "Maybe…" Aida looked around, before realizing the class was emptier than usual. "Hold up. Don't they both eat lunch in here?"
"Yeah, I think so." "Then they must be out together, somewhere!" Suzuhara and Aida left, aiming to find Asuka and Rei. Shinji had no choice but to follow them, acting as damage control. "Come on! Who cares if they're eating together?" "Who cares? Shinji, this is the biggest day in school history!"
They cleared the school pretty quickly, before deciding to head outside. Shinji continued to do his best to slow them down. "Guys, guys, what if they went out to a restaurant or something!" "Maybe they did man, maybe… But they might be here. We just gotta know!"
And Shinji was curious too. If the girls were actually an item, it would completely affect how he felt about Ayanami. But he still wanted to go about their search in a less invasive way. Aida and Suzuhara didn't care about privacy whatsoever.
As soon as they pushed open the school doors and headed outside, they spotted the two girls. They were walking together down the stairs that attached the raised field to the rest of the school. "Bros, look! They're together! I knew it!"
Aida squinted in his glasses, before becoming excited. Shinji felt his heart sink a little. It's not like I saw them kiss, or anything. They could still just be friends. Even though he tried to rationalize it, he knew well it was significant that Rei spent her lunch break with Asuka.
"That was fun!" Finishing off a bottle of water, Asuka looked at questioningly. "It was?" Rei seemed overly excited. "Mhm. I love tomatoes. I think I'll start buying them." "You love tomatoes?"
"They're delicious!" She tried her best to stifle laughter. "Rei, have you ever had ketchup?" "I believe so." "Well, you'll never guess what it's made out of… Hey, look who it is. Oi, Shinji!"
She called his name, and the boy timidly peeled away from his friends, moving up to meet them. "Oh, hey, Asuka, Ayanami." "Still hanging out with those perverts, huh?" "Well, they drag me around, y'know."
Rei had quieted up as he arrived. It disappointed him a little, but Asuka did the talking for them both. "Did you do any studying for history?" "N-no, why? I don't remember a test." "One of the class C students told me there'd be a pop quiz today. Come with us, we're gonna review the rest of lunch."
He nodded, following Asuka as she lead him and Rei back into the school. Suzuhara and Aida were standing just outside the doors, and watched with noticeable frowns as Shinji moved into the building with them. He gave them an unconfident wave.
"Yare, yare. What a lucky bastard." The taller boy kicked an empty pop can that was on the ground. "He always has a one-up with the girls cause he's an Eva pilot. Least he'll tell us if he sees 'em make out or not." "True. Guess I can live with that."
The school library was impressive considering the size of the campus. It had two levels to it, and the students who actually spent time inside and great etiquette. Asuka lead them up the stairs. "Come on! Best place to study is up here."
"Asuka, you only got here recently. How do you know this place so well?" She rolled her eyes. "Because I pay attention. I don't have one of those stupid boy brains like you." Her joke caused Rei to laugh; it was the first sound Shinji had heard since he joined them.
They sat down at a round table. Asuka and Rei took notes out of their bags; Shinji was empty handed, aside from the plastic his sandwich was wrapped in. He got another frown of disapproval from the German girl. "Didn't bring your workbook, huh?"
"I didn't even know we were gonna study at lunch!" "We still have twenty minutes. Go run and grab yours." "Can't I just look off you?" She stuck her tongue out at him. "Ugh, fine. Don't ditch me."
Shinji got up, taking off back to the class. Asuka took the time to nudge Rei. "Are you okay? You haven't said a word since he got here." She nodded as she began to annotate her paper with a pen.
"I'm fine." "So, what's the deal?" "Shinji makes me nervous." "Nervous? He's just a dumb boy. What's to be nervous about?" Rei took a breath, flipping a page. "The fact that he's a 'dumb boy' is the part that makes me nervous."
"What're you talking about, Rei?" She faced Asuka. "I think I might have a crush." The redhead's face reddened – almost as red as a, well, tomato – before she slammed her fist down. "A CRUSH! ON, ON…"
Rei's expression made it clear she needed to be quieter. "On Shinji?! That idiot?!" She replied with a shrug. "I said I think. I don't really know." "H-how… do you not know…"
"He has a sweet heart. He helped me manage all the hate I received for those pictures." "I don't understand…" "I don't really, either. I just think of him differently now. Shinji is a thoughtful boy."
A thoughtful boy… I can't believe this! Did taking those pictures really push Rei into Shinji's arms? This is the stupidest, most backward situations I've ever been in… Asuka scribbled furiously into her book.
About to open her mouth again, she was interrupted as Shinji bounced back to the table, dropping his notes down. "Okay, let's get studying!" He had no idea why Asuka was suddenly staring daggers at him, but opted not to ask. She's very temperamental, isn't she?