Chapter 01: Welcome to the Monster Club ~ Len
"Don't you think Miki looks cute today?"
"I guess."
"'I guess'? You could be a little more enthusiastic."
I raise an eyebrow as I look at my best friend, Piko. "You want me to be enthusiastic?"
Piko smiles as he brushes strands of white hair from his eyes. "Of course I do. Go on, say it. Miki is cute."
"Miki is cute," I say in reply, leaning back against my chair with my hands behind my head. "But I'm not interested."
"Good," he says, still smiling.
"I have the rest of the girls in school anyway," I remark, and finally, his smile twitches, and he throws me a skeptical look.
We both sit in silence, leaning back against our chairs. We're both watching Miki intently, although she's completely oblivious to it. Probably because she's currently focusing on balancing a pile of books in one hand whilst talking to her two sisters.
Iroha, the youngest of the three, is holding her overly sized red hat in her hands. She only takes it off here, outside school hours. It's not like she can go to class with her twitching, pink cat ears. Her tail isn't so easily hidden beneath a hat, so usually she wraps it around her waist, beneath her shirt. Blue haired Lapis, only five centimetres tall, is sitting on top of Iroha's head, as she usually does, only at least now she doesn't have to hid under the cat girl's hat.
Yukari's the middle sister and, appropriately, looks nothing like the other two. I mean, Iroha's a pink-haired cat, and Yukari is a purple-haired bunny, hiding her rabbit ears beneath the hood of her, ironically, rabbit-eared hoodie. She likes to say she's from the moon, but I have yet to receive official confirmation of this. She says it's something about Japanese moon rabbits. Miki claims it's like Sailor Moon. I, having never watched Sailor Moon, have no freaking clue what that's meant to mean.
Miki herself is not a cat girl, nor a bunny girl, but in fact what seems to be a normal looking girl with ginger hair (hence why I'm not attracted to her because, I'm not fond of gingers, but Piko loves them). Miki is small and slim, androgynous looking like Piko. Of course, there's a specific reason as to why.
"She's a robot," I kindly decide to remind my friend.
"Bummer, right?" Piko says.
"You're a robot."
"I know. Double bummer." Piko sighs yet again. "I could still kiss her. Maybe."
"But that's about it," I say. "You can't do much more."
Piko just rolls his pretty green and blue eyes. "'Course not. We're robots, we have no sexual organs."
"I know, I've seen you naked," I comment. Don't ask me why. There's a story behind it and I'm not obligated to tell it.
"At least being kicked in the balls doesn't hurt," he says, giving me a pointed look. "Can't if I don't have any."
"I wouldn't really know myself either," I say. "People tend to only ever punch me in the fact than attack my lower regions."
"Well if you didn't punch them first, you'd be fine," he remarks, only to receive a warning glare from me. He simply shrugs, knowing that even if I do throw him a warning glare, I'm never going to do anything else. Not to him, anyway.
"Len, Piko, feet off the table," Big Al says as he strides behind us, giving us a light smack on the head at the same time. I'm pretty sure that it's against the school rules for a teacher to touch a student, even a light smack, but neither Piko nor I care, because we were a family here (quite literally in a sense too).
We call Al 'Big Al' for one reason and one reason only. He is big. Very big. Fifty metres high big. Okay, so maybe not fifty metres, but he's definitely bordering on seven foot. Man, that guy is a giant. I feel sorry for Oliver, who takes after his mother's short genes and will never be a giant like his father.
Speaking of Oliver, he is currently on the other side of the room, looking as innocent and as radiant as ever, talking to his mother. Oliver's quite short, in comparison to other guys, but clearly that rises his cuteness factor and pretty much every girl obsesses over him. I mean, who wouldn't? He looks young, is super innocent, has a strong British accent and an eyepatch in which he strings tall tales about battling pirates and sailing the seven seas, clearly lies but lies that fascinate everyone in the correct way.
If I ever came up with witty tales of adventures I'd been on I'd instantly be labeled a cocky prick, but I already am labeled a cocky prick so it wouldn't really make much difference. The 'bad boy' aspect is apparently attractive to some of the girls in school, so I guess being a cocky prick doesn't matter (that is if I don't care about my reputation with the lads, which I don't).
Oliver's mother, and Big Al's wife, is another teacher at the school. We all call her Sweet Ann because of her sweet and kindly nature and how she's there for everyone whenever they need her, but also because she had a quite noticeable sweet tooth. Not that she admits it, but we all notice her scoffing down a cake or two nearly every day. Oliver has inherited her blonde hair, her paler skin, her more feminine features, and her sweet personality. He has inherited practically zip from his father, the only thing being his strangely yellow eyes. Big Al is tall, dark haired (although already going white) and a muscular man. Neither Oliver nor Sweet Ann have any muscles at all, yet they are both still extremely strong, being literal monsters and all.
The only odd thing about the family is Big Al is American, Sweet Ann is Australian and they have a British son. There was a story behind it, something involving Britain, alcohol and detached body parts, with the aid of my psycho mother, but like I said there is a story behind it, but it's not my story, so I'm not going to take my time to explain it. There, I said it.
As Sweet Ann scratches at the stitches on her neck (which were usually covered up by a choker) and Big Al itches the stitches on his forehead (apparently from a freak accident, yet we all knew the truth) I turn back to Piko as the two of us put our feet back on the table.
"Dude, if you like Miki so much just ask her out," I say. "You've had a crush on her for months already. Just get it over and done with."
"I can't. Seriously, do you know how difficult that is?" Piko frowns at me, most certainly not amused.
"Bloody hell, Piko, all you have to do is go up to her and say 'go out with me'."
"Well that's easy for you, all the girls like you," he whines. "No one ever goes out with me."
"No one ever goes out with me," I saltily remind him. "Just because they all think I'm attractive or whatever, doesn't mean anyone wants to actually date me. When was the last time you saw me with a girlfriend?"
Piko thinks about this for a while. "Besides me, never. Maybe you should try to be kinder, you could pick up a girl then."
"Who's picking up girls?"
Suddenly we both find our necks being crushed as we are forced into a strangling hug. Instantly I push our attacker off of us and whirl around to give them my coldest glare.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to do that, Rin?" I ask, attempting my best at sounding annoyed. I do try my best not to raise my voice at her, but sometimes it's hard, especially with my temper.
"Many times and I'd forget every time," Rin replies with a grin.
I pull an even more unimpressed expression. "It's not funny, and it hurts you know. Twin sister or not, you can't just attack us all the time."
Rin's grin falters slightly, but you can still tell there is masses of energy stormed up in her. For non-identical twins we certainly look pretty similar, the only difference really being that I'm more or less constantly frowning or smirking, and she tends to always have a big cheesy grin on her face. Most people cite I look like a girl, though that had died down though after I'd bitten someone and gotten suspended as a result, all because they kept insulting my 'girly' looks. I have long hair, which I tie back in a scruffy ponytail, compared to Rin's super stylish short bob (despite the fact she's a tomboy), and I constantly have to shave (I prefer to be clean shaven, I hate stubble), so honestly I'm not sure why people think I look like a girl. Maybe it's just me.
Rin finally purses her lips. "Okay, I'm sorry. Can I know who's picking up girls now?"
"No, you may not. It's not your business."
"Len," Piko says disapprovingly as he gives me a knowing look. "Don't be so mean."
With a grunt I reluctantly look at Rin and said, "Certainly not Piko."
"Well maybe if you helped him, he could," Rin suggests. "Who's he trying to pick up anyone."
"No one," Piko squeaks, and Rin blinks at him as if trying to figure out what this means (translation: someone).
"Look, Rin, can you please just not bother us?" I say with a sigh, tugging on a few loose strands of my hair. "We were having a private conversation."
Rin opens her mouth to say something then snaps her mouth shut as she gives me a somewhat withered look. I simply look away, unable to meet her eyes. Realising she's not getting anything else out of me she mutters a goodbye and heads over to Gumi and Sonika, whom are chatting away excitedly. They say hi to her and it doesn't take too long for her to be smiling again.
With Rin gone, Piko punches me in the arm. "That's for failing your new year's resolution for the hundredth time this week."
"I'm trying, it's not my fault she's annoying," I say as I rub my arm, only to receive a rather displeased look from my friend. "Come on, don't give me that look. You know I care for her really, it's just hard to show."
And it's true, it's hard to get along with someone who's completely different than you. Where I'm more down to earth and serious (and grumpy but please don't tell Piko I said that) Rin's hyperactive and won't ever shut up. She bounces up and down, butts into conversations, speaks too fast, and is just generally on the annoying scale somewhere. We just rub off each other the wrong way, which possibly isn't helped by the difference in social standing in the school.
I'm apparently 'popular' whilst she's on one of the lowest, practically broken, rungs of the ladder. I know it's basically my fault she has no friends, something I try not to dwell on too much or I'll start to hate myself again, but I wish she could find someone else to hang out with, besides Nero, who only proceeds to get her into trouble.
"All she needs is a friend," I say glumly. "Someone who can appreciate her."
Piko nods. "I guess we just haven't met the right person yet."
We're silent for a second before I suddenly pipe up with, "So, what are you gonna do about Miki?"
Piko groans. "Nothing, okay?"
I just grin back. "You can try your latest pick up line on me if you want."
Piko ponders this then leans over and whispers, "I'll tell you later, I promise it's a good one."
With a snort I just nod. Sure thing, it was definitely going to be a good one. Like, when did he ever have a bad pick up line? Pretty much all the time. That was the main reason girls wouldn't go out with him.
"You two boys look like you're having fun," Kaito says as he comes over, giving us a suggestive wink.
"Oh yeah, we're having lots of fun," I say as I put my arm around Piko's shoulder. "Aren't we, Piko darling?"
"Sure thing, Len honey."
Kaito chuckles to himself. Since he's in senior year he likes to tease us sometimes. He's quite a tall lad, with shockingly dark blue hair. As he chuckles we can see his fangs, but thankfully they aren't covered in blood. His cheeks do look a bit red though, a clear sign he's spent too much time out in the sun again, most likely ogling at Meiko (but with a rack like hers, who wouldn't ogle at her?)
"You two make me laugh, you really do," he says as leans against the table. "But Mister Piko, I thought you had your eye on someone else."
Piko holds a finger to his lips to tell Kaito to silence. Kaito does just that, but he still continues to chuckle, taking out an opaque bottle and taking a swing from it. He also knows about Piko's mega-crush on Pervy Miki. As he lowers the bottle we notice his lips are now red, so he quickly wipes them with the back of his hand. There is a reason he has an opaque bottle and not a transparent one.
"All right, kiddos. Times up, let's get going," Big Al announces.
I look up at the clock and realise it is already four. Man, time has gone quickly this meeting.
Well I say meeting but it's not really a meeting. We're supposedly an after school club, not that we do anything, but we technically still count as a club. We use Big Al's classroom and after school every Wednesday we all hang out. So it's not a club, more like a meeting, but it isn't. 'Social gathering' would be the correct term.
But what's the point of having a club where you don't do anything? I can hear you asking. Well my reply is: There is no point. This is a club for so called 'special people'. No I don't mean special needs or idiots (although special needs kids are welcomed with wide open arms. Idiots, however, are not), by 'special' I truly mean special.
Are you a monster? Are you from another planet? Do you have crazy psycho powers or are you just mutated and kinda different from normal people? If you are then this is the place for you.
Welcome to the Monster Club.
~Author's Notes~
Hey guys! This is a joint fanfic between me and Fantastical Chaos. We started a while ago, though due to unforeseen circumstances couldn't continue. Anyway we've edited all the previous chapters and are reuploading it (to avoid any bad connotations the previous publish date). Anyway I'm writing Len's POV and Fantastical Chaos (AKA Raye) is doing Miku's, with their respective nationalities based on our own. A lot of effort is behind this so we hope you like it. Updates will hopefully be every Wednesday, the same day the Monster Club takes place :)
~Kate (and Raye)
(PS Disclaimer: We do not own Vocaloid, or monsters for that matter, we only own the story line and our own characterisations)
