At the same moment, another boy about the same age was thinking along the same lines. But Shinji Ikari had his own reasons for wanting to be invisible.

He ducked under a picnic table just as a textbook bounced where his head had been. He peeked back up in time to see a vengeful deity with red hair hurl something else at him. He dodged someone's lunch box narrowly, only to be hit square in the face by another book.

He fell to his back, stunned, as his roommate (and enemy, at the moment) stomped down on his chest. She looked down her nose at his prone figure and glared. He regained his senses just as she started sucking in air, ready to let him have it.

"You ignorant, self-centered, sexist pervert! I can't believe you!" She looked about ready to burst with pure rage. "I thought you'd learned your lesson, but I guess I overestimated you. I'll just have to teach you again!" She brought back her fist.

Reacting more out of fear than reason, Shinji shouted. "Asuka, wait!" She froze, but didn't put her hand down. Or let him up.

He continued, determined to save himself from certain death. "It was all Toji's idea! I swear! He put me up to it! You know I'd never have the guts to do something like that myself, right? Right!"

She lowered her hand, but didn't get off of him. She gave Shinji a wicked grin. "You make a good point, Baka." She turned around, and fixed her stare on another boy, this one tall and light-haired. He was pretending to look away, but jumped when he saw Asuka's wrathful stare.

He turned to run. "Toji, you stop right there!" He stopped, fearful of Shinji's fate befalling him as well. His head slowly swiveled back to her, shaking in terror.

"W-what, Asuka?" he whimpered.

"My dear Baka here has an interesting story to tell. He claims that this whole fiasco was your idea. This wouldn't happen to be true..." she cracked her knuckles, "...would it?"

Toji chuckled nervously. "Of course it's not! I-I mean, who would you believe, me or Shinji?"

Asuka looked back down at Shinji. "Another good point, Baka. What do you have to say?"

Shinji squirmed under her foot. "Come on, Asuka! You know I don't have the guts. You know me better than that!"

Asuka smiled at him, seemingly nice for a moment. "You know what, Shinji?" She said his name mockingly. "I believe you. You're a coward. I mean, come on! We've been sleeping in the same apartment for a month and you haven't tried anything perverted yet. No normal man can resist me, but you're just too scared. Plus, you're not smart enough to hatch that good of a plan. A peephole into the girl's locker room is just too complicated for your tiny brain to think up. You're free to go."

She moved her foot. Shinji sighed with relief, but had the wind knocked out of him as Asuka's foot connected with his stomach.

"Oh, and Shinji..." she said, smiling at him sweetly, "Never do anything like that again. You may be spineless, but you should know that I'll hurt you much worse than Toji ever could." She watched as he ran off, before turning back to Toji.

Toji froze, halfway up the school yard fence, caught in his escape. Asuka glared again. "And where the hell do you think you're going? I'm not done with you yet!"

Toji's screams were far behind Shinji by the time he stopped to rest. He knew he'd have to face Toji's anger later, but he didn't care. Asuka was right about one thing. Toji just didn't have as murderous a mind as she did. He really had just reaped the benefits of Toji's scheme, but Toji wouldn't see it that way.

He chuckled to himself, glad that the day's madness was over. He started to walk again, this time with a cheerful bounce in his step. He closed his eyes in contentedness, whistling his favorite song.

But Shinji's day was far from over. As he rounded the street corner, he ran straight into his other fellow pilot, Rei.

She dropped the groceries she had been carrying, and they rolled away down the street as the bag broke. Shinji blushed in embarrassment. Of all the people to run into, why did it always have to be Rei?

"Pilot Ikari. I apologize for my clumsiness. It will not happen again."

Shinji blushed darker. "Oh, it's okay, Rei. It was my fault."

He bent down to pick up some of the runaway food. Rei did the same. They both spent a number of minutes tracking down everything.

Rei stood up, her arms full. "Pilot Ikari."

Shinji looked up. "Yes, Rei?" When she didn't answer, he stood as well. "Is there something you want to tell me?" he asked her, suspicious. Rei was always very confident, and now she seemed unsure of herself.

"Pilot Ikari, I do not know how to say this." she said, a confused expression on her face.

Something in Shinji's stomach fluttered. "Say what?"

Rei looked away for a moment, then looked deeply into Shinji's eyes. "I was wondering if you would like to watch a movie later tonight, or eat dinner together somewhere."

Shinji couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was Rei, the girl of his dreams, asking him out on a date?

"Uh," he stumbled, uncertain of how to react, "Sure, Rei. That sounds great."

She smiled at him, giving him a measure of confidence. He smiled back.

"Excellent. I will inform Major Katsuragi."

Shinji's confidence was replaced with confusion. "Misato? Why would you tell her?"

Rei continued smiling at him. "She notified me of your desire to get to know me better. It makes sense that the two of us should learn more about each other. You and Pilot Sorhyu share the same residence, so you two are very close. But the whole team needs to be synchronized."

Shinji slumped as realization hit him. Not only had Misato guessed his love for Rei, she had tried to hook them up. But Rei had completely misunderstood his feelings for her. His day had just gotten much worse.

"Uh, actually, Rei, I have to study for a big exam tomorrow. Maybe we cold do this some other time."

Rei did not look the least bit disappointed, heightening Shinji's depression. "Of course, Pilot Ikari. We shall rendezvous at a time more suitable for your schoolwork."

She turned and walked away. Shinji watched her go, feeling worse than when Asuka had kicked him in the gut.