.
one
in which miku's life is turned upside-down.
.
Hatsune Miku made a living out of several part-time jobs, had a little apartment with a cheap rent, loved visiting the obscure bookstore a few blocks away from her apartment because the nice old lady there always gives her discounts. Hatsune Miku wasn't as successful as everyone thought she'd be, but she had respectable jobs and she paid her monthly rent. She was perfectly fine with her life, and she was surviving, and she had enough money for food. That was pretty much enough for her.
She was at a police station at that moment, but no, she was not there because she committed a crime. She was there because her father called her and told her to meet him in his office. Hatsune Miku did not like rules, but she was rather filial, she would say, so she lolled around the police station in an attempt to find her father's office.
A woman with cropped brown hair introduced herself as a secretary and guided her to her father's office. They passed by winding corridors and barred wooden doors. They took a lift up two floors. The police station had a stern, tense atmosphere, and Miku felt strangely underdressed in her blouse and trousers. But they were her best clothes …
The woman stopped in front of a wooden door and bowed, ending Miku's stupor. She bowed her thanks in a hurry and stepped in. Instantly she regretted that. It was a meeting room filled with scary police, not some stupid office. Her father lied to her. Again. And they were all looking up at her with calculating gazes. She hated this place already.
"Hello, daughter," her father greeted from somewhere in the room. She couldn't see him. Maybe he died and she was hearing his ghost.
"Hello," she said awkwardly, flapping her hand in a sort-of wave. The police nodded in acknowledgement and turned back to the front of the room. A beautiful woman with long, salmon hair pulled out a chair beside her and gestured for Miku to sit down. Miku did, and smiled gratefully at the woman, who smiled back as well.
Her father stepped out from the shadows (wow, so that's where he's been hiding, and wow, do people still do that?) and cleared his throat. He then intertwined his fingers and said, "Recently there has been sightings of a group of youngsters gathering in the streets and alleys at night. We suspect that they are the terrorist group, Lightless." He gave Miku a 'do-you-know-this?' look and she shrugged.
Miku was bored. Unfortunately, Miku got bored easily, and she was now, because she still had no idea why she was there and her father had the same type of droll her history teacher had. It made her fall into a sleepy stupor, but the sharp coldness of the meeting room prevented her from actually dozing off.
"We are afraid that they are planning another act of terrorism." her father said. If that were so, why would they be doing it in the streets? Where anybody could hear them? Or see them? They would be more clever than this, wouldn't they? "Which is why we are planning to send out a false policeman, as a spy." Why not a real one? Is it because you don't one to lose one of your men? Are you willing to use an innocent person to-
All eyes were turned upon her, and Miku jolted. She had fallen into a stupor yet again, and this time she hadn't heard what her father said. She felt rude. The salmon-haired woman was gazing at her quite pitifully, along with a few of the policemen. Miku looked around and finally understood why her father would ask an outsider to come to a meeting for police only.
"I'm the false policeman?" She asked, mostly to the woman beside her. The woman blinked slowly, as if she was unable to comprehend Miku's question, and after a moment, she nodded. Miku had an urge to groan loudly and bury her face in her hands like a cranky adolescent. But she was not a cranky adolescent, so she brought her gaze upwards and glared at her father, who flinched.
"Sorry," he muttered. Miku nodded. Good. Wait, not good. She would not be a false policeman! She wasn't even a man, excuse me! "Sorry, we had to do this, and you're the only person I thought of." And she was his daughter! Who would let their daughter be a decoy? "Sorry," her father said again.
"Oh, father, I know you're sorry," she said, almost angrily, but she caught herself in time. "I can't do it. I have no guts and I'm a terrible athlete, you of all people should know that, right?" It was true. Once, when Miku was seventeen, her father tried to get her to exercise. He actually just wanted to get her out into the sunlight, because she was busy cramming for university and her skin had turned pale and waxy and she had huge eye bags from cooping up inside and her stress. She jogged with him, but only for about ten minutes, because her legs had given up on her then and she was desperately trying to get home to study.
"I know, but I was hoping that you'd improve over the years," he said sadly. Miku shook her head. The police watched the peculiar father-daughter exchange curiously. "Please, Miku?"
"But they're a bunch of kids!" She said, feeling an urge to stomp her feet.
"They nearly bombed a school," a policeman said.
"They beat up a man," said another.
"They had a whole bag of weapons," one piped up.
"That sounds like a bunch of kids wreaking havoc to me," said Miku, "I will not do it."
.
