Asuka walked a few feet in front of Shinji as they made their way back to the apartment. She studied the ground the entire while, like the secret to life eternal was held in the pavement. Shinji didn't say anything, but instead kept a worried visage painted on his face. Asuka just wasn't herself today. She had barely made any cruel remarks to anyone in class, and only yelled once the entire day. She hadn't even talked to Shinji as of yet.
The sun was sinking low into the horizon by the time the two got home. Misato was working late that night, so they came back to an empty and cold house. Shinji went to his room to put away his backpack, as did Asuka. They both went into the kitchen once they were settled, ready for the evening meal.
"Just my luck: it's Misato's turn to cook tonight," Shinji said to himself. "I guess I'll be cooking again."
Shinji started to cook the dinner. Asuka sat at the table and stared into nothing, as if the secret to happiness was locked somewhere inside it.
Shinji glanced nervously at her. I better ask her what's going on.
"Um, Asuka…"
She rose from her seat of a sudden, walked to the refrigerator, and grabbed a beer from inside. She sat back down and popped open the top. Fizz spilled down the side of the can and onto her hand. She grabbed a napkin to swab up the mess, but licked the beer running off her fingers first. Shinji reddened at this, though he didn't understand why.
"Hey, Asuka, you know you can't drink yet. It's illegal."
Taking a swig, she shrugged. "It's not like anyone really cares. And what would they do to me anyway? I'm an Eva pilot. They need me."
Shinji turned back to his cooking without any good response to that. It was true. What could they do to her? They couldn't send her to jail or anything like that. She was too important for that kind of stuff.
"Is everything alright, Asuka? You didn't seem like yourself today."
"Why the hell should you care, idiot?" Asuka took another swig from the can. "And what if everything wasn't alright? What could you do about it?"
"Um, well, if something was wrong, then I could talk to you about it." He dumped a few cut-up carrots into the pot. Some of the boiling water inside splashed out and hit his bare arm. He gave a little yelp and recoiled his arm.
"You can't even cook without hurting yourself, what makes you think that you could help someone else without hurting them?"
Shinji stared at Asuka with a look of hurt on his face. And she stared right back, cold as a corpse. He finally broke away his gaze and went back to cooking.
The two didn't say anything during dinner, and Asuka went right to her room after she was done eating. Shinji cleaned the dishes and tidied up the table, then went to his own room. He grabbed his Walkman and sat down on his bed. He leaned against the wall and began listening to Bach's Cello Suite #1. The Prelude was what he had been trying to learn to play recently. He had to take it slow, though. It was a very complex piece, and it took time to learn. Asuka had complimented him on his playing a few weeks earlier, and that had really pushed him forward, but he didn't feel like he had gotten anywhere since then.
Shinji thought about what Asuka had said earlier. The words still stung, and he fought to keep back tears from welling up in his eyes. Even though, his vision clouded all the same. Could he help someone without hurting them at the same time? Could he comfort another without hurting himself?