Summary: Asuka always gets love letters in her locker, stuffed into the
edges, spilling over the side. All of them say "I love you" or some
vulgar thing. But what happens when a series of letters with poems in
them start coming to Asuka, with one serious love explanation after
another? Will she actually take these ones to heart? What will Asuka
do? How will this change her? Will I ever get an A in History? Am I
insane? Will you please move on to the story?
Author's Note: ::big grin:: This is my SECOND, ever, Eva story. Of course, since Denial [fanfiction.net] I have gotten to reading MANY (maybe too many) Eva fics. I've read all the fics by Axel Terizaki [now that guy is reeeeaaaaalllly good, I am serious, his stories are the best] and in a state of frenzy, have read The One I Love Is... by Alain Gravel. In fact, I finished it not too long ago [maybe 15 minutes ago or so?] I've read some on evafics.org, and on evamade.com. Overall, the Eva fics I've read are great. I hope this one is acceptable. DON'T expect an Angel fight too soon, mind you! I'm still not experienced in that field! I can't get all the details of one down! So...on with the story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Neon Genesis Evangelion/Shin Seiki Evangelion, unfortunately. Darnnit, this sucks. I need to copyright a company. Excuse me...
Note: The Touji Suzuhara you will encounter in this particular story is BASED ON THE MANGA. I've NEVER seen the anime version. Only pictures. Yeah, go ahead, throw eggs at me. But I've never seen it on TV and I can't get ahold of the DVDs. The Touji in the manga [by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto] has an Osaka accent, which is kind of like a Japanese southern accent. Hmm, I think that's the only difference. Also, the Shinji Ikari in this story is a bit like the manga and anime. In the manga, Shinji has a bit more of a backbone. He's a bit more stable. He's not that wimpy. And...well, I guess that's it. You got a problem with that, then oh well.
To Asuka
"Dammit! I got another one!"
"You got another ones...."
Asuka Langley Sohryu stared in anger at the pile of rose-scented, French-lavender-sprinkled, nice stationary-ed letters, each saying the same thing: "You're hot", "I love you", "I want you", "Will you go out with me?" and other things not suitable for younger viewers.
Hikari laughed at the amount of envelopes in Asuka's locker. "It just goes to show how popular you are."
For a second there, Asuka struck a triumphant pose. "Of course! I am the Great Sohryu Asuka Langley! Did you expect any less of my reputation!?!?" Then she faltered and kicked her shoes on top of the letters, then slipped on her school shoes. "But still. To be popular among the geeks and bakas of this school isn't very....prideful."
"That is true," Hikari agreed, slipping on her school shoes. "You make a point there."
"Don't I always?" The German girl grinned heartily.
------------------------------------------
In the corner of class 2-A, a wimpy-looking boy but with deep dark eyes stared with hatred at the paper in front of him.
"Touji, I still don't get this..." He turned to his friend.
"Don't sweat it, man! All yuh gossa do is dis: you write one of dem sappy love poems youse is always writin en den I'll take care of da rest, yo!" Toji winked. "Youse is da smart one, man. I needa tell da class rep....uh....what I tink of her. So....yeah...." His face flushed pink and Shinji had to cover his mouth to stop laughing.
"You like the class rep?" He asked as "modestly" as he could.
"Shuddup, man! Jess write da damn ting!"
Taking his advice, Shinji shut up and put his pen to the paper. It was true, he was pretty good at writing poetry. Maybe all that classical music had gone to his head or something, but he was pretty good.
There was a writer's block starting to mold in Shinji's brain but he beat it. After five minutes of chewing absentmindedly on his pen, ignoring the "Dammit Ikari hurry da hell up"s from Touji and the ecstatic screams of missing some tip for hacking into a computer from Kensuke, a line had formed in his head.
He put the pen to the paper, wiping off some spit, and began to write.
However, at that moment, a German redheaded devil flung herself into the classroom.
"LET ME TELL YOU ONE LAST TIME, YOU FREAKIN' IDIOTS, THAT I DON'T_WANT_YOUR_LETTERS!" Asuka screamed at the top of her lungs. "YOU SODS ARE SCREWING UP MY LOCKER!"
Instead of sad, pitying remarks and "I feel so sorry for myself"s that Asuka would have liked to hear, she heard the dorks of class 2-A responding wheezingly, "So you *puff* got my letter *puff* Asuka! Did *puff* *hack* you *puff* like it?"
(No, they're not smoking....)
A vein twitched in Asuka's head. Then she spotted Shinji and stomped over to him. Shinji gulped.
Oh, damn, he thought. I feel a sudden pain coming on...
"You!" She cried, pointing a finger in his direction. "I bet you sent one to me, too!"
Shinji looked at Asuka in shock and disgust. "Why would I do that?"
"Because you're a hormonal-15-year-old guy with no control whatsoever of his sexual pleasures!"
Shinji's mouth was open in one of disgust, horror, and disbelief. "No way! I did no such thing. I will never do such a thing!"
Asuka sighed. "No use lying to yourself, Shinji..."
And she bent down so low their noses were almost touching, and Shinji, if he just happened to look down, could see the top part of her cleavage. He looked up and tried to make that feeling down there go away...
"See Shinji," Asuka said in a low voice, for once not caring about anyone else, who was staring. "All the boys like me for one thing: my looks. I'd rather be liked for more than just this, but...no. At this age every guy is like this." She narrowed her eyes. "I didn't expect any exception from you. After all, I've seen you in the morning..."
