Chapter 34: They Call Her Misaki
After a long, eventful day of partying, Rei has been returned to her apartment, complete with a large stash of gifts she received over the course of the day.
She looks at her copy of "Reconstruction of Buster Lagann Two Divided by Twenty-Two", rolls her eyes and tells herself "Alright, i'll finally watch it.", which she gets up, takes the DVD out of it's case and puts it into her Playstation 3.
About a good two hours later, she takes it out and mutters, "Well, that was a huge improvement over Divided by Eleven. Lemme go see what people think of it on LagannFreaks"
She puts the DVD back in its case, puts it aside, sits down on a chair near her computer and goes online.
Online, Rei immediately goes to LagannFreaks, a fan site/forum dedicated to the Buster Lagann franchise.
She makes a thread which she proclaims her love of the new movie and afterwards, search other places on the forum.
A minute later, she returns to her thread and sees that a few new posts by other people have been made.
The first response reads, "Cool. Nice to see a fresh face enjoy the movie.", which Rei nods at.
However, the responses after that take a decidedly more...bitter tone.
"This movie sucks and is an embarrassment to the franchise!" the second response reads.
"Ouch." Rei mutters in response.
"I think all of the people in her use ritualistic initiations of buffets and large parties instead of actual human interaction." the third post reads with a vicious, snarky tone.
"Ok that's BS." Rei mutters, obviously getting a bit irritated by the stream of negative replies.
"Buster Lagann Two Divided by Twenty-Two was a shameless raping of my love of Buster Lagann, you twit. All actions of it revolve around in a vacuum like everyone doesn't even spend time to talk. All it really is just an animated adaption of The Room...except The Room makes me laugh and Divided by Twenty-Two spat in my face." the fourth comment proclaims, oozing with acidic vitriolic spite.
"Man what did I get myself into?" Rei ponders, browsing through the various comments.
The thread then gets derailed into an argument debating the quality of the film, with both sides acting sardonic and vicious, obviously forgetting that this was just a simple proclamation of Rei commenting she likes the film.
Due to it being late and witnessing her little thread getting locked, Rei rolls her eyes and irritatingly mutters, "You know...i'm just going to make a Cornette face and go 'Fuck This Community!'", which she shuts off her computer, walks away, gets into her pajamas and goes to sleep in a very sour mood.
The Next Day...
Rei is walking to school with Mari and Shinji.
Still miffed by what happened on the internet the night before, she doesn't really talk much to her friends.
"Rei...what's the matter?" Shinji quietly asks her.
"I...went online last night and joined LagannFreaks. I watched Divided by Twenty-Two and thought it would be fun to express that I liked it, but no. A bunch of jerkwards started to hound on me, acting like elitist assholes by calling me an idiot for liking it and such, then other people who liked it got into a fight with the detractors and...my thread was locked. What a load of garbage." Rei grumbles back in annoyance at her friends
"That's why I stay away from internet forums." Mari replies. "Nothing but a waste of my time and mental state."
"Well I do like to chat with other people online sometimes...especially when I play my games online." Rei tells her friend. "but man...that was downright ridiculous what I saw."
"I can see the appeal of online forums, but it's not for me." Mari replies back. "I remember trying to fit into the whole forum thing back home, but I already had enough burdens on me, so I just ditched it altogether."
"That's rather extreme." Rei responds while looking a little concerned. "plus what do you mean about 'enough burdens', my friend?"
"Oh it's nothing I should dwell on." Mari replies, quickly whitewashing Rei's attempt to ask her to go in depth.
"Alright then." Rei replies back, despite sighing a bit in disapproval.
The group, without any balking, continues walking to school.
About 10 minutes later, the group arrives at school and enter their class.
They all go to their respective seats and await the instructions of the day.
However, when class starts, Hikari stands in front of the class and announces, "Class...please stand up!"
The other students stand up and look at the front of the class.
"Everyone...I like you all to meet our new classmate." Hikari tells them. She turns her head towards the girl and whispers, "Ummm...you can speak up now."
