Chapter 20: Jack of All Trades and Lies

"Oh boy...all out of saké. Meh", muttered a familiar sounding caucasian homeless person, sitting slopped over on the floor of his dirty, messy makeshift home that is both quite grungy in looks and has a stench that most would fine unbearable. His supply of saké had run dry, thus leaving him without his buzz and happy juice.

He then planted his hands on the ground, narrowly missing a clump of broken glass nearby and eased himself up. After he stood up, he stumbled around his home, walking towards a shoddily built shelf and looked through it, in hopes to find what he suddenly had the urge to look for.

"Ooooh shit. I think I might have some Happoshu lying around here. I'll think i'll hold me over before I can cough up more yen by rebuild my supply of saké.", the homeless person grumbled as he tossed various books, trash and other junk off the shelf in a very hasty fashion. He then managed to find a metal lunchbox on said shelf, instantly took it off the shelf and layed it on the floor. He then proceeded to open it, revealing several cans of Happoshu.

"There you are, you sons of bitches", the caucasian homeless man muttered to himself, referring to the cans of Happoshu in the lunchbox. He then took one out, lifted it towards his face, noticed that it was a bit on the warm side, told himself "Well...Even if not cold, I still need my goddamn buzz", opened it up and started to drink the can.

As the caucasian homeless man sat on his cold, dirty floor and drank his can of Happoshu, he began heard footsteps coming from outside. At first, he shrugged off the footsteps, but as they got closer to his makeshift home, he got increasingly worried and spooked over what could be on the other side, so he stood up, with his can of Happoshu firmly being held in his right hand, and walked over to the door of his makeshift home.

First, he stood by it, with his right ear being placed onto the door itself to see if he could hear anything. Since he did not hear anything, he then asked "Hello? Is anyone there?", in a worried tone.

No response at all.

With no response from the other side, he then put his left had near the doorknob and started to creak the door open, first slowly, but when he suddenly gained an extra pinch of confidence, he just slammed the door open, only to reveal that no one was standing in front of it.

"Heh. Maybe my years of acid abuse is starting to take its toll. Its just nothing.", the caucasian homeless man chuckled to himself. However, to be safe, he stepped outside, looked at both grungy, trash and scrap infested sides of the walkway, sighed in relief, and proceeded to walk back inside his makeshift home, despite keeping the door open a little longer.

All of sudden, out of nowhere, a familiar trenchcoat and hat donning figure, apparently wielding a knife in hand, darted into the house and shut the door after it got inside.

The night just resumed, just being business as usual.

"So, Mari. Feeling sick from the crap you did yesterday?", Rei asked her friend Mari, who is walking alongside her to school.

"Oh no, Rei. I feel jolly. Not a single trace of feeling like shite at all.", Mari joyfully replied, appearing to be as bouncy as usual.

"Anyways...what'cha got planned for after school", Mari proceeded to ask Rei.

"Well, i'll be going to Aoba's. We're gonna jam and such.", Rei replied. As of now, they're on school grounds. Close to the actual classrooms, but not in the hallways.

"Ah...well since we're here and the class rep. is a real twat, cheerio for now.", Mari told Rei right before the two entered the classroom.

Rei waved at Mari and the two entered the classroom and walked to their respective seats.

Rei got by her set and sat in it. She scanned around the classroom and noticed two things. 1. Shinji is nowhere to be seen & 2. The clock has revealed that she and Mari arrived 5 minutes earlier than usual. However, the door suddenly opened up and a very surprising sight was seen.

It was none other than DesuLoli, but now dressed in the standard issue school uniform and looking very shy. An image that was the polar opposite of what she saw of her the day before.

"What the hell is she doing here?", Rei questioned to herself. As she looked around the room and examined her classmates, the others seemed equally befuddled at the sight and possibility that DesuLoli will now be a fellow classmate. Rei even looked at Mari, who telegraphed a real "What the fuck is she doing here?" expession in both her face and body movement.

Rei then reset her sights on DesuLoli again, who was standing by both the teacher and class rep. Hikari Horaki. "Well, why don't you introduce yourself to us all, Ms. Hoffle.", the teacher told DesuLoli, in which DesuLoli herself nods in response.

