[Neon Genesis Evangelion; hanging; con]

“Ugh, I can't believe our teacher!” Asuka threw up her arms in frustration after a particularly taxing day of school. “This 'fitness' stuff in PE sucks! I mean, a little stamina I can get, but would we need that strength training for? Especially for us girls.”

“I don't mind it.” Shinji countered, walking besides her on their way home. “It never hurts to stay in shape a little.”

“Well, you wouldn't, you're a boy, you're all about being the toughest and strongest.”

“Maybe they are,” Rei added from Asuka's other side. “but regardless, physical fitness can only be beneficial to our piloting.”

“But I don't need stupid push-ups for that!”

“Are you sure you're not just angry because the majority of the boys, including Ikari-kun scored higher than you?”

“No. ...Yes. ...A little, maybe. But it's just pointless and unfair, and besides, I didn't see you do nearly as good as me, wondergirl.”

“But strength isn't everything either.” Of course a wimp like Shinji would say something like that.

“I agree with Ikari-kun, intelligence or creativity can be just as important.” And of course wondergirl would side with him too.

Asuka frowned. “Care to put that to the test, then?”

“If you wish. What do you have in mind, Sohryu-san?”

“A contest of strength, I'll definitely beat you, and probably Shinji too. Hey, stupid, you have some rope at your place, right?”

“Um, I think so. What for?”

“You'll see when we're there.”

***

“Here we go.” Asuka turned around to show the noose she had made to Shinji and Rei before throwing it over the central beam of the old disused swing set standing in the small backyard. “We're gonna pull each other up for a suspension hanging. Stupid is gonna take the time how long each can hold the other. If one dies, obviously the other wins by default.”

“I see. Who gets to start?”

“...Shinji, flip a coin. I call heads.”

...“Heads. That means Ayanami will be hanged first.”

“Very well.” Rei stepped out of her shoes and socks before taking off her shirt too, starting to fully undress heedless of the faint blush rising on Shinji's cheeks. “I suppose it's only fair to take off my clothes to remove any excess weight.”

“If you want to.” Though this probably meant Asuka would have to strip in front of stupid too if it came to her turn. At least Rei's breasts were still smaller than hers, even if she had to admit the rest of the pale girl's physique was somewhat admirable.

“I'm ready.” Rei stepped under the swing, placing the noose around her neck before turning to Shinji with a small smile. “In case Sohryu-san wins and I die, farewell, Ikari-kun. Farewell, Sohryu-san.” She gave Asuka a brief nod. “Go.”

Asuka took a deep breath, then wrapped the rope around her right hand, normally griping it with her left, and pulled. Rei had always seemed a bit frail to her, and as it turned out, she was appropriately light too and Asuka could rather easily lift her off the ground a good half meter before holding her there, turning sideways a bit so she could use more of her own bodyweight.

For the first several seconds Rei barely reacted at all, but then she let out a small gasp as her feet started twitching a little. But she still maintained a pointedly neutral expression, keeping her gaze trained on Shinji, who was watching her just as intently.

The rope she was holding was starting to cut into Asuka's hand, but there was no way to change her grip now, and besides she knew that Rei had to be suffering much worse right now, so as long as wondergirl wasn't showing any reaction, Asuka would even less so.

It took another minute or so before Rei finally began gasping for air, kicking slightly and starting to sway a little, the rope pulling at Asuka's hands some more, who in turn leaned in with a little more of her weight, ignoring the pain in her right and the exhaustion slowly showing in her arms.

Rei's face was slowly turning red, and just now Asuka could see a tear of fear and anguish roll down her cheek, and while Asuka normally wasn't that sadistic or mean, she had to admit she kind of enjoyed seeing the perpetually stoic girl's composure break for once, even though her growing struggles were making it harder and harder to keep hold of the rope, Asuka's palms feeling as if they were on fire.

By this point Rei was struggling wildly, kicking, gasping and clawing at the rope, to no effect of course, but Asuka's muscles were starting to burn from the strain, and a small part of her doubted she'd be able to actually hang wondergirl to death. But she wasn't gonna be beaten so easily, especially not by something as trivial as gravity, so gritting her teeth, Asuka carefully shifted her footing to use yet more of her weight.

A few minutes later, Rei's struggles finally started weakening, reduced to small coughs and twitches, and Asuka wondered how long she'd have to hold her to be absolutely sure, but the steadily growing burning numbness in her hands, arms and even shoulders didn't let her. Instead Asuka could just barely untangle her hand from the rope to avoid some major ropeburn before she had to let go, wondergirl unceremoniously crumpling to the floor.

As Shinji got up to check on Rei, Asuka just stood there panting, waiting for strength to return to her arms as she inspected the angry red mark on the inside of her palm; that would probably hurt for a bit, but even if she was still alive, there was no way wondergirl would be beating her, so it'd be worth it.

“She's still alive.” Shinji announced after checking on Ayanami, and as he gently slapped her cheek to wake her, her eyelids fluttered open and she gasped for air, drawing in long greedy breaths before reaching for Shinji's shoulder to steady herself. “Ayanami, are you okay?”