Shinji blushed a deep red. Asuka straightened up and walked away.
Touji walked over to Shinji. "Hey man, dat wuz some weird stuff da devil jess pulled dere..."
Shinji was still red. "Yeah..."
"So are yeh gon' write da damn ting!?!?! I've been waitin forever!!"
Shinji snapped back into reality and put his pen back on the paper. "O-oh yeah..." He quickly wrote something down and showed Touji the paper. "Here."
Touji picked it up and examined it. "Hey Ikari, dis is not all dat bad. No, not bad at all...now wut iz da class rep's locker numba?"
Shinji shrugged. "Why would you expect me to know?"
"Coz youse is smart, dumbass."
Shinji sighed and gave in. "I think it's 53."
"Now youse is shure?"
"Yeah, pretty much..."
Actually, the truth was, Shinji didn't know whether it was 53 or 35. He could care less, anyway. He didn't like the class rep that much.
He had eyes for another.
----------------------------------------
In the locker room, Touji slipped the envelope with the poem "he" had written in it into shoe locker number 53.
"Now all I gossa do is wait," Touji said hopefully, making sure no one saw him as he walked back into the classroom...
----------------------------------
At lunchtime, Asuka was sprawled out on her desk, apparently snoozing. The rest of the class walked by her and some poked her, but she must have been as tired as hell, because she wasn't waking up.
Hikari walked over to her, pissed off because Asuka was destroying the "good reputation" of the class. "Asuka..."
Asuka's head snapped back up immediately. "WHAT DID I MISS?!?"
"Get up, Asuka....it's lunchtime," Hikari said, thinking that it was no use to get mad at Asuka because she would just get madder.
"Oh, really? Schiesse...let me get my shoes," She yawned again and walked into the locker room.
Hikari followed her and retrieved her own shoes. She looked over at Asuka, who was staring into her locker.
"Do you have your shoes? Come on," Hikari said, pulling on her sleeve. "Let's go..."
"No, wait. I got another one," Asuka grunted. She pointed into her locker. "Look."
Hikari looked into Asuka's locker and saw she was right; there was an envelope in there with....
"Why is my name on it though!?!?" Hikari asked, shocked.
"Maybe the dud got the locker numbers wrong," Asuka scoffed. She fished it out. "Here, let's read it."
Oblivious to the fact that they were missing lunch reading this note, Asuka opened it and began to read it, Hikari reading over her shoulder.
Maybe one day you'll notice me
instead of looking at me through another light
I'm different, so please
accept me for myself
try to understand that
there's another world behind me
instead of
jock,
accented,
huge,
pervert...
Maybe I am all these things
but maybe
I'm more?
You understand everyone
everyone, it seems
but me
so try to understand me,
maybe that'll take us
into a different light...
Both of us
together
~T.S.~
Asuka and Hikari sat, open-mouthed, staring at the piece of paper she was holding.
"Oh my God," Hikari said, grabbing her shirt. "Oh, my God..."
"Wow, that was good. Better than anything I ever got...and look at the initials!"
"T.S.?!?" Hikari gasped. "Oh my God. No way. No!"
"Yes," Asuka laughed. "Yes way."
Hikari slumped against the wall and buried her face in her hands. "Now what am I gonna do!??!"
"I don't know. Don't ask me," Asuka said.
"You are such a big help," Hikari said, dripping with sarcasm.
"Thanks."
-------------------------------
After school, Shinji and Touji were walking home together because Kensuke had to stay after school.
"I pity da guy. He didn do nuttin," Touji said.
"Except getting caught at hacking into the school's files," Shinji added.
"Well, yea, buh 'snot really a big deal..."
"Whatever."
They crossed at the intersection and Shinji decided to bring up the question.
"Do you think Hikari got the note?" He asked.
Touji flushed a deep red. "I dunno!"
"What's up? Are you scared of being rejected?"
"WHO IN DA HECK WOULDN'T?!?!"
Shinji held his hands up in a pathetic apology. "Ok, ok. I'm just....wondering."
"Besides, it wouldn't 'splain much coz ya poem sucked...."
"HEY!!!"
"Dang Ikari, I'm just jokin'....can'cha take a joke?"
Shinji shut up and they walked in silence for awhile. When they reached the place where they had to separate, Touji slapped Shinji on the back.
"Actually, ya did a pretty good job. Better den 'neting I could write, anyways..."
Shinji looked up. "Really?"
"Yeah. Aright, I better go. Later, Ikari."
Shinji nodded, shocked to hear words of praise (when you are Shinji Ikari, praise is of rare) and walked to the apartment.
-----------------------------------
"Are you sure Misato-sama wouldn't mind if I came over?"
"Are you kidding? She's tired of me and Shinji fighting all the time, she'd practically love you to bits and pieces 'coz you're so polite."
Hikari blushed. They were in front of Misato's apartment, and Asuka was opening the door.
"I mean, we could have just gone to my house to examine the note..."
"Believe me, this place is better. Misato is at work and stupid Shinji, well, when he gets home I'll just banish him to his room. At your house, everyone is home."
Hikari sighed as the door opened and she took off her shoes. "You're right..."
Asuka threw her bag on the floor while Hikari carefully set it aside on the chair. They both sat down on the couch and Hikari took out the note.
Asuka grabbed it from Hikari and looked it over. "Hmmmmm. Do you really think this note holds any meaning?"
Hikari blushed again. "What? Why do you ask?"
"Well, I mean, it's not like Touji's some kind of lovey-dovey guy."