DesuLoli then turned around and faced her to be fellow classmates and announced, "Well...i'm not all that great when it comes to introductions, but my name is Kristina Hoffle. I am from the United States of America, but will be living here in Japan to have studies in your culture and such. I'm a very nice, but somewhat crazy little girl, but I sure love to make friends with you all during my time here". DesuLoli then proceeded to do a traditional Japanese bow and muttered "Arigatō" as she bowed.

After DesuLoli finished what she said and bowed, Hikari then muttered "Well, at least Claire has someone to talk to now and not feel all lonely anymore". She then told DesuLoli "Well, you can take any seat you want, Kristina-chan."

"Yoi, Hikari-san", DesuLoli told Hikari, in which Hikari gave a look that was both being respectful, but also one that showed her being irked at DesuLoli shoehorning her uber love for Japanese culture by muttering a few words in Japanese, albeit with it not sounding all that accurate.

DesuLoli then walked around the classroom, eventually seating herself next to a redhead caucasian girl, who just seemed as out of place in the classroom as Rei and DesuLoli herself.

After DesuLoli sat down, she took a look at the redhead girl and asked her, "Say...you look rather...american. What'cha doing here?"

The redhead then turned her head towards DesuLoli and replied, "Well, a few months ago, me and my father moved here from the states, considering that my father has a position at Nerv and all, so its obvious that I have to go to school here.", in a fairly unamused tone.

"Kūru", DesuLoli replied.

However, she heard someone growl at her, in which that made her glance her head towards the direction that the growl. She then saw an irate looking Hikari, who then proceeded to tell her, "Kristian-chan. I know you're new here and such, but you still have to follow the rules and one of those rules is...NO TALKING IN CLASS!", with the expression on her face twisting into one of fire and brimstone.

"Sate, daijōbu, Hikari-san. Chill out. I'll talk to her later, okay? Tada... Hieru.", DesuLoli replied in a very "please don't kill me tone"

Hikari's face twisted back to a more cheery, happy look, in which she then replied, "Okay, Kristina-chan. Just the follow the rules and you'll just do fine.", Hikari replied. She then walked off and grumbled something to herself quietly that no one could understand at all.

After class rep. Hikari walked away, the redhead girl then whispered to DesuLoli, "Well, you're quite the negotiator. Father tells me that the world can always use more of your type."

DesuLoli then whispered back, "Well, thank you. Anyways, my name is Kristian Hoffle, but you can just call me DesuLoli."

"Okay...DesuLoli. My name is Claire Phoenix, but you can just call me Phoenix. Nice to meet you.", Phoenix whispered in response.

"Nice to meet you too.", DesuLoli whispered back, in which the two girls then shook their hands and resumed to wait to here what type of activities the class will partake in today.

"Well, we're here, Misato", Ritsuko informed her longtime friend and fellow coworker Misato.

The two are both dressed up in a rather business-like fashion and are inside a Nerv-provided Limo. The door opened up, signaling both women that it was time for them to leave and enter the building that the Limo was parked in front of.

After Misato and Ritsuko got out of the Limo, they started to head towards the building in which the conference was taking place in and began to talk to each other.

"So...Rei and Mari went to school today, right", Ritsuko asked Misato.

"Mari called me and informed that they were heading towards school, so they are indeed at school.", Misato informed Ritsuko.

"What about Shinji?", Ritsuko added.

"He's with his mother. She requested me to send him over so she could spend the day with him.", Mistao informed.

"I bet the Commander isn't talking the time to be with either of them, though.", Ritsuko replied.

"I guess.", Misato responded. "Anyways, we gotta see what these...competitors have to say."

"Yeah...I suppose.", Ritsuko replied back.

Both women then stepped inside the building. As they walked around, they suddenly ran into someone they hadn't seen in years.

"Hoooly shit. Its Misato and Naoko's daughter Ritsuko. Been a long time.", the man, who is none other than Shiro Tokita, the man forced by his boss and employer to be the speaker in behalf of the company of the conference.

"Oh. My. God. Shiro, where have you been all this time?", Misato replied. She and Shiro proceeded to hug each other. They then stepped away from each other

"Well...here and there.", Shiro chuckled in response. "Anyways, where's my old drinking buddy and your man Kaji?", Shiro asked Misato.

Suddenly, Misato's face became one of disgust and sternly replied "PFFT. Kaji. We broke up a while back. In fact, I don't even want to talk about him, Shiro".

