"We're The Band"
Chapter 22: Pretty Woman in a Town Called Malice
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the songs, the trademarks for the products mentioned, any rights to the product or Evangelion. There. It's done now.
Park Café - Evening
The group had gathered in their new, favorite spot: the café owned by Yuki's parents. It was near the park they seemed to habitually end up lounging in, and Yuki's parents didn't hurry them along like the other restaurants in the area. It didn't hurt that they had three things going for them: Kensuke was Yuki's boyfriend; they all paid for what they ate even though Yuki's parents repeatedly offered to treat them; and their presence had been a huge boon for business. Most of the other first years had started hanging around the café as well since the upper classmen had not found it and, now, wouldn't be caught dead in a "first year hangout".
It was more crowded than usual since the group was going to give a little concert – the odd brainchild of Hikari and Kensuke.
Park Café – 3 Weeks Ago
Rei, Asuka, and Shinji sat at a table on the patio of the café awaiting the arrival of the rest of their friends. A scheming session was in full swing.
" . . . so, I'm pretty sure from the review of Section 2 dossiers that the principal isn't a part of a terror organization," concluded Rei. "Section 2 is a lot better now and probably would never have let him remain the principal of our school if there was anything odd in his background." With that final statement, Rei closed her Hello Kitty notebook with a snap. Shinji quickly dragged his attention back from the surreal scene of an intelligence briefing from a Hello Kitty notebook to Asuka's voice.
"Shinji and I have watched him off and on since the 'interview', and he seems pretty normal," added Asuka. "I think he's just a little control freak who's jealous that my Shinji has a pretty sister, a pretty girlfriend, and is successful. All the things he didn't have in his pathetic childhood."
"Whose pathetic childhood?" inquired Hikari who had appeared with Toji, Kensuke, and Yuki in tow.
"We're just complaining about the principal," covered Shinji. The group shared a short laugh. They had all complained extensively about the principal, Hikari most of all due to her class representative responsibilities.
Kensuke had been fidgeting all during the conversation as the topics ranged across all of the usual subjects. Finally, Asuka had enough, "Spill it, Stooge. Do you have to pee or what?"
Yuki stifled a giggle as she took hold of Kensuke's hand under the table to get him to calm down. Asuka's barbs had lost much of their harshness amongst the group of friends, but Asuka's tongue was still sharp and deadly to those who crossed her – as some of Yuki's friends found out the hard way.
Hikari broke in. "Asuka. Everyone. Kensuke asked me about holding a concert here in the café and web-casting it from a link on the band's web page. We think we can reach a couple of thousand people that way. If we record some of the songs Shinji's been writing, we could sell them from the website."
The discussion ranged far and wide at that point. What would the set list be? What would everyone wear? How would they get the word out? How would they keep the Seniors from disrupting the event? After talking well into the evening with plans in place the small group adjourned to tackle the mountains of homework they had all been ignoring.
Park Café - Evening
A couple of Yuki's friends had grabbed the video cameras Kensuke had set up and were positioning themselves to film the concert. A small stage area had been created on the café patio and the crowd spilled out into the park itself. At a small table overlooking the stage area, Misato and Mr. Machida, the Tokyo Philharmonic Conductor, sat enjoying coffee and pastry as they awaited the concert.
"Katsuragi-san, thanks for inviting me to this event. It's a nice change of pace from the grind of the Philharmonic."
"You're welcome, Machida-san. After the opportunity you gave Shinji, it was the least I could do. Besides, this is a side of Shinji, I don't think you get to see during rehearsal."
"I'm actually very curious about this. I've noticed that some of the younger women from the orchestra are here as well," commented Machida glancing around the now crowded café area. "Although, after talking to Shinji, I gather this is all very new to him."
"If you're talking about his overall personality, I would agree. He's always been a shy, hang back in the crowd person, almost a loner, really. It hasn't been until recently that he's worked through some of the issues from when he was younger. Plus, I think the confidence that he's gained through having friends now and a fairly feisty girlfriend has helped a lot."
"He's actually opened up to me about Asuka and told me a little of their story. I'm constantly amazed by how mature Shinji is and how much the two of them are in love."
"You're right about that. Both of them have matured so much! It's like they're 16 going on 36. I will admit, though, that it means that I went from refereeing shouting matches and temper tantrums to worrying about having grandkids!"
The rest of their conversation was drowned out by the roar of the fans as Shinji, Asuka, Kensuke, and Rei all took their places on stage. They had changed out of their school uniforms, but for most of their classmates, the biggest shockers were Rei and Shinji. Rei had dressed much more like Asuka – feminine clothing that was a little daring. Shinji, on the other hand, had, for him, practically gone grunge. He had some faded and worn jeans, a hoodie with the hood up, and beat up sneakers.
After a short tune-up and sound check, Shinji got the signal from Hikari and Yuki that the webcast had gone live.
"Welcome everyone both here at the Takeda Park Café and out there on the webcast. First, we'd like to thank Yuki Takeda and her family for hosting our first webcast concert. Without further ado, we'd like to do one of Rei's favorite tunes, 'A Town Called Malice' by The Jam."
With that, Rei started the extended bass intro bouncing up and down to the beat, hair swirling as she shook her head lost in the music. The pounding bass rhythms triggered the primal reactions in the crowd of students as they began to jump up and down with Rei. Hikari, manning the video mixing station, switched between a long shot of the crowd to a closer shot of Rei. As Toji's drums took up the rhythms, Miyako pulled back from the solo shot of Rei to encompass the whole band as planned. The timing couldn't have been better. As she finished the pull back, Shinji stepped up to the microphone stand, grabbed the microphone with both hands, and launched into the first verse.