The new girl, who has medium length brown hair, dark eye circles and overall looks relatively sickly, smiles back, looks at her new classmates and tells them, "Hi. My name is Misaki Baisotei. Hope to get acquainted with you all real soon." while constantly smiling, which Rei, Mari and even Asuka find to be a bit unsettling.
"Alright Misaki, you can take one of the empty seats available." Hikari tells her.
To everyone's surprise, she sits next to Asuka, which makes her a little unnerved.
Misaki looks at her and asks, "So...you must be Asuka Langley Soryu?"
"How do you know that?" she asks her.
"I dunno. I guess I was watching some news feeds on my way over here." Misaki replies back.
"Ahem." Hikari groans at them. "Please keep quiet in class you two."
"Sorry Hikari." Misaki quietly replies back, which Asuka gives her a sneer.
"Mari..there's something...off-kilter about that Misaki girl." Rei tells her friend.
"Yeah, I know." Mari shrugs back.
Shortly after school, Rei and Mari are walking on campus, obviously meaning to their own business before leaving when DesuLoli approaches them, looking quite upset.
"Hey Kristina...what's the matter?" Rei asks her.
"Rei..do you go by the user name 'BlueHairWonder01' on LagannFreaks?" DesuLoli asks back.
"By a matter of fact yes I do." Rei replies. "You're a member on there too?"
"Yes. I go by the username 'SuperKawaiiOtaku671' and...I have to ask you for a favor?" she tells and asks her.
"What you need?" Rei replies back.
"Well...i've been writing a Buster Lagann fanfic and...the usual suspects of elitist jerks that patrol the Reconstruction subforum have been...tormenting me over how much my fic...sucks in their eyes." DesuLoli explains. "and I want to see if you can...write a story that'll teach them a lesson."
"Well i'm not too busy at the moment, so sure...I can do that." Rei replies while smiling.
However, Asuka, who's been overhearing the conversation, walks up to them, gets into DesuLoli's face and yells, "You like that piece of völlige Scheiße?"
"Well yeah." DesuLoli replies. "In fact, I like it a lot more than the dreadful original series."
"You're full of crap." Asuka sneers at her. "Reconstruction is a complete insult to the franchise and those who are fans of it. You should be ashamed of yourself."
"Hey now, Asuka. I quite like Reconstruction as much as I like the series." Rei adds.
Not interested in arguing with Rei, Asuka raises her right hand and yells, "I'm not talking to you, wonder girl, i'm talking to your baka of a friend DesuLoli and her love of the asinine Reconstruction films over the far superior originals."
Rei rolls her eyes in irritation and stays quiet.
"Now you might not know it, but the original made me weep when I saw my favorite characters die and go through all the crap they suffered, but Reconstruction is a total, complete spit in the face of the spirit of the original that's close to my heart and that's why I utter despise pieces of scheiße like you who support the merchandise driven molestation of the Buster Lagann series." Asuka continues to yell bitterly at DesuLoli.
"Asuka, I consider you a friend like everyone else I know, but you're acting completely silly." DesuLoli replies. "Yes, while I don't like the original Buster Lagann series, there's plenty of sheer greatness it presents which I very much accept and appreciate. I just don't like the trite cliches that bogged down the original which made it less enjoyable for me to watch."
"Trite and cliché?" Asuka raises her voice. "You're such a moronic baka. Reconstruction is a million times more trite and cliché than the original and you're an ungrateful piece of trash for thinking like that."
"and this why I stay away from internet forums." Mari whispers to Rei.
"Come on, you two. This is not the time for you two to argue over such trivial things like a friggin' anime." Rei groans at them.
"Shut up, wonder girl!." Asuka yells at her. "This is between me and DesuLoli so please stop butting in!"
"Fine." Rei groans back.
From a distance, Misaki spies on the argument through binoculars. She has a devious grin on her face and remarks, "This is all too perfect of an incentive for me."
She then puts her binoculars away and walks towards the estranged group.
"Asuka, can't we just accept we have radically different opinions of the same movie?" DesuLoli asks her in a remorseful tone.
"..nope. No way. I cannot accept your approval of those foul, disgusting movies." Asuka sneers back.
Without any sense of warning, Misaki walks up and tells them, "Hey now what's going on?"
Asuka darts her head towards Misaki and yells, "Hey you're not a part of this argument, new girl."
"Now now, Asuka." she replies. "I just want to talk to DesuLoli. Is that okay?"
DesuLoli shakes her head in approval, obviously wanting to get out of this heated debate.
"Fine, just take her out of my sight!" Asuka snarls at Misaki.
"Yes." DesuLoli quietly exclaims as she walks away from Asuka and follows Misaki. "I'll see you later Rei...and good luck with that story."
"Same to you..and I won't let you down." Rei replies while waving back.
Mari looks at Rei and whispers, "I think we should go to your place before Asuka busts our heads open.", which Rei nods back and they immediately make a mad dash for it, leaving Asuka alone.
"Wait...I didn't mean for you all to abandon me!" she yells in dissatisfaction over the direction the situation went. "Just because I dislike Reconstruction doesn't mean we can't be friends!"
However, she stomps on the grass and grumbles to herself, "Was für eine Last von gottverdammte Scheiße!"
"Sorry if we haven't introduced each other sooner, but my name is Misaki Baisotei. Nice to meet you...Kristina Hoffle..or shall I just call you...DesuLoli." Misaki introduces herself.
"So I guess you're a fan of my internet show?" DesuLoli asks her.
"Oh yes I am, it's an honor to meet a minor celebrity like you." she replies back, smiling at her.
"Well i'm quite...speechless." DesuLoli replies, obviously getting butterflies in her gut meeting a fan of her show.
"Thanks...so I guess you can...ummm...show me around town, eh?" Misaki asks her.
"Sure." she tells her, which the girls proceed to walk out of the school grounds.
Shortly before departing, Claire approaches them, asking, "Can I come along with you two?"
However, to her surprise, Misaki ignores her, grabs DesuLoli by the hand and takes her away.
"Kristina, I want to help show the new girl around too." she pouts in disappointment.
DesuLoli immediately stops and tries to keep Misaki from dragging her along. She tells her, "Come on, new girl. Claire is a friend of mine. She can show you around town too."
Acting coldly arrogant, Misaki effortlessly drags DesuLoli along, much to her shock and to Claire's disappointment.
Seeing that they've a bit out of distance, Claire mutters, "That new girl...there's something really off and...cruel about her."
Back at her apartment, Rei, accompanied by her friend Mari, is sitting by her computer and has a writing document open.
"So what are trying to think of?" Mari asks her.
"I dunno. I want to write something...crazy and over the top." Rei sighs, obviously struggling to figure out what her story for DesuLoli should be about.
"So...aside from that...can I watch a movie while I chill here?" Mari asks her.
"Yeah go ahead and browse my library." Rei replies back while trying to come up with ideas.
"Hmmmm...okay. I think it could be where this woman is having a major case of unhinged paranoia and she is being hounded by this group of half-retarded zombies. They constantly drag along whips and chains to vanish her. I think that they are chasing after her because she..hates the Watchmen movie." Rei thinks, trying to conjure an interesting plot that is the basis for her story.
However, she rolls her eyes and mutters, "Nah...that's not interesting. Relatively boring actually." as she quickly scraps that idea and comes up with another.
"Okay maybe it should be about a really bald yet muscular detective who rides around on a pneumatic bicycle. He goes after this group of skinheads that have stolen the world's supply of doughnuts and copies of Pink Floyd's 'The Final Cut'...because they don't like either and want to deprive everyone of both?" Rei continues to think.
Again, she mutters, "Bah, that's even stupider than the last idea I had.", totally scrapping that one instantly.