"Oh. Well, that sucks", Shiro replied. He then turned his head towards Ritsuko and asked her, "What about you, Rits. Any clue where Ol' Kaji is?"

"He's in Germany. In fact, I was last informed by the Commander that he and the Second will be arriving here in about a week", Ritsuko informed.

"Ugh! Can't believe that he's coming down, but...The Second? We really need that many EVAs down here in Japan?", Misato replied, sounding taken aback by this sudden news.

"According to the Commander and Mrs. Ikari, the UN said that since the angels come here first, we would need all the defense we could get, so that's why The Second is getting transferred here", Ritsuko informed.

"Feh. Okay, i'll take your word for it, Rits", Misato groaned in response.

Shiro then placed his hands on one of Misato and Ritsuko's shoulders and whispered to them "Speaking of mech-related stuff, I like to tell you two something in private. Okay?"

Both women nodded, in which Shiro added "Follow me".

They then walked into a room that was away from the main conference room.

Once inside, Misato was the first one to ask "Okay, Shiro, What you got to tell us that we need to be obscured from the others?"

Shiro then reclined near a table and informed them, "Well, I work for Sūpā Tawagoto Enterprise and to be honest, I want out. Out of the company. The boss is a real bastard. In fact, I was given the orders to be the speaker of this conference on his behalf."

"How...can't believe that you, of all people, is working for those punks at Sūpā Tawagoto", Misato replied.

"I know. Keep telling that to myself everyday, but not anymore. I will tell this to you and only you two, so please, don't inform your employer or anyone else what I tell you, okay?", Shiro replied.

Both Misato and Ritsuko nodded in response.

"Anyways, tomorrow, we will be testing out Jet Alone, the mecha that is supposed to be Sūpā Tawagoto's answer to your Evangelions. What the boss and no one else knows is that THIS Jet Alone I made to be an utter piece of crap. Yeah, I am setting myself up to get fired and be free from their goddamn clutches.", Shiro informed Misato and Ritsuko.

"So...you crafted a plan to get fired, eh. Heh, when you get fired, I think you should come to work at Nerv. It would be nice to have you around.", Misato replied.

"Can't disagree with that.", Ritsuko added.

"Well...great. Two other things. This first one, however, I have to whisper it to you both", Shiro informed. He then whispered it into both Misato's and Ritsuko's ears, which received fairly surprising reactions from both ladies.

"Shiro. You're sure a real stinker.", Misato replied. Ritsuko simply nodded along.

"Yeah.", Shiro replied. "Anyways, in addition that, when I come to Nerv, I want to bring along the thing that the boss gave me cash for that I used it all in.", Shiro added.

"Well...sounds fine. I guess we'll talk to you later. Bye", Misato replied back.

"Same here, you two. I gotta get prepared for my...well...bogus speech.", Shiro responded.

Misato and Ritsuko left, leaving Shiro alone in the room. Shiro himself then said to himself "Well...even if I do get to work at Nerv, I wonder if Jet Alone Prime's personality will annoy the hell out of them? Oh whatever. I gotta get through this day, because I don't want to drag it out any further."

Rei, who is now dressed in her casual clothing, which consists of her leather biker jacket, a Metallica T-Shirt, jeans, some shoes and her guitar in its holder being carried on her back.

Its been about an hour and a half since she left school for the day, though she took a quick stop at her apartment to change into more appropiate appearal and get her guitar.

She finally arrived at Aoba's and stopped right at his door. She then knocked on it, in which a voice from the other side called out and said "Come in"

Rei then opened the door and walked inside. As she walked into Aoba's living room, she noticed that the 1981 Australian film "The Road Warrior" was playing on TV. The film itself was about halfway through, but before she could actually start watching it, she heard Aoba's voice telling her "Great, you made it."

Out of one room came Aoba, wearing a Apologist T-Shirt, boots and jeans with holes in in. He saw Rei and asked her "So...ready to jam?"

"Yeah..lemme just set my jacket down and get my guitar out and i'll be ready.", Rei replied

"Cool. Meet me in the jam room like usual.", Aoba replied back and walked away.

Rei carefully set her guitar down on the floor, removed her shoes, set them aside and took her jacket off, placed it on Aoba's couch, picked up her guitar, took it out of its case and walked into the hallway to head towards the jam room.

Once she stepped into the jam room, she saw Aoba standing in the room, with his guitar in his hands, who asked Rei, "So...what kind of style shall we goof around with today?"

"Ummmm, let's just play whatever comes to our mind.", Rei replied.

"Sure thing, Rei.", Aoba responded back.

Rei then walked towards Aoba, plugged her guitar into a Marshall Amp and stood next to Aoba.

"Are you ready?", Aoba asked Rei.

"Totally am. Let's rock the hell out of this place.", Rei responded.

"Great. 1...2...3!", Aoba told, counted and shouted.

The two then began playing guitar, obviously starting in a sort of Doom Metal-esque tone, only to slow build up and pick up the speed, switching gears to a more thrash metal oriented sound, finally esculating into a death metal/grindcore fusion.

After that portion of the jam finished, it took a turn to a more classic hard rock sound, at one point even making fun of J-Pop, in which the two kept swapping genres and such over the course of their jam.

"Well, the old guy told us that this is where he lived.", Kensuke muttered to his friend Toji.

The day before, they borrowed the CD Rei bought, which they believe is the CD the homeless caucasian man talked about and asked if they could find it.

"Yeah, just from the look of it, it sure is. I mean...damn. What a craphole of an alley.", Toji replied.

"Hey. Not everyone is fortunate enough to live a regular lifestyle", Kensuke replied.

However, they managed to step in front of a makeshift home, which is presumably the man's home.

"Well...this must be it.", Toji told his friend Kensuke. "Might wanna make this quick."

Kensuke, being the one that convinced his friend in participating in this fetch quest, opened the door and walked inside.

However, once Kensuke walked in, he caught the sight of the old man's corpse sitting near the wall, completely ripped apart with his guts, bood and entrails splattered and scattered on both the wall and the floor.

Being totally shocked by this sight, Kensuke, with a look of utter horror on his face, took several steps away from the body and completely stepped out of the house.

"What the hell did you see...a ghost?", Toji asked his bud in a snarky, sarcastic tone.

"Eeee...no...THE OLD GUY IS DEAD!", Kensuke screamed in a frantic tone.

"What the hell do you mean?", Toji asked.

Kensuke then immediately replied "Take a look yourself, smartass!"

"Okay, okay. I'll see what made you all spooked and...", Toji replied. However, he turned pale light too by seeing the sight, screaming "WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!", in which both boys took a run for it, leaving the alleyway completely.

The duo had been jamming for close to an hour, when out of nowhere, one of the strings on Aoba's guitar broke.

"Shit!", Aoba yelled in response to the snapping of the string.

"I hate it when that happens.", Rei replied in response. However, she then told Aoba "Hey! I got a idea!"

"Go ahead, Rei. I love to hear what you gotta ask me.", Aoba replied/

"Well...my birthday is on the 31st of March. I was wondering if that I had a birthday party, we could entertain the visitors by dueling off in a Guitar Battle. How does that sound?", Rei asked.

Aoba thought for a second, then replied "That's a rad idea. We'll show the others that we can really shred."

Rei then told Aoba "Well, that was a lot of fun. I gotta get going. See you at HQ tomorrow!", Rei told Aoba.

"Okay...see you later too.", Aoba replied, in which Rei unplugged her guitar and walked out of the jam room with the guitar in hand. She then stepped foot into the living room again, put her guitar into its case, sat the case back down, put her leather biker jacket and shoes back on, picked up the guitar case and left Aoba's place.

Some time after leaving Aoba's, Rei started to walk back towards home. However, she spotted a freaked out, panic-strucken Toji and Kensuke heading towards her way.

Once they got towards her, Kensuke gave Rei's CD back, shouting, "Here...take your CD back!", only to run away with Toji, not even giving Rei a chance to ask them what happened.

Having no clue what happened, Rie then questioned herself, "Hmmmm...I guess they decided to listen to that CD. Heh...serves 'em right.", while sporting a devilish grin.

With that out of the way, Rei continued to walk back towards home.

Once she got home, she sat her guitar back in its placed, played a few video games and even listened to a CD. Eventually, it got late, leading her to get into her pajamas and going to bed.

Little does she know that what tomorrow holds for her is...well...something very, very eventful.