Asuka and Rei walked together after leaving NERV headquarters. Rei smiled and said goodbye to Shinji while Asuka stuck her tongue out at him and walked away into the sunset. Shinji shook his head and smiled as he walked into Misato’s car alongside her and both drove back to her place. 

Asuka and Rei had been walking for a bit of a while, but neither had said a word. 

“This feels so incredibly awkward. I should probably say something to her. But what could I say? She’s a really shy girl. Maybe I’ll ask her about what book she’s currently reading” was what Asuka had thought to herself.

“So Rei, read any good books lately?”

“I’m currently reading a book on quantum physics. All forms of science are just so incredibly fascinating to me. The pursuit of knowledge and knowing we may possibly never know everything. 

Asuka wasn’t expecting such a heady answer but it was an answer nonetheless. She always did exceedingly well when she went to school, but she only really studied hard and everything to be the top of her class. She wasn’t that genuinely fascinated by the topics she studied. But, she wanted to reciprocate the comment given to her by Rei so it doesn’t seem like she ignored her.

“Yeah, that kind of stuff is interesting to me too.”

God how stupid of an answer, she thought to herself. As they both walked, Asuka felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead, she quickly wiped it off and decided to try to talk about the one thing people always do when a conversation goes nowhere, the weather.

“Sure is humid today.”

“It is.”

“You feeling hot at all.”

“Yes.” 

She’s giving me such minimal answers, she thought to herself annoyed. Asuka looked down as they were walking, she looked at the cute flip flops she got for herself. They had plastic sunflowers all around the straps. While she looked over at Rei’s footwear, she noticed that she was wearing the same old shoes she always does.

“Rei, don’t you wear sandals or flip flops?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I mean today is a pretty hot and humid day and you’re here wearing socks and shoes on a day like this. Don’t you want your feet to breathe at all?”

“I prefer wearing shoes. They feel more comfortable to me.” 

“Fair enough”

For some reason, this made Asuka’s mind wander to how Rei’s feet looked. She never really got a good look at them or anything. Asuka didn’t even know why this thought came across her mind. She hates feet. Especially Misato’s. She shivered at the memory of the time she made her smell her feet while popping her boots off. 

“Where are we going to eat” asked Rei, starting the conversation for the first time.

“I was thinking we’d go grab some fast food, ya know, something casual.”

“As long as I can get a salad or something.”

That fact completely slipped her mind. She forgot that Rei doesn’t like eating meat all that much. But she felt a quick sense of relief knowing that most, if not all, fast food places order some form of vegan food. 

By the time Rei and Asuka made it to WcDonalds, rush hour had already passed making it quicker and easier for them to finally order there food.