"But all the guys who hide their feelings tend to be guys like Suzuhara."
"That's right, you have a point."
Hikari looked it over once more. "But it doesn't look like his handwriting."
Asuka mentally slapped her forehead. "Hikari, try to understand guys don't want you to know they wrote it!"
"Then why did he put his initials?"
"Maybe he got someone else to write the poem for him!"
Hikari sat back and took this all in. Touji Suzuhara, whom she always seemed to be yelling at, had written–or at least had made up–this beautiful poem. To her.
Actually, it was kind of disgusting, embarrassing, and weird for Hikari. But it was also pretty romantic.
"So what should I do? Should I tell him I got it?"
"Put a note in his shoe locker, and you guys can go from there."
Hikari blushed even harder...oh God, how far can she go!?!? "Well, will you help me?"
"WHY DO YOU THINK I'M HERE?!?!"
Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a thoughtful Shinji. He spotted the two girls and cursed himself. Of course Hikari or Asuka was going to ask him about the note, they were friends and he was friends with Touji.
WHAT WOULD HE SAY?!!?
"Um...hello." He said casually. "Sorry for disturbing you."
Hikari smiled. "Oh, it's no–"
Then Asuka butted in. "Hey Shinji, do you know anything about your big stupid friend and some note?"
Oh God, Shinji thought, searching for the right words. "Er, no, I mean, not likely, uh, actually, I have to go." He ran off.
Smooth, Shinji, he kicked himself. Really nice.
Asuka pondered over Shinji's reaction.
"The baka is hiding something," She finally declared.
Hikari, however, kept staring at the note.
"You know what, maybe I'll just write that note by myself," She said finally.
"What!?!? No! I wanna see it too!"
"But, Asuka..."
"NO! Come on, Hikari!"
"Asuka...;;"
Asuka got up and grabbed a pen from her bookbag and a piece of paper, then thrust both at Hikari.
"You WILL write the DAMN NOTE HERE because I wanna SEE IT too!"
"O-KAY, o-KAY..."
Hikari took the pen and put it on the paper. She stuck her tongue out, just a little, and looked at Asuka.
"So...."
Asuka sighed. "You've never written a love letter before, have you?"
"Does it show?"
So Asuka, doing this just because Hikari was her best friend, took her through the steps of how to write a proper love letter.
"Oh, alright. I get it."
A few minutes later (ok, it was an hour) Hikari showed a rough draft to Asuka.
"How is it?" She asked eagerly.
Dear Suzuhara-san,
I received your letter. Thank you very much.
~Horaki Hikari~
Ach, Gott....can this get ANY lamer?!?!
Asuka tried to let her friend down nicely.
"What the heck is this crap, Hikari!!??"
Hikari looked shocked. "Um..."
"YOU CALL THIS A LETTER? This piece o' crap ain't a LETTER. It's practically just a note you pass in between classes. A love letter has to be passionate. You like him, don't you??!"
Hikari blushed. "What!?!?"
Asuka tutted in a tutting sort of way. "Now now, Hikari, don't lie to me..."
Knowing only God and seraphs could beat Asuka, Hikari nodded, her face as red as a fire engine. "I...guess so."
"SO TELL 'EM! Tell the poor sod what you feel. If you just tell him you got the letter, your whole budding relationship is AUTOMATICALLY ka-put! Boys are fragile and strange creatures, Hikari. They won't know what a dog is unless you stick one in front of their faces. Which is why guys won't know if you love them unless you SAY it. Unless you can't be passionate here because I am here which is why you wanted to write it at your house...?"
Oh God, Shinji thought from the hallway. Hikari must be feeling very awkward at the moment.
Shinji had not come in the room to eavesdrop (no, seriously, he didn't!) He had actually went into the hallway to give Pen-Pen a snack because he'd forgotten to feed him when he got back from school. But he heard Asuka giving her Boy Sermon, and he decided that this wasn't a good time to barge in...
"Well, alright, you win..." Hikari muttered. "I...I guess I can write it here. But tell me...how exactly can I be passionate to....to Suzuhara?"
Shinji knew she was right. Touji was....not exactly....heart-emotionally-feely. He had asked Shinji to write the poem, after all.
Then he heard Asuka talking and leaned in closer.
"Well, you're right, Hikari. The guy is pretty dense and thick as lead. But just say what you wanna say! I mean, if you wrote it, he'll accept it. He wanted you to know he likes you, after all. I mean, why the poem? He probably wrote, or got someone else to write, what he felt. So, you can do it too. I mean, if I ever got a love letter like that, I'd definately read it. I'd even respond back, probably. For someone to write something so beautiful like that, they're great writers, and great guys. I'd love to get such a real and emotional poem like that...." She trailed off, sighing as she did.
At this, Shinji's mouth dropped open. Asuka liked the poem. This meant, oh, this meant...
For once in his life, Shinji understood what Asuka meant, and it took him less than 7 seconds. He tip-toed quietly back to his room, deciding that Pen-Pen could hold off food a little while longer.
"So....I should just...write from the heart?" Hikari asked hopefully.
"Yeah, and all that emotional stuff. So get to writing! And then, I'll read it. And then, you can go..."
Hikari put her pen back on the paper and scribbled furiously. Asuka raised her eyebrows in approval.
She must have a lot to say, Asuka thought.
Little did she know, though, that a certain teenage boy in the same household had a lot to say, too....
----------------------------------
The next day, Asuka walked into Shinji's room and found it empty.
"Huh," She muttered. "That's pretty new."
She walked into the kitchen and found that to be empty as well. Now this puzzled her as well.
"Don't tell me that baka already left for school!" She muttered in a panic, pulling on her school shoes as quickly as possible. "Why did he leave so early!?!? Dumkopf!"
With this, she ran out the door, ignoring the "Wark-warks" from Pen-Pen. She was determined to get to school.
Well, if the elevator didn't take so long, she'd had been a lot more determined to get to school...
---------------------------------
Shinji had arrived at school an hour before the first bell. It was empty, as he had predicted, except for one or two students and a few teachers. As hurriedly as he could he stuffed the piece of paper into a locker, then shuffled back to his desk.
By and by, students shuffled into the room. Every time the door opened, he looked up, expecting to see red hair–but to no avail. It was 5 minutes to the bell, and he was getting worried. Hikari seemed this way too, she was clutching her desk and her knuckles were white.
Suddenly, the door was flung open to reveal an out-of-breath Asuka. She stomped over to Shinji and slammed her fist on his desk.
"NEXT TIME," She puffed, trying to get the words out. "FEED the stupid penguin so he doesn't lock the elevators!"
"Pen-Pen locked the elevator? How in the heck did he do that?" Shinji asked, appalled himself.
"I...don't...know..." She wheezed, coughing. "But....just....FEED IT!" Then she walked to the back locker room, Hikari running after her.
Shinji looked back, trying to see her open her locker, but he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see a very excited Touji.
"Hey, Shinji," He said excitedly. "Look wut I got..."
He unfolded a crumpled piece of paper from his hand and showed it to Shinji, but Shinji already knew what it was.
Dear Suzuhara,
I am VERY HAPPY to say that I received your letter and I just want to say in reply...
I LOVE YOU. I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED YOU!!! EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE A PERVERT AND YOU'RE NOT SMART AT SCHOOL, I LOVE YOU. Your poem was very passionate....I wish I could write as good as you, Suzuhara-san, but I guess you are smart in some ways. I just want to say, whatever feeling you were expressing in your poem, hopefully love, I RETURN IT with my whole heart.
Love,
Hikari Horaki
Shinji stared open-mouthed at the letter. He knew Asuka had told her to be PASSIONATE, but not exactly this bold and revealing. It was like screaming out loud, "I LOVE YOU!" Shinji didn't know how Touji could keep from blushing in embarrassment.
"Where's da class rep?" He asked excitedly. "I gotta tell her–"
"No!" Shinji exclaimed, grabbing his tracksuit from behind. Touji turned around, an eyebrow raised. "Um, I mean, she's busy with Asuka. Why don't you wait till lunch? You'll have a longer time to...er...tell her."
Touji nodded. "Aw, you're right. Okay, I'm gonna show Kensuke..."
Shinji hoped Kensuke could handle it. He wasn't very...romantic. But then, neither was Touji, and he had all the luck in the world right now. However, Shinji hoped some of that luck was directed towards himself as well...he needed it, now.
-------------------------
Asuka opened her shoe locker and shoved her shoes inside. But they wouldn't go in all the way.
"What the heck!" She screamed. "I don't know whether it's the stupid leather on these dumb shoes or the thickness and denseness of the letters. Hikari, help me shove these in!"
Hikari was blushing so hard but she helped her anyway. "Uh–I think it's this letter here," She said nervously. Indeed there was a letter written on thick paper that was keeping the shoes from going in.
"Damn letter," Asuka growled. She pulled it out. "Oh well. I guess I'll read it anyway. It better be good, it's flooding–up–my–locker..."
Finally the shoes got shoved in and Asuka put on her school slippers. Then she opened up the note and beckoned Hikari over.
"Stop BLUSHING," She scowled, fed up with looking at Hikari's face, which resembled the color of Asuka's plugsuit. "You don't even know if he got it yet! But it was very passionate. Maybe a bit...emotional-bold. But passionate. Hey, don't feel so bad..."
"Just read your stupid letter," Hikari said in an excited whisper.
Asuka rolled her eyes. "You're right, it's probably stupid anyway..."
Dear Asuka,
To the girl who makes me feel
like I'm looking at the world from up above:
Insults
hurt me
cold blue eyes
irritate me
'baka'
kills me
but when you look at me
without that 'low-life' look
pleading
helpless
young
afraid
alone,
I just can't help
seeing myself
in your eyes
knowing you
are just like
me.
So come
take my hand
we'll walk
through life
together.
~Anonymous~
Asuka and Hikari were literally in shock.
"It's even better than mine," Hikari said breathily.
"I...I..."
Asuka couldn't even say full sentences. She was too...mesmerized by the words of this poem. Sure, they were just words. But put in this order, in this situation, it tweaked Asuka in a way that compelled her to instantly want to meet the person who had written these words....they scared her, because she'd never had words like this said to her before. It made her eyes tear at the corners because they were so passionate and they made her stomach churn in a good way, a twisted, lovey sort of way. It made her feel sick.
"I...uh..."
Hikari giggled. "I guess I'm not the only one who's gotten hit by the love bug, huh?"
"Shut up, Hikari," Asuka said suddenly, snapping back into her senses. "I'm not in love. I'm just....shocked."
"You said yourself last night you'd want to meet whoever wrote such a thing like this," Hikari reminded her.
"I did, didn't I?" Asuka said. Her eyes started to sparkle and her mouth twisted in a mischievous grin. "Yeah, didn't I?"
