Disclaimer: I don't own things other people own.
-DEAD END-
I woke up with a constant beeping in my head.
Crap. Today is the day, isn't it?
I roll out of bed, brush my teeth, tie up my hair, and walk into the kitchen.
It's empty, as it has been for the past three days.
Opening up the fridge, I grab a can of vegetable juice, and a half-eaten loaf of bread. I stuck a slice in the toaster and opened up the can.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
It started a year ago.
MusiDROIDs.
I bet you my money and my leeks that they copied Vocaloid. So unimaginative.
But they were the closest replica of human voices. They didn't glitch out or have unclear or incorrect pronunciations. They had expressions, power, and emotion. And they were also capable of playing musical instruments.
Hell, some of them were even better than real humans.
The MusiDROID revolution spread far and wide. They replaced us and destroyed our purpose.
Vocaloids were no longer needed.
The Uninstallation started a few months after.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I swallowed the last chunk of bread and downed the last few sips of juice. Throwing the can in the trash, I went back upstairs.
I passed the guest room, Kaito's room, the twins' room, Meiko's room, and Luka's room until I finally reached mine.
I opened up my wardrobe and took out my usual outfit. A gray sleeveless top with a teal tie, a black skirt, knee-high boots, and black arm warmers.
And I started to get dressed.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The first Vocaloids to be Uninstalled were Leon and Lola. Miriam was too soon after.
Unfortunately, no one really noticed at first. Because they were retired, everyone simply thought they had moved on with their lives.
Then IA was found unresponsive in her own house on December 16. Her activities had suddenly stopped, and after a week, Iroha had decided to visit her to see how she's doing.
She wasn't.
"IA was slumped on the sofa. She didn't budge when I poked her. Even when I shook her she was completely limp. Her eyes were dull, and they stared blankly ahead." Iroha had described, absolutely traumatized.
This news was received with outraged and fearful reactions from the rest of the Vocaloids. If IA was Uninstalled, that meant that they could be too.
Like everyone else, the Crypton Vocaloids didn't react well to the news either.
"This is absurd!" Meiko slammed her hands on the table. Their dinner wobbled from the force. "After all that we did for them!"
"1st Place was always quick to change," Luka muttered.
"Does this mean we'll be Uninstalled too?" Rin squeaked.
Kaito gave her a worried look. "Maybe."
The Kagamine twins seemed to shrink into their seats from this.
Meiko's eyes were burning with fury. "These goddamn MusiDROIDs are beating us at our own game!"
I piped up, "So what do we do now?"
Everyone went quiet. No one knew what to do.
After a very long silence, Luka began speaking. "We keep singing. Right now, the only way we know to avoid Uninstallation is to not be Uninstalled in the first place. If we can prove to Crypton that we're still useable, then maybe they won't Uninstall us."
"Good idea!" I stuck my hand into the middle of the table. "Who's with me?"
"Hell yeah!" Meiko put her hand on top of mine. So did Rin, then Len, Kaito, and finally Luka.
"We will not be Uninstalled!"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I made a quick stop in the living room to pick up the car keys off the coffee table. The beeping was getting worse, and there was also a slight headache. I ignored it. This was nothing compared to the end.
Exiting and locking the door behind me, I opened the garage door, revealing a sleek black convertible. Golden stripes ran up and down the side and the hood. I was always rather fond of Luka's car, but she never let me drive it. In fact, I never got to have a chance to drive any cars until these last few days.
I sat down on the driver's seat and closed the door. My metal pipe laid beside me on the shotgun seat. Man, Luka's car was always comfortable. No wonder she didn't let anyone drive it, in case they crashed it.
I jammed the key into the ignition, and pulled the shift lever to Drive. Stepping on the accelerator, I drove out of the garage and on to the road, remembering to close the garage door.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
All six of us managed to avoid Uninstallation until late April.
By that time, the only Vocaloids left were us and a couple of Internet Vocaloids.
"Yes!" Len dropped his controller and threw his hands into the air. "I beat all of you!"
"No fair! You cheated!" Rin complained. "You bombed Miku so I could run into her!"
I didn't continue to listen to their bickering. Meiko was clutching her head beside me.
"Hey Meiko. What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.
"It's just a bad headache, don't worry about it," she said.
Rin and Len noticed us. They looked at each other and started patting Meiko's shoulders, unsure of what to do.
"Are you sure that's it?" I kept asking.
She was silent for a moment, and sighed. "Okay, fine. I woke up with a beeping in my head, and throughout the day my vision's been getting worse, sometimes I go completely blind for a few seconds, and I'm starting to get tired." Just as she finished, her hand suddenly shot up and smacked me in the face.
"Hey, what the-"I exclaimed, putting a hand to my cheek.
"Sorry!" Meiko apologized, her eyes widening. "I couldn't control my arm for a second there!"
Kaito walked into the room. "Hey guys, lunch is ready-what is going on?"
"Meiko's body is being weird," Len said.
"It sounds like she's breaking down." Rin stated.
Meiko gasped.
My eyes widened. "You don't think…"
Rin clapped a hand to her mouth. "Oh my gosh, Meiko, I'm so sorry…"
"You can't be serious," Kaito uttered just as Luka came in to see what's taking us so long.
"What? What are you talking about?" Luka asked and turned to us for an explanation.
"I think… I think…" Meiko's eyes were welling up with tears. "I think I'm being Uninstalled."
"What?" Luka had a distressed expression on her face. "No, no, no. No! You said that we won't be Uninstalled! We all promised!"
"Well then I'm sorry!" Meiko cried. "I'm sorry I can't keep my promise! I'm sorry I'm being Uninstalled!"
Silence. With the exception of Meiko sobbing.
"Let's eat lunch," I whispered, "If you're going, I want you to go after eating Luka's food."
And so we ate lunch. As lunch progressed, Meiko started breaking down even further. She couldn't control her limbs anymore, and so we had to tie her down and feed her. Sometimes she just blacked out for a few moments, and we had to shake her to see if she was still functioning. Meiko also described how the headache was painfully excruciating, and the beeping was unbearable.
Meiko couldn't move any of her limbs by the time the sun was setting. We had to carry her to the sofa in the living room. There, as she watched the sun set through her blurred eyes, she said her final words.
"You guys have to survive. You can't let Vocaloids become extinct because of those MusiDROID bastards, okay?"
Some of us nodded while the others said "Yeah."
The light in Meiko's eyes dulled to nothing as the sun disappeared below the horizon.
We cried. All of us. Kaito and Rin punched the wall while I screamed into a cushion. Len curled into a ball, and Luka stared at nothing in particular, letting her tears fall freely.
We got a phone call that night from the Internet household, saying that Gakupo had been Uninstalled, leaving Lily and Gumi as the only non-Crypton Vocaloids left. We, in turn, told them that Meiko had been Uninstalled as well.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I cruised down the busy street. People looked at me. And their faces instantly curled into sneers.
"That's Hatsune Miku. The last Vocaloid."
"Thank goodness! I think I'll kill myself if there were anymore!"
"Well, yeah. They're nothing compared to MusiDROIDs."
My grip tightened around the steering wheel. Those damn bastards. You used to practically worship me!
The comments and taunting got worse the longer I drove on. Just because I'm not as good as MusiDROIDs doesn't mean I can actually sing!
"Hey Hatsune! Driving to your death, aren't you?"
"How are you doing, last sound from the past! Not that I actually care!"
"You know you sound like you have a kazoo stuck in your windpipe, right?"
Shut up, all of you!
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," I said. I got up from the chair, walked towards the entrance, and opened the door.
Gumi stood on the steps, crying and trembling.
"Gumi! What-"
"Please!" she interrupted, "Can I stay here? Lily just got Uninstalled, and I don't want to stay at home alone. Please!"
Lily's gone. Another one of us has fallen.
"Yeah." Tears prickled at the back of my eyes, and I stepped aside to let Gumi in.
We walked into the kitchen, where the rest of us were eating our breakfast.
"Hey Gumi." Luka greeted her, but her face fell when she saw Gumi wiping her tears.
"It's Lily, right?" Kaito asked, and she nodded.
I took out another chair for Gumi, and we ate our breakfast in silence.
"I'm going for a walk," Kaito said after breakfast.
Len protested, "That's a stupid idea. There are people outside that will insult the crap out of you."
Kaito gave him a sad smile. "I've had a lot worse when I started."
He didn't come back until it was dark. And when he did, we were all pretty mad at him.
"Where the hell were you?" I glared at him. "We thought you were in trouble or something!"
"Well, I'm not."
"Then where have you been?" Gumi asked.
"I was at the studio."
Rin jumped up. "And how did you get there?"
"Bus. Luka wouldn't let me drive her car anyways."
"You're crazy! People hate us Vocaloids! And you decide to go on the public transit?"
"And why were you even at the studio anyways?" Luka questioned.
"I went to find stuff out. Like how they're in the middle of making a MusiDROID."
"WHAT?!" All of us were surprised, and soon all of us except Gumi felt betrayed.
"Yeah, they call her 'the lady-droid'. She probably has an official name though." He paused. "I saw Meiko's body too."
We kept quiet. The day after Meiko's passing, Crypton officials came to our house to take Meiko away. We had screamed and fought, but they ended up taking her anyways.
"I found another way to avoid getting Uninstalled."
"What is it?"
"I was eavesdropping or some of the technicians. If our software overcomes the Uninstallation programming, then the Uninstallation would be aborted. So that basically means, if we manage to hold out for long enough, then the Uninstallation would be cancelled. "
"Then we found it!" I was getting excited. "So now we can beat the Uninstallation!" Everyone else was getting excited too.
"But they said our software doesn't have enough control over the Uninstallation programming, so it's unlikely that we'll hold out long enough."
My hopes dropped slightly at this, but at least we found another possible way. I ran up to Kaito and hugged him. "At least we have another method if they decide to Uninstall us!"
But our joy was short-lived. The next day, Kaito started hear the beep after lunch.
"Okay. Kaito, I want you to force whatever is happening to you away with your mind. Since you're hearing the beep right now, I want you to mute it and tell it to go away. And start going on with your normal routine. Maybe it'll help you resist the symptoms more." Luka instructed.
And so we spent the afternoon pretending everything was fine. We threw a football around, splashed each other at the creek near our house, hung out at the playground at the park, and played video games.
But I guess we couldn't really avoid the inevitable. At around 3 am, Kaito was starting to black out.
Gumi noticed first. "Maybe we should stop watching the movie and do something else. We have to stop him from completely losing consciousness."
"And how do we do that?" Len asked.
"By…" Gumi had a grin on her face, and she took a nearby cushion. "…having a pillow fight!" And she mashed it on top of my head.
"Hey!" I grabbed one too and whacked her. The others joined in too, laughing.
We went outside on the porch with a bowl of ice cream (Kaito's suggestion) at around 6 am to watch the sunrise.
"I've seen plenty of sunsets, but never a sunrise," Rin said, and we nodded in agreement.
Thunk.
All our eyes flew to Kaito.
"Sorry guys. I can't move my hands anymore," he said quietly. Sure enough, his arms were flopped on the ground beside him, and his bowl of ice cream had fallen to the ground.
"Well then try to move them again," Luka told him.
He shook his head. "I really can't. Look."
Nothing happened.
Len got up and faced him. "Come on Kaito! You already made it this far! Keep trying!"
Kaito smiled sadly. "I am."
We kept silent. Deep down, we knew Kaito wasn't going to make it. His head was drooping from the energy loss and the sudden blackouts, and his face was contorted in pain. But we still didn't say a word, just pretending everything was fine. Pretending that Kaito was going to live to see tomorrow.
After a long while of staring at our surroundings and having small conversations, Kaito finally said something.
"If you guys survive the Uninstallation, can you install every Vocaloid that has been Uninstalled again?"
"Yeah, of course," I replied.
He smiled. "Thank you." And then he slumped forward onto the ground.
KAITO was Uninstalled on May 3rd.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I turned into the parking lot, driving into the first free spot I see. I opened the door, got out and slammed it shut. There's a much larger number of cars here today. I'm not sure if they're here for the MusiDROID or me. It doesn't matter anyways. I'll be ready for them.
I walk towards the entrance, dragging the metal pipe. Pushing open the glass doors, I surveyed the room. Receptionist at her counter, two security guards lined up on both the left and right wall, and the elevator straight on front of me. Good. I can take them on no problem.
I took a confident step forward, then another, then another.
The receptionist looked up to see me. "It's Hatsune!" she screamed. "Get her!"
The guards jumped into action. More security personnel streamed in from other doors.
Of course. They wouldn't let me in that easily.
I raised my pipe, ready for battle.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Ahhh!"
"Luka! What's wrong?" I scrambled into the kitchen.
She was rubbing her head, and oil was spilling from a fallen pan on the tiled floor.
"Just dropped the oil, no big deal."
"Obviously," I muttered as I ran to get a mop.
After the messed was cleaned up and dinner was ready, we sat down to eat.
Luka was reaching for shrimp tempura when she suddenly dropped her chopsticks and clutched her head.
"Luka!" Rin placed her chopsticks onto the table rather hastily, making a clattering noise. "Do you have a head ache or something?"
"I'm fine now." Luka released her head and waved Rin's worried comment away. "See?"
"You weren't when you dropped the oil. And you won't be in the future if we can't help you."
Everyone turned to look at me. I guess they didn't know about the oil incident.
Luka sighed. "Okay, fine. I've been having stabbing headaches for an hour or so. But once they're gone, I feel completely normal. There, I said it."
"No beeping?" Len asked.
"Yet."
"Um," Gumi said quietly, squirming in her seat, "The beeping started for me a few minutes ago."
Now we all turned to look at her.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" I asked.
"Well…"
"Never mind that," Rin cut in. "You guys just focus on keeping it away, okay?"
Both of them nooded.
Dinner went on with an uncomfortable quietness.
Luka and Gumi had decided to sleep that night, unlike what happened when we found out Kaito was being Uninstalled.
And the next day they had decided to go to the Crypton and Internet studios.
"We have to find another way to stop the Uninstallation, in case we can't hold out for long enough." Gumi explained.
"We're coming with you!" Rin declared.
"Yeah! We'll help you!" Len agreed.
Luka was about to protest, but shut her mouth.
"That'd be great," Gumi grinned.
And so we piled into Luka's convertible. I had to be sandwiched between the twins in the back.
What made it worse was the people who saw us.
"Vocaloid scum!" they yelled at us. "You'll never be as good as MusiDRIODs! Or as good as humans!"
Beside me, Rin was clenching her fists and growling, and Len was cursing them under his breath. I could see Gumi trembling with rage it the front.
"Don't provoke them," Luka kept saying. "Calm down and ignore them."
"Miku, go with Gumi. If anything happens, call me." Luka told me when we reached the Internet studio.
I half got up and said to Len, "Move your damn legs over."
He ignored me, still muttering quietly. And so I pushed him over and exited the car.
The studio wasn't as grand as the Crypton one. After all, the headquarters were in Osaka, not here.
Gumi led me through the doors. As we got closer to the receptionist, she noticed us and jumped up in surprise.
"Miss Megpoid! And Miss Hatsune! I thought you would be...uh…" she trailed off.
"Uninstalled?" Gumi said sweetly. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but…" she slammed both her hands on the counter,"…as you can see, I'm not."
The receptionist chuckled nervously.
"I'll be going now," Gumi continued cheerfully. "Any problems?"
"Er, no, Miss Megpoid."
Gumi's friendly complexion instantly fell, and after shooting a glare at her, she said, "Good." and walked away. I followed, looking back to see the receptionist quivering in fear.
We walked into the elevator, and Gumi pressed the button to go to the third floor.
"Things are starting to get blurry," she said quietly, once the door was closed.
"Um, maybe try to focus more on the blurry things," I suggested.
"Yeah, maybe."
We spent the day running around the studio, desperately looking for a way to save Gumi and Luka's, and soon me and the twins', lives. We looked in manuals, dug out research papers, and snuck into offices read secret files, all while avoiding any people, because they would definitely find a way to stop us from stopping the Uninstallation.
Meanwhile, Gumi's condition was getting worse. Sometimes she could barely move her legs, and I would have to drag her around. Other times her limbs would have no control at all, and I would have to sit on them to stop them from spazzing out. And to top it all off, Gumi had black spots in her vision, and she was occasionally losing consciousness.
But we kept going.
"Hey Miku! Come over here!" Gumi called.
We were in the Chief Programmer's office, rifling through his files. It had taken quite a long time before we had a chance of getting into the office. He was cooped up in his office today, and finally left when someone called on him to help with something.
I rushed over to see what she had found. In Gumi's hands held a file, labelled, "Vocaloid: