Asuka ran to the outskirts of Tokyo 3, where you could say the suburbs were. She sighed, walking down the street, bag in hand. She had tied her hair back, in hopes that people wouldn't realize her as much. She had no idea where she was going, who would think of taking her in. Nothing.

She sighed, feeling defeated. Had they really won? No, not yet. She may not win, but she would take someone down with her.

Kensuke sat in his desk at school. He was bored. There weren't any girls to look at, at least not yet. The one he was interested had a fiery temper, slashing words, and an interest in someone else.

Little did he know that this young lady was in a certain kind of trouble. He did not know of her layoff from her job, or some of the other circumstance. All he knew was that she was five minutes later then usual.

Touji was talking to Hikari by the window. They seemed to have formed a close bond since the Angels stopped appearing. Kensuke was envious of what Touji had.

Shinji walked into the room, out of breath. He went to go sit in his seat next to Kensuke, fixing his hair a bit the whole time. When he sat he put his head down on the desk, exhausted from running all that way. No wonder Rei was always in such good shape.

Kensuke looked at his friend and blinked. A good time to find out about his beloved from the source himself. He tried to put on his best innocent face, tapping Shinji on the shoulder.

"Asuka put you through a rough night?" he asked.

Shinji looked up, and smiled. "No, actually. I moved up to living with an angel, I think."

Kensuke looked at him confused. What was he, delirious? Had all these test finally gotten to Shinji's mind?

"So, no more Asuka?"

"Nope. She went back to Germany."

Kensuke stopped. Kensuke blinked. Kensuke freaked out.

"But why? What happened?"

"Something to do with her piloting. While she is leaving, I am staying with Re-I mean Ayanami," Shinji said, trying not to let the new familiar-ness out.

Kensuke just sat there, a bit upset. Why was she leaving. She may not be the best pilot, but who else did they have? He dropped his head in thought, so many of those little ideas that he had coming and going. All the (all be it short) memories they had. Why her? Why not Ayanami?

Ayanami walked into the school hallway. She slipped off her shoes and exchanged them at her locker, just as always. She shut the locker and turned the dial to sixteen, just as always. She turned right at the corner to go into the stairwell, just as always. She ran into some punk, unlike every other day.

"Watch is ghost girl!" the kid said, making some kind of rude gesture to her. She watched as he ran away, in shock at what just happened.

It wasn't so much the name calling as much as it was the sudden pain she felt from it. It was a new feeling, something that she was very unsure about. She placed her hand on her heart and felt it beating, throbbing, the blood racing to and from the organ. Was this rage?

She suddenly ran after the boy, up the stairs and around the corner. She wasn't sure which way she was going. All she knew was that she saw the boy. She caught up with him once he slowed down and tapped him on the shoulder.

As the boy turned around her fist connected with his jaw line. He blinked and looked at her amazed. Ghost girl had gotten a backbone. He smirked before punching her in the stomach, watching her crumple down onto the floor. He coughed, wanting to say something. He walked away into the classroom, the same one that she and Shinji had.

Shinji glanced over, trying to see if it was Rei. He was shocked at what he saw. A blue-haired form on the ground, breathing heavily. He ran out past the guy, going to Rei's aid.

"Can you speak Rei, come on, it is me, it is Shinji," he said frantically as she began to drift off into a feeling of numbness, closing her eyes.