"Yes. Oh, no, wait. What are you–"
Hikari felt she had said the wrong thing, for Asuka had gotten to her feet and was starting to walk back towards the classroom, a determined look on her face....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note: ::big grin:: This is my SECOND, ever, Eva story. Of course, since Denial [fanfiction.net] I have gotten to reading MANY (maybe too many) Eva fics. I've read all the fics by Axel Terizaki [now that guy is reeeeaaaaalllly good, I am serious, his stories are the best] and in a state of frenzy, have read The One I Love Is... by Alain Gravel. In fact, I finished it not too long ago [maybe 15 minutes ago or so?] I've read some on evafics.org, and on evamade.com. Overall, the Eva fics I've read are great. I hope this one is acceptable. DON'T expect an Angel fight too soon, mind you! I'm still not experienced in that field! I can't get all the details of one down! So...on with the story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Neon Genesis Evangelion/Shin Seiki Evangelion, unfortunately. Darnnit, this sucks. I need to copyright a company. Excuse me...
Note: The Touji Suzuhara you will encounter in this particular story is BASED ON THE MANGA. I've NEVER seen the anime version. Only pictures. Yeah, go ahead, throw eggs at me. But I've never seen it on TV and I can't get ahold of the DVDs. The Touji in the manga [by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto] has an Osaka accent, which is kind of like a Japanese southern accent. Hmm, I think that's the only difference. Also, the Shinji Ikari in this story is a bit like the manga and anime. In the manga, Shinji has a bit more of a backbone. He's a bit more stable. He's not that wimpy. And...well, I guess that's it. You got a problem with that, then oh well.
To Asuka
"Dammit! I got another one!"
"You got another ones...."
Asuka Langley Sohryu stared in anger at the pile of rose-scented, French-lavender-sprinkled, nice stationary-ed letters, each saying the same thing: "You're hot", "I love you", "I want you", "Will you go out with me?" and other things not suitable for younger viewers.
Hikari laughed at the amount of envelopes in Asuka's locker. "It just goes to show how popular you are."
For a second there, Asuka struck a triumphant pose. "Of course! I am the Great Sohryu Asuka Langley! Did you expect any less of my reputation!?!?" Then she faltered and kicked her shoes on top of the letters, then slipped on her school shoes. "But still. To be popular among the geeks and bakas of this school isn't very....prideful."
"That is true," Hikari agreed, slipping on her school shoes. "You make a point there."
"Don't I always?" The German girl grinned heartily.
------------------------------------------
In the corner of class 2-A, a wimpy-looking boy but with deep dark eyes stared with hatred at the paper in front of him.
"Touji, I still don't get this..." He turned to his friend.
"Don't sweat it, man! All yuh gossa do is dis: you write one of dem sappy love poems youse is always writin en den I'll take care of da rest, yo!" Toji winked. "Youse is da smart one, man. I needa tell da class rep....uh....what I tink of her. So....yeah...." His face flushed pink and Shinji had to cover his mouth to stop laughing.
"You like the class rep?" He asked as "modestly" as he could.
"Shuddup, man! Jess write da damn ting!"
Taking his advice, Shinji shut up and put his pen to the paper. It was true, he was pretty good at writing poetry. Maybe all that classical music had gone to his head or something, but he was pretty good.
There was a writer's block starting to mold in Shinji's brain but he beat it. After five minutes of chewing absentmindedly on his pen, ignoring the "Dammit Ikari hurry da hell up"s from Touji and the ecstatic screams of missing some tip for hacking into a computer from Kensuke, a line had formed in his head.
He put the pen to the paper, wiping off some spit, and began to write.
However, at that moment, a German redheaded devil flung herself into the classroom.
"LET ME TELL YOU ONE LAST TIME, YOU FREAKIN' IDIOTS, THAT I DON'T_WANT_YOUR_LETTERS!" Asuka screamed at the top of her lungs. "YOU SODS ARE SCREWING UP MY LOCKER!"
Instead of sad, pitying remarks and "I feel so sorry for myself"s that Asuka would have liked to hear, she heard the dorks of class 2-A responding wheezingly, "So you *puff* got my letter *puff* Asuka! Did *puff* *hack* you *puff* like it?"
(No, they're not smoking....)
A vein twitched in Asuka's head. Then she spotted Shinji and stomped over to him. Shinji gulped.
Oh, damn, he thought. I feel a sudden pain coming on...
"You!" She cried, pointing a finger in his direction. "I bet you sent one to me, too!"
Shinji looked at Asuka in shock and disgust. "Why would I do that?"
"Because you're a hormonal-15-year-old guy with no control whatsoever of his sexual pleasures!"
Shinji's mouth was open in one of disgust, horror, and disbelief. "No way! I did no such thing. I will never do such a thing!"
Asuka sighed. "No use lying to yourself, Shinji..."
And she bent down so low their noses were almost touching, and Shinji, if he just happened to look down, could see the top part of her cleavage. He looked up and tried to make that feeling down there go away...
"See Shinji," Asuka said in a low voice, for once not caring about anyone else, who was staring. "All the boys like me for one thing: my looks. I'd rather be liked for more than just this, but...no. At this age every guy is like this." She narrowed her eyes. "I didn't expect any exception from you. After all, I've seen you in the morning..."
Shinji blushed a deep red. Asuka straightened up and walked away.
Touji walked over to Shinji. "Hey man, dat wuz some weird stuff da devil jess pulled dere..."
Shinji was still red. "Yeah..."
"So are yeh gon' write da damn ting!?!?! I've been waitin forever!!"
Shinji snapped back into reality and put his pen back on the paper. "O-oh yeah..." He quickly wrote something down and showed Touji the paper. "Here."
Touji picked it up and examined it. "Hey Ikari, dis is not all dat bad. No, not bad at all...now wut iz da class rep's locker numba?"
Shinji shrugged. "Why would you expect me to know?"
"Coz youse is smart, dumbass."
Shinji sighed and gave in. "I think it's 53."
"Now youse is shure?"
"Yeah, pretty much..."
Actually, the truth was, Shinji didn't know whether it was 53 or 35. He could care less, anyway. He didn't like the class rep that much.
He had eyes for another.
----------------------------------------
In the locker room, Touji slipped the envelope with the poem "he" had written in it into shoe locker number 53.
"Now all I gossa do is wait," Touji said hopefully, making sure no one saw him as he walked back into the classroom...
----------------------------------
At lunchtime, Asuka was sprawled out on her desk, apparently snoozing. The rest of the class walked by her and some poked her, but she must have been as tired as hell, because she wasn't waking up.
Hikari walked over to her, pissed off because Asuka was destroying the "good reputation" of the class. "Asuka..."
Asuka's head snapped back up immediately. "WHAT DID I MISS?!?"
"Get up, Asuka....it's lunchtime," Hikari said, thinking that it was no use to get mad at Asuka because she would just get madder.
"Oh, really? Schiesse...let me get my shoes," She yawned again and walked into the locker room.
Hikari followed her and retrieved her own shoes. She looked over at Asuka, who was staring into her locker.
"Do you have your shoes? Come on," Hikari said, pulling on her sleeve. "Let's go..."
"No, wait. I got another one," Asuka grunted. She pointed into her locker. "Look."
Hikari looked into Asuka's locker and saw she was right; there was an envelope in there with....
"Why is my name on it though!?!?" Hikari asked, shocked.
"Maybe the dud got the locker numbers wrong," Asuka scoffed. She fished it out. "Here, let's read it."
Oblivious to the fact that they were missing lunch reading this note, Asuka opened it and began to read it, Hikari reading over her shoulder.
Maybe one day you'll notice me
instead of looking at me through another light
I'm different, so please
accept me for myself
try to understand that
there's another world behind me
instead of
jock,
accented,
huge,
pervert...
Maybe I am all these things
but maybe
I'm more?
You understand everyone
everyone, it seems
but me
so try to understand me,
maybe that'll take us
into a different light...
Both of us
together
~T.S.~
Asuka and Hikari sat, open-mouthed, staring at the piece of paper she was holding.
"Oh my God," Hikari said, grabbing her shirt. "Oh, my God..."
"Wow, that was good. Better than anything I ever got...and look at the initials!"
"T.S.?!?" Hikari gasped. "Oh my God. No way. No!"
"Yes," Asuka laughed. "Yes way."
Hikari slumped against the wall and buried her face in her hands. "Now what am I gonna do!??!"
"I don't know. Don't ask me," Asuka said.
"You are such a big help," Hikari said, dripping with sarcasm.
"Thanks."
-------------------------------
After school, Shinji and Touji were walking home together because Kensuke had to stay after school.
"I pity da guy. He didn do nuttin," Touji said.
"Except getting caught at hacking into the school's files," Shinji added.
"Well, yea, buh 'snot really a big deal..."
"Whatever."
They crossed at the intersection and Shinji decided to bring up the question.
"Do you think Hikari got the note?" He asked.
Touji flushed a deep red. "I dunno!"
"What's up? Are you scared of being rejected?"
"WHO IN DA HECK WOULDN'T?!?!"
Shinji held his hands up in a pathetic apology. "Ok, ok. I'm just....wondering."
"Besides, it wouldn't 'splain much coz ya poem sucked...."
"HEY!!!"
"Dang Ikari, I'm just jokin'....can'cha take a joke?"
Shinji shut up and they walked in silence for awhile. When they reached the place where they had to separate, Touji slapped Shinji on the back.
"Actually, ya did a pretty good job. Better den 'neting I could write, anyways..."
Shinji looked up. "Really?"
"Yeah. Aright, I better go. Later, Ikari."
Shinji nodded, shocked to hear words of praise (when you are Shinji Ikari, praise is of rare) and walked to the apartment.
-----------------------------------
"Are you sure Misato-sama wouldn't mind if I came over?"
"Are you kidding? She's tired of me and Shinji fighting all the time, she'd practically love you to bits and pieces 'coz you're so polite."
Hikari blushed. They were in front of Misato's apartment, and Asuka was opening the door.
"I mean, we could have just gone to my house to examine the note..."
"Believe me, this place is better. Misato is at work and stupid Shinji, well, when he gets home I'll just banish him to his room. At your house, everyone is home."
Hikari sighed as the door opened and she took off her shoes. "You're right..."
Asuka threw her bag on the floor while Hikari carefully set it aside on the chair. They both sat down on the couch and Hikari took out the note.
Asuka grabbed it from Hikari and looked it over. "Hmmmmm. Do you really think this note holds any meaning?"
Hikari blushed again. "What? Why do you ask?"
"Well, I mean, it's not like Touji's some kind of lovey-dovey guy."
"But all the guys who hide their feelings tend to be guys like Suzuhara."
"That's right, you have a point."
Hikari looked it over once more. "But it doesn't look like his handwriting."
Asuka mentally slapped her forehead. "Hikari, try to understand guys don't want you to know they wrote it!"
"Then why did he put his initials?"
"Maybe he got someone else to write the poem for him!"
Hikari sat back and took this all in. Touji Suzuhara, whom she always seemed to be yelling at, had written–or at least had made up–this beautiful poem. To her.
Actually, it was kind of disgusting, embarrassing, and weird for Hikari. But it was also pretty romantic.
"So what should I do? Should I tell him I got it?"
"Put a note in his shoe locker, and you guys can go from there."
Hikari blushed even harder...oh God, how far can she go!?!? "Well, will you help me?"
"WHY DO YOU THINK I'M HERE?!?!"
Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a thoughtful Shinji. He spotted the two girls and cursed himself. Of course Hikari or Asuka was going to ask him about the note, they were friends and he was friends with Touji.
WHAT WOULD HE SAY?!!?
"Um...hello." He said casually. "Sorry for disturbing you."
Hikari smiled. "Oh, it's no–"
Then Asuka butted in. "Hey Shinji, do you know anything about your big stupid friend and some note?"
Oh God, Shinji thought, searching for the right words. "Er, no, I mean, not likely, uh, actually, I have to go." He ran off.
Smooth, Shinji, he kicked himself. Really nice.
Asuka pondered over Shinji's reaction.
"The baka is hiding something," She finally declared.
Hikari, however, kept staring at the note.
"You know what, maybe I'll just write that note by myself," She said finally.
"What!?!? No! I wanna see it too!"
"But, Asuka..."
"NO! Come on, Hikari!"
"Asuka...;;"
Asuka got up and grabbed a pen from her bookbag and a piece of paper, then thrust both at Hikari.
"You WILL write the DAMN NOTE HERE because I wanna SEE IT too!"
"O-KAY, o-KAY..."
Hikari took the pen and put it on the paper. She stuck her tongue out, just a little, and looked at Asuka.
"So...."
Asuka sighed. "You've never written a love letter before, have you?"
"Does it show?"
So Asuka, doing this just because Hikari was her best friend, took her through the steps of how to write a proper love letter.
"Oh, alright. I get it."
A few minutes later (ok, it was an hour) Hikari showed a rough draft to Asuka.
"How is it?" She asked eagerly.
Dear Suzuhara-san,
I received your letter. Thank you very much.
~Horaki Hikari~
Ach, Gott....can this get ANY lamer?!?!
Asuka tried to let her friend down nicely.
"What the heck is this crap, Hikari!!??"
Hikari looked shocked. "Um..."
"YOU CALL THIS A LETTER? This piece o' crap ain't a LETTER. It's practically just a note you pass in between classes. A love letter has to be passionate. You like him, don't you??!"
Hikari blushed. "What!?!?"
Asuka tutted in a tutting sort of way. "Now now, Hikari, don't lie to me..."
Knowing only God and seraphs could beat Asuka, Hikari nodded, her face as red as a fire engine. "I...guess so."
"SO TELL 'EM! Tell the poor sod what you feel. If you just tell him you got the letter, your whole budding relationship is AUTOMATICALLY ka-put! Boys are fragile and strange creatures, Hikari. They won't know what a dog is unless you stick one in front of their faces. Which is why guys won't know if you love them unless you SAY it. Unless you can't be passionate here because I am here which is why you wanted to write it at your house...?"
Oh God, Shinji thought from the hallway. Hikari must be feeling very awkward at the moment.
Shinji had not come in the room to eavesdrop (no, seriously, he didn't!) He had actually went into the hallway to give Pen-Pen a snack because he'd forgotten to feed him when he got back from school. But he heard Asuka giving her Boy Sermon, and he decided that this wasn't a good time to barge in...
"Well, alright, you win..." Hikari muttered. "I...I guess I can write it here. But tell me...how exactly can I be passionate to....to Suzuhara?"
Shinji knew she was right. Touji was....not exactly....heart-emotionally-feely. He had asked Shinji to write the poem, after all.
Then he heard Asuka talking and leaned in closer.
"Well, you're right, Hikari. The guy is pretty dense and thick as lead. But just say what you wanna say! I mean, if you wrote it, he'll accept it. He wanted you to know he likes you, after all. I mean, why the poem? He probably wrote, or got someone else to write, what he felt. So, you can do it too. I mean, if I ever got a love letter like that, I'd definately read it. I'd even respond back, probably. For someone to write something so beautiful like that, they're great writers, and great guys. I'd love to get such a real and emotional poem like that...." She trailed off, sighing as she did.
At this, Shinji's mouth dropped open. Asuka liked the poem. This meant, oh, this meant...
For once in his life, Shinji understood what Asuka meant, and it took him less than 7 seconds. He tip-toed quietly back to his room, deciding that Pen-Pen could hold off food a little while longer.
"So....I should just...write from the heart?" Hikari asked hopefully.
"Yeah, and all that emotional stuff. So get to writing! And then, I'll read it. And then, you can go..."
Hikari put her pen back on the paper and scribbled furiously. Asuka raised her eyebrows in approval.
She must have a lot to say, Asuka thought.
Little did she know, though, that a certain teenage boy in the same household had a lot to say, too....
----------------------------------
The next day, Asuka walked into Shinji's room and found it empty.
"Huh," She muttered. "That's pretty new."
She walked into the kitchen and found that to be empty as well. Now this puzzled her as well.