Better stop dreaming of the quiet life -
cos it's the one we'll never know
And quit running for that runaway bus -
cos those rosey days are few
And - stop apologizing for the things you've never done,
Cos time is short and life is cruel -
but it's up to us to change
This town called malice.
The amps had been turned way up to what felt like stadium levels, but the crowd noise still threatened to drown them out. Shinji struggled to hear his voice on the monitors, but then just threw himself into the lyrics. It was a strange combination of upbeat melody and curiously angry, almost depressing lyrics, and the duality resonated within Shinji, Asuka, and Rei. Their identification with the overall construction of the song manifested in their powerful performance. So powerful was the association with this song that, after the first verse, Shinji immediately began to dance and work the stage like he was in a mosh pit resulting in the hood flying back off his head revealing newly bleached hair that Asuka had spiked. Miyako captured a close up of Shinji's new look as he stepped back up to the microphone to be heard over the screamed approval of his new look from the girls in his class that had pressed to the front.
Rows and rows of disused milk floats
stand dying in the dairy yard
And a hundred lonely housewives clutch empty milk
bottles to their hearts
Hanging out their old love letters on the line to dry
It's enough to make you stop believing when tears come
fast and furious
In a town called malice.
Struggle after struggle - year after year
The atmosphere's a fine blend of ice -
I'm almost stone cold dead
In a town called malice.
Hikari was just astounded as she monitored the video streaming statistics. In just the first thirty seconds of the song, the number of streams had more than doubled and had climbed over five hundred. Hits to the band's web site continued to climb as well. A brief moment of panic hit Hikari and she double checked that the video stream was being recorded for later playback. The green status light on the recording program brought a small sigh of relief to her. She was brought back to the concert as Shinji's voice came back through the headphones.
A whole street's belief in Sunday's roast beef
gets dashed against the Co-op
To either cut down on beer or the kids new gear
It's a big decision in a town called malice.
The ghost of a steam train - echoes down my track
It's at the moment bound for nowhere -
just going round and round
Playground kids and creaking swings -
lost laughter in the breeze
I could go on for hours and I probably will -
but I'd sooner put some joy back
In this town called malice.
As the song died away, Shinji stepped back from the microphone and the entire band took a quick bow. He continued through their plan – he introduced everyone in the band and, after introducing Asuka, had to bite back the irrational urge to beat every boy in the audience that screamed her name. Shinji trusted Asuka and believed, without question, when she said that they would be together forever, but that didn't change the fact that after all that they had been through, he would do everything in his power to protect that relationship.
As he continued to scan the crowd, he caught sight of Misato, Machida-san, and the bridge crew who gave wild catcalls and piercingly loud whistles as he introduced Rei and Asuka.
They progressed through the set until they neared the end and Shinji returned to the microphone to provide some commentary. With a brief sip of water, he addressed the audience.
"So, we had been hanging out and decided to watch some old movies. Somehow, this old movie came on that was like a remake of that old story where a poor girl is transformed into a socialite and wins the heart of her rich benefactor. This song dates back to the 1960's and it's got a great feel to it even today. So, grab on to your significant others. This is 'Pretty Woman' by Roy Orbison."
Shinji had stomped on a couple of his distortion pedals to clean up the sound and give his guitar and almost steel slide guitar feel. With a quick nod to Toji, the country twang of the tune began to reverberate through the night air.
Pretty woman, walking down the street
Pretty woman, the kind I like to meet
Pretty woman
I don't believe you, you're not the truth
No one could look as good as you
Mercy
Pretty woman, won't you pardon me
Pretty woman, I couldn't help see
Pretty woman
That you look lovely as can be
Are you lonely just like me
Wow
Shinji growled the "wow" just like Roy Orbison more out of imitation than anything planned, so he was completely unprepared for the fan reaction. High pitched screaming erupted from every girl under sixteen and a push towards the stage commenced. Even Asuka, Rei, Hikari, and Yuki were flustered at the raw emotion that throaty warble had engendered not just in the crowd but in themselves. Unnoticed by the teens on stage, Machida gave a speculative look around the audience noting the reaction to his young, mid-chair cellist. Interesting thoughts swirled in Machida's mind and he pulled out a small notebook and furiously scribbled some ideas before jamming it back into his pocket.
Pretty woman, stop a while
Pretty woman, talk a while
Pretty woman, gave your smile to me
Pretty woman, yeah yeah yeah
Pretty woman, look my way
Pretty woman, say you'll stay with me
'Cause I need you, I'll treat you right
Come with me baby, be mine tonight
Pretty woman, don't walk on by
Pretty woman, make me cry
Pretty woman, don't walk away, hey...okay
If that's the way it must be, okay
I guess I'll go on home, it's late
There'll be tomorrow night, but wait
What do I see
Is she walking back to me
Yeah, she's walking back to me
Oh, oh, Pretty woman
Later That Evening
The group of friends had just finished cleaning up after the concert. Bags of trash had been sorted and placed on the street for pickup. Chairs had been stacked on tables, and Shinji and Toji had just finished mopping up.
Kensuke and Hikari had been spared most of the physical labor as they plowed through the statistics and comments on the band's website. As the small group got back together, it was apparent that they had a hit event and had reached thousands of listeners.
Yawns and sore muscles stifled any additional conversation as the elated group of teens broke for the evening and promised to get back together soon.
Author's Parting Shots: So, this simple scene took me a while to actually put down in text. I don't seem to be getting as much time to write as I would like. Bear with me, because this little ride will keep going, just not quite as fast.