"Alright..maybe I should write about this guy who's driving a sedan and crashes it. He is scorched like flaming yawn on a grill and resurfaces a few years later as Sir Toasty, which he must fight this man with an afro going around hacking off body parts that was originally his and he...was the big rival of Sir Toasty prior to the accident because they strongly disagree their views on...Alien 3?" Rei again ponders some more on finding an acceptable story to write.
"Eh...too derivative of Do-Man and Body Parts." Rei shrugs, again quickly scrapping yet another rejected story idea.
"Still having trouble there?" Mari asks her while looking through her friend's DVD collection.
"Yeah, but i'll eventually find the right idea." Rei replies back, looking a bit unsure and clenching her hands over her head.
Somewhere by a deserted alleyway, DesuLoli leans against a wall, looking very flustered over what's going on.
"Misaki..what's your problem?" she asks her. "What's your big problem with Claire Phoenix?"
"Oh nothing, Kristina Hoffle." she replies back in a relatively sinister tone as she emerges from a shadowy corner, pulls her right index finger out on her mouth as if shes' tasting something and has an evil grin on her face. "It's just..I wanted to get us alone..one on one."
"Whoa whoa whoa." DesuLoli stammers back. "You think i'm a homosexual and you wanted to drag me into a darkened alleyway alone with you just so you can hit on me?"
"No no no, Kristina Hoffle." she replies, keeping her eerie, malicious tone of voice. "I am not interested in sexual relations and I have no desire to hit on you.". She gets right up into DesuLoli's face with her almost unnatural grin and adds, "Hit you...on the other hand...is what i'm very much cool with."
"...What do you mean by that?" she asks her.
Without replying, Misaki deliberately punches DesuLoli in the gut, showing no sense of emotion in her face.
DesuLoli, winded and quite sore from the punch, kneels to the ground, looks up at Misaki with a horrified expression and painfully moans, "Wh..wha...why?"
Misaki continues to simply stare and DesuLoi, showing no sign of walking away.
Bidding her time and trying to resist the pain, DesuLoli finds a crowbar near her, picks it up, quickly darts up and clobbers Misaki in the face in retaliation.
However, Misaki slowly turns her head around, revealing a bit of a fresh gash on her face.
Despite blood dribbling off of her face, Misaki simply smiles back and doesn't even wince in pain over her wound, which horrifies and baffles DesuLoli to the point where she asks her, "...what are you?"
Misaki licks her lips, cranks her head a bit and grinds her right fist right into DesuLoli's face, knocking her out cold.
With DesuLoli knocked out, Misaki kneels down, showing no hint of expressing pain and sorrow, pulls her cellphone out, dials a number and tells the person on the other end of the line, "Master Lorenz...I have the American girl."
"Good, my dear Baisotei." Keel replies, showing satisfaction. He then adds, "Once the angel makes its way to Tokyo-3, I want you to dial this number I have to set your final objective into motion."
"Ok Master." Misaki replies back. " but what about DJ?"
"Don't worry about him." Keel replies. "He and Kaworu will be making their way to Tokyo-3 in a few weeks to scout the area for us so we can set our master plan in motion."
"You mean...The Human Instrumentality Project?" Misaki replies, "haven't you told Mayumi about this plan too?"
"No Misaki." Keel replies, "Mayumi has too much to worry about already and I don't want to burden her any further with out plans of population unification."
"Alright, I see." Misaki replies back. "So I should just take the American girl back to my EVA?"
"Yes." Keel replies. "I'll talk to you after you've completed your mission...good luck my dear child."
"Thanks Master Lorenz." Misaki replies and hangs up.
After hanging the cell phone up and putting it away, Miskai effortlessly picks DesuLoli up and takes her away, completely out of anyone's sight.
Still trying to come up with a good story idea, Rei looks around the room and sees that Mari is watching the original "Hysterical Violence", which quickly makes Rei remember an idea she had, smiles and tells herself, "Yes...Bloodjaw. That's what the story should be about. All too perfect."