"Don't tell me that baka already left for school!" She muttered in a panic, pulling on her school shoes as quickly as possible. "Why did he leave so early!?!? Dumkopf!"
With this, she ran out the door, ignoring the "Wark-warks" from Pen-Pen. She was determined to get to school.
Well, if the elevator didn't take so long, she'd had been a lot more determined to get to school...
---------------------------------
Shinji had arrived at school an hour before the first bell. It was empty, as he had predicted, except for one or two students and a few teachers. As hurriedly as he could he stuffed the piece of paper into a locker, then shuffled back to his desk.
By and by, students shuffled into the room. Every time the door opened, he looked up, expecting to see red hair–but to no avail. It was 5 minutes to the bell, and he was getting worried. Hikari seemed this way too, she was clutching her desk and her knuckles were white.
Suddenly, the door was flung open to reveal an out-of-breath Asuka. She stomped over to Shinji and slammed her fist on his desk.
"NEXT TIME," She puffed, trying to get the words out. "FEED the stupid penguin so he doesn't lock the elevators!"
"Pen-Pen locked the elevator? How in the heck did he do that?" Shinji asked, appalled himself.
"I...don't...know..." She wheezed, coughing. "But....just....FEED IT!" Then she walked to the back locker room, Hikari running after her.
Shinji looked back, trying to see her open her locker, but he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see a very excited Touji.
"Hey, Shinji," He said excitedly. "Look wut I got..."
He unfolded a crumpled piece of paper from his hand and showed it to Shinji, but Shinji already knew what it was.
Dear Suzuhara,
I am VERY HAPPY to say that I received your letter and I just want to say in reply...
I LOVE YOU. I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED YOU!!! EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE A PERVERT AND YOU'RE NOT SMART AT SCHOOL, I LOVE YOU. Your poem was very passionate....I wish I could write as good as you, Suzuhara-san, but I guess you are smart in some ways. I just want to say, whatever feeling you were expressing in your poem, hopefully love, I RETURN IT with my whole heart.
Love,
Hikari Horaki
Shinji stared open-mouthed at the letter. He knew Asuka had told her to be PASSIONATE, but not exactly this bold and revealing. It was like screaming out loud, "I LOVE YOU!" Shinji didn't know how Touji could keep from blushing in embarrassment.
"Where's da class rep?" He asked excitedly. "I gotta tell her–"
"No!" Shinji exclaimed, grabbing his tracksuit from behind. Touji turned around, an eyebrow raised. "Um, I mean, she's busy with Asuka. Why don't you wait till lunch? You'll have a longer time to...er...tell her."
Touji nodded. "Aw, you're right. Okay, I'm gonna show Kensuke..."
Shinji hoped Kensuke could handle it. He wasn't very...romantic. But then, neither was Touji, and he had all the luck in the world right now. However, Shinji hoped some of that luck was directed towards himself as well...he needed it, now.
-------------------------
Asuka opened her shoe locker and shoved her shoes inside. But they wouldn't go in all the way.
"What the heck!" She screamed. "I don't know whether it's the stupid leather on these dumb shoes or the thickness and denseness of the letters. Hikari, help me shove these in!"
Hikari was blushing so hard but she helped her anyway. "Uh–I think it's this letter here," She said nervously. Indeed there was a letter written on thick paper that was keeping the shoes from going in.
"Damn letter," Asuka growled. She pulled it out. "Oh well. I guess I'll read it anyway. It better be good, it's flooding–up–my–locker..."
Finally the shoes got shoved in and Asuka put on her school slippers. Then she opened up the note and beckoned Hikari over.
"Stop BLUSHING," She scowled, fed up with looking at Hikari's face, which resembled the color of Asuka's plugsuit. "You don't even know if he got it yet! But it was very passionate. Maybe a bit...emotional-bold. But passionate. Hey, don't feel so bad..."
"Just read your stupid letter," Hikari said in an excited whisper.
Asuka rolled her eyes. "You're right, it's probably stupid anyway..."
Dear Asuka,
To the girl who makes me feel
like I'm looking at the world from up above:
Insults
hurt me
cold blue eyes
irritate me
'baka'
kills me
but when you look at me
without that 'low-life' look
pleading
helpless
young
afraid
alone,
I just can't help
seeing myself
in your eyes
knowing you
are just like
me.
So come
take my hand
we'll walk
through life
together.
~Anonymous~
Asuka and Hikari were literally in shock.
"It's even better than mine," Hikari said breathily.
"I...I..."
Asuka couldn't even say full sentences. She was too...mesmerized by the words of this poem. Sure, they were just words. But put in this order, in this situation, it tweaked Asuka in a way that compelled her to instantly want to meet the person who had written these words....they scared her, because she'd never had words like this said to her before. It made her eyes tear at the corners because they were so passionate and they made her stomach churn in a good way, a twisted, lovey sort of way. It made her feel sick.
"I...uh..."
Hikari giggled. "I guess I'm not the only one who's gotten hit by the love bug, huh?"
"Shut up, Hikari," Asuka said suddenly, snapping back into her senses. "I'm not in love. I'm just....shocked."
"You said yourself last night you'd want to meet whoever wrote such a thing like this," Hikari reminded her.
"I did, didn't I?" Asuka said. Her eyes started to sparkle and her mouth twisted in a mischievous grin. "Yeah, didn't I?"
"Yes. Oh, no, wait. What are you–"
Hikari felt she had said the wrong thing, for Asuka had gotten to her feet and was starting to walk back towards the classroom, a determined look on her face....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~