Kagamine Len was a university student, with marks enough to keep his scholarship. Everyday after school, he would go to a café, order a cappuccino, and study there while magically attracting admiring looks from females in the vicinity. Two hours later, he would pack up, and go back to his home located in a place unknown to everyone, including his friends. In other words, Len was quite a mystery, and females like to solve mysteries, which was why they stuck to him a lot. In other words, Len was also a female magnet.
He opened the door of an abandoned mansion in the woods, and cast a glance around the clean interior. In the middle of the living room there was a long table and several comfortable-looking chairs haphazardly arranged around it. There were bookshelves lining the wall and a coffee table was placed neatly in a corner, along with four couches. Newspaper cuttings were strewn messily over the coffee table, and on top of the newspapers perched a radio that was broadcasting the daily news.
There was only one person in the room: a woman with short brown hair. She was tidying up the newspaper cuttings and bundling them into a stack. This person was called Sakine Meiko, a woman with a fetish for neatness and order, and amazing cooking skills. Everyone who lived in the mansion adored Meiko, because she was the type of person you couldn't really hate.
"Hi, Meiko," greeted Len, placing his book bag on one of the chairs.
Meiko looked up and smiled warmly. "Welcome back, Len. The others are in the study, if you are looking for them." She tilted her head towards the general direction of the study and turned her attention back to the newspapers. She was nearly done by then.
"Why? Is there some sort of meeting again?" Len asked, and Meiko raised her hands in a gesture that indicated she didn't know. She put the radio on top of the neat stack of newspapers and brushed off her hands.
"Well, we wouldn't find out if we don't go." She said, and they walked together to the study.
Kagamine Len was a lot of things. He was a university student, a part-timer at a convenience store on weekends, and he was also a member of the so-called 'terrorist group', Lightless. As he and Meiko opened the door to the study, the members of this very group were assembled in that room.
The members of Lightless were very strange. They would hold a meeting in the study, sitting on the floor, even though there was a table large enough for all of them to fit into. They simply preferred the study, partly because of the good ventilation, but mostly because the carpet was soft and comfortable. Len and Meiko sat down on an empty space on the carpet.
A girl was standing in the front of the room. She had bright green hair and equally green eyes. She looked like a meadow. This meadow-like girl was Masami Megumi, nicknamed Gumi. She had her arms akimbo because she liked to pretend that she was above everyone else. She had a bright personality that went both ways: it could cheer everyone up, and it could also annoy them greatly.
"My fellow friends," she said, spreading her hands in a perfect imitation of Len's English teacher, "I have called you all here because I have made a shocking discovery!" She looked around the room, and upon seeing bored faces, she continued, "the police have misunderstood us!"
"You only figure that out now?" Someone grumbled. A few others agreed. Len could see Meiko smile apologetically and gesture for Gumi to continue with her speech.
"They have misunderstood us in a way that can't be accepted! They think that we're terrorists!" She cried out, with the air of a politician making a speech. She looked around again, then continued, "This has to be stopped!"
"There's nothing we can do about it, unfortunately," said a man. This man had bright red hair that was gathered into a long ponytail and piercing blood-red eyes. Beside him was a girl, with hair and eyes as red as his, and her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail as well. They were Kasane Ted and Teto respectively, two siblings with completely different personalities. While Ted was laid-back and relaxed, Teto was fidgety and always pranced around the mansion with Ted by her side.
"We'll just have to leave it be," agreed Len. This wasn't a simple misunderstanding that could be cleared up after a talk. They would be caught and thrown into jail if they stepped foot into the police station. Len would not take the risk.
"They thought we bombed a place," said Gumi.
"Those explosives weren't ours," said Len.
"They thought we beat up an innocent man."
"He was attempting a robbery."
"They thought we had a bag of weapons."
"They were art tools."
"See, we have good, valid reasons that we can use when we talk to them! See, Len, why don't we just—"
"We'll get caught if we go, you know?" A girl in the corner drawled. She had short blond hair that brushed her shoulders and a white ribbon sat atop her head. She was sitting with her legs crossed and she was blinking at Gumi with her cobalt orbs. Then she dropped her serious demeanour and grinned cheekily. "But it wouldn't be fun otherwise, would it?" Kagamine Rin chirped. She was Len's sister, and was a friendly extrovert. She was also another person that you couldn't exactly dislike.
"Please don't," said Shion Kaito from the front. He was a kind man with a soft-heart, and was a bit crazy for ice cream. He had blue hair and eyes similar to Rin's and Len's. He was leaning forward earnestly. "It's dangerous," Kaito continued to say. He seemed both concerned and terrified.
"It's true that they are very wrong about us," Utatane Piko agreed from next to Rin. He had snow-white eyes, and one of his eyes were blue, while the other was green. Piko hated it when people talked or stared at his eyes, and tended to cover one of them with an eyepatch. He always complained about it being itchy when he wore his eyepatch, however. He was curled into a ball like a cat on the carpet.
"Oh, Piko, don't agree with her, please," begged Kaito. Meiko was biting on her lip, unsure of what to do. Len was sure that her motherly instincts were shouting at her to stop them, but at the same time she would also like to support the members of Lightless in whatever they did, so she was torn.
"What about you, Len?" Ted asked, and everyone turned to look at Len. He hated this. He, like Meiko, just wanted to do whatever the other members of Lightless wanted to do; but he was concerned for their safety and didn't want them to go. He didn't like it when they acted as though he was their leader. He wasn't. There's only one leader, to us … He thought to himself.
"Len?" Rin asked, raising an eyebrow. A smile was tugging at her lips, implying that she knew fully well what was going through his mind at that moment. Len glared at her.
"I … well, I think that it's okay if they keep thinking that we're terrorists, I mean, if we stay out of the way—" He stopped when he noticed the looks of unbelief and concern directed at him, and sighed, looking away. "Look, you can do whatever you want, I'm not your leader."
"You are!" Teto cried defensively. "You saved us when Sir abandoned us!"
"Sir isn't our leader anymore," said Piko darkly. "We don't need a leader like that."
"Things took a dark turn very quickly," narrated Gumi from the front as though they were acting out a play.
Rin had her lips pursed and her eyebrows were drawn tight together, her disapproval written all over her face. She, like Len, loved Mister like they would love their father. He held a special place in the siblings' hearts.
"Well, this wouldn't do!" Gumi cried out, clapping her hands. She turned to Len. "Len, we're going on an expedition."
Len's thoughts were brought away from Mister for a while. "Expedition?" He repeated quizzically.
"Yes, we're going to clear our name."
.
Miku had many jobs, and several of them required inhumane tolerance; for example, the two-hour-hell at the daycare centre on Mondays, working in a department store with insufferable customers, and working at a fast food shop. She did her work anyways, because she needed the money.
But she would not tolerate being a false policewoman. It was simply out of the question. She wasn't even sure if they were going to pay her for this or not. They better do, she thought glumly to herself.
She was wearing a smart uniform, had her hair up in a tight bun (it was hurting her scalp already) and there was a gun in her pocket. She was walking along a dark pavement, her shoes making click-clack noises that echoed around her. She felt like a child alone in a dark house. She felt scared. She longed for the warmth of the bookstore and the coziness of her home. She did not want to be here, definitely.
The cold air clung to her sleeves and blew on her neck. She rubbed the nape of her neck and felt goosebumps raise upon her touch. Her fingertips were cold. Everything about her seemed cold now. She felt as though a ghost crept up behind her and drenched her in its cold touch. She regretted that thought immediately. Now she was plain terrified.
She hurried her footsteps, breathing hard as though she had just finished a marathon, and longed to go home. She had an intuition that something bad would happen. Then again, she didn't really trust her guts after she tried to 'follow her heart' for a maths test when she was thirteen. She failed that maths test and never listened to herself anymore.
She heard footsteps behind her and froze. Her eyes wide and lips quivering with fear, she turned around slowly, but there was nothing except the shadows. Miku hated everything then, her father (sorry, father, for being a bad daughter), herself (sorry, myself, for listening to those insane policemen), the darkness (screw you) and that blasted Lightless group (it's all your fault).
She then heard voices, and then a conversation. It sounded like a man and a woman's voices. The conversation was whispered, and she couldn't make out a single word. She shuddered, and hurried on.
If you were Len and Gumi, you would know that Len was currently feeling angry and very annoyed and Gumi, being an adventurous girl, was pestering him to walk faster and be more enthusiastic, we're about to be free, Len! At this, Len got angry, and began chiding her.
"This is not a game, Gumi!" He hissed. "This is actual, important business! If anything goes wrong, we get caught!"
"Which is why we shouldn't be so uptight, right?" Gumi said with a smile. "If we're all tense and stiff, they'll be, too, and it'll be hard to solve problems."
"Or they'll just throw us into jail upon first sight," grumbled Len. He made to walk faster, but Gumi grabbed his arm, and when he turned around to glare at her, he stopped himself upon seeing her serious expression. She was frowning at the figure ahead of them. It was a normal woman, with too-loud heels, and a bulging pocket. He didn't pay much attention to her.
"Isn't she heading to the mansion?" Gumi asked, her tongue flickering past her lips. Her eyes were squinted as she attempted to look past the darkness, then they widened and she looked at Len, terrified. "Len, she's a police."
"We wouldn't know if she's going to the mansion," said Len reassuringly, but he felt the worry tugging at his chest. What if she was, and she caught the members of Lightless? His only friends, and his sister …
"If she turns right, then she is," said Gumi, and they watched as the figure hurried their footsteps and … turned right. They both turned to each other simultaneously and blinked in alarm. She's going to the mansion! She's going to catch the others!
Len willed himself to calm down and access the situation. If they delayed the policewoman and warned the others … they could get away. But how would they delay the police? She looked prim and businesslike, and Len was sure that she wouldn't take any nonsense. Then an idea hit him. A suicidal one, but an idea nevertheless.
They would confess that they were members of Lightless.
He turned to tell this idea to Gumi, but to his alarm, the girl was already gone.
Meanwhile, Gumi was treading carefully behind the woman. After turning a left, a right, and walking through the forest, the woman would reach the mansion. Gumi had to hurry! She bit on her tongue, and prepared to charge at the woman.
Gumi had many bad qualities, she knew. But cowardice certainly wasn't one of them. She was like a hero - brave, headstrong, and kind (most of them weren't true, but). She would save the world (Lightless, actually, but) from demise (that took the form of a single woman)!
At that crucial moment, Gumi tripped. Over nothing. And she fell down, like the London Bridge. The woman turned around at the thud and her face was shocked, but as she registered the scene before her, she scowled, as if Gumi had just wasted a lot of her time.
Okay, Gumi was a big, fat coward. She was afraid of this scary woman with scary glares. She grinned in an attempt to hide the fact that she was scared, stood up, turned around, cupped her hands around her mouth, and yelled.
Len was running. He had intended to take a shortcut but it was blocked by a group of adolescents. He had to turn around and retrace his footsteps. He turned a corner, and heard Gumi's voice.
"Len!"
He was scared. A million different thoughts were running through his head: Was Gumi in trouble? Was Gumi hurt? Did that woman do this? Len gritted his teeth and ran harder. No, he thought. You can't take my family away from me anymore. No one can. I have Lightless, and you can't take them away from me. You can't, you can't, you can't.
Len was nearing Gumi, he could tell. He heard a thump and a muffled yell. His heart danced wildly in his chest. What was happening? What was going on? What? What?
He reached them, and as he panted, he felt mildly disappointed.
Oh.
Gumi was standing, triumph blazing in her eyes, and the woman was on the floor, unconscious. Her arms were tied behind her back. "I got her!" Gumi said, panting as hard as Len, a grin pulled across her face.
Len sighed and ran his fingers through his sweaty hair. He walked closer to the two women to examine the policewoman. She had bright teal hair and tiny, cherry-like lips. She was petite and small. She looked like a princess from a fairy tale, like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. Maybe she was both.
Then reality hit him. They had just … beat up another person. A police, at that. They would not be forgiven for sure. He turned and glared at Gumi.
"You call this clearing our name? How will this clear our name?" He yelled, infuriated. "I mean, you did a good job, since she was going to bring us all to jail, but still!"
"She was going to catch us!" Gumi cried defensively. "You said it yourself."
Len sighed again. "Well," he cast a glance at the unconscious woman, "we'll figure this out when she wakes up. But we'll have to bring her back to the mansion first."
And, unknown to the two, they have just stirred up a huge problem.
first things first: I'M SO SORRY. I DIDN'T UPDATE THIS FOR AGES AND AGES (for aN ENTIRE YEAR!1!1!1) AND I AM SO SORRY. I REREAD IT, FELT LIKE SHIT BECAUSE THE STORY WAS UTTER CRAP, AND DECIDED TO REWRITE IT. SO HERE YOU GO. i am so sorry for disappearing from fanfiction; i don't even have a proper reason for disappearing except for exams and love live. i updated 2 stories in one go and i died a little on the inside, but if you guys would forgive me then it will aLL BE WORTH IT.
i wrote this really quickly; the first part on my iPad and the other on the computer. i proofread it really quickly, but if i missed any mistakes, please let me know! i also hope that you enjoyed this new version of lightless. i sincerely hope that you do orz
also, if you noticed that sOME CHARACTERS ARE MISSING! WHERE'S MY KOKO?! MY LUKA? LI AND MIKI AND YUUMA?! well, do not panic. i have removed them from Lightless! why? because when i reread the story, there was an explosion of characters in chapter 3. there were too many and i lost count of all of them. i had to write their names down, it was that bad. so i split them up. where the others went, i think you know by now ...?
that's all! i wrote lots of crap because i always do, haha uvu i hope you enjoyed this chapter!
—hana