“...I-” Rei was interrupted by a fit of coughing and when she continued her voice sounded weak and hoarse. “I'll... be fine... Ikari-kun.”

While Rei got up with Shinji's help, slowly regaining her breath, Asuka made a small show out of stripping naked, but of course Stupid only noticed at the very end when she presented her body, with nice firm boobs and a small neatly-trimmed patch of red down there, trying her best not to blush even as Shinji blatantly stared at her. “Wh-what are you waiting for, wondergirl? Come on.” Asuka quickly turned around to pick up the rope – pointedly ignoring the view she had to be flashing Shinji for a moment – and throw it back over the swing, before placing the noose around her neck.

“So I just have to lift you out of my own power, correct?” Rei asked as she got in position, gripping the rope with both hands.

“That's what I was saying, weren't you listening?”

“No, everything is fine, Sohryu-san.”

“You know I'll win. Let's get this over with.”

A moment later the noose dug into her neck, slowly pulling Asuka onto her tiptoes before raising her off the ground completely. She couldn't quite see Rei, but from the way she could hear the blue-haired girl straining to hold her, Asuka was pretty confident Rei wouldn't hold out nearly as long, so she forced herself to react as little as possible and make a good picture, even if her head was quickly starting to pound.

However a few moments later Rei just walked in front of her, both hands free, and Asuka looked to the side to find that wondergirl had tied the rope around the beam in the side of the swing set and she frowned. “H-hey... Cheating...” Asuka barely managed to produce the words.

“Not at all.” Rei calmly countered. “But I think Ikari-kun should be the one to decide.”

“Huh? Oh...” Of course stupid took a moment to answer, Asuka could clearly tell he had been distracted by her body – understandably. “...I think Ayanami is right. She expressly asked that she only had to lift you out of her own power, you never specified holding. And the debate of strength against intelligence was what started this, so she outsmarted you. Y-you can just give up, though, otherwise you'll...”

By now the pain was pretty bad, so it took Asuka a lot of control to not just grimace but clearly glare and frown at Shinji. “No... way...” She was never gonna give up to wondergirl and her 'smartness', even if it killed her – which in fact it was about to.

Shinji was about to say something, but Rei cut him short by placing a hand on his shoulder. “Don't bother. Sohryu-san is not going to give up, just leave her be.” He nodded and the two sat down on a nearby bench to observe Asuka's struggle, Rei still completely naked and seeing nothing wrong with it.

Shinji looked at Asuka's face, already dark red and slowly shifting towards purple, contorted in pain despite her best efforts as she started kicking and clawing at the rope. “I am sure Sohryu-san is in a lot of pain right now.” Rei answered the unspoken question after following his gaze, and Shinji looked over to her, taking a few seconds to formulate his question.

“I-if you don't mind, Ayanami, how did it feel to...”

“To be hanged?” Rei smiled. “It was agonizing, likely more than any pain I ever felt.” And this included a few very bad situations in their battles with the angels too. But even beyond the physical pain, the circumstances of it, herself naked, with only Ikari-kun and Sohryu-san watching, had made this experience much more ...intimate and intense than any other. “But it was also beautiful,” She continued “knowing that you were there, watching me.”

Failing to come up with a response, Shinji slowly raised his hand towards Rei's neck, and she tilted her head backwards, leaving him to inspect and then gently caress the dark red and blue marks the rope had left around her neck, the both of them entirely ignoring Asuka's continued suffering, tears running down her cheeks as she wildly fought an unwinnable battle against the rope . “You- your pain was beautiful too. You were more beautiful than any girl I've ever met. Thank you for letting me see this, Ayanami.”

“Thank you for being here, Shinji.” Rei placed a hand on top of Shinji's gently holding it with just enough strength to stop him from pulling away in reflex as his cheeks flushed and he stammered for an answer, but she cut him off. “I was so very close to slipping into the void, but your voice called me back. And I think I'm glad it did, because it means I can keep being with you.”

“I- I'm glad you're still here too, Aya- ...Rei.” There was only one way this had to go, but Rei knew Shinji wasn't going to make that step, so she leaned towards him, her lips pursed. “R-Rei...”

Just as besides them Asuka let out one last gasp, her eyes rolling back and a trickle of urine running down her legs, Shinji and Rei kissed. First only gently brushing their lips against each other, but after a moment he reached to wrap his arms around her head and back, and she returned the gesture, the two embracing each other as their lips slightly parted, leaving their tongues to gently, carefully touch and explore each other.

Several seconds later Rei broke off, pulling back just a little to look right into Shinji's large brown eyes. “Rei, t-that was-” But she stopped him with a finger on his lips, they could talk later. So they just sat in silence, holding each other and basking in their closeness and newfound feelings for each other.

Eventually Rei turned to the side to see Asuka's lifeless body, completely limp and her face frozen in pain and fear. “Should we get Sohryu-san down and return?”

“Yeah.” They both got up, Shinji undoing the rope and hefting Asuka's body over his shoulder, while Rei gathered their discarded clothes. “Let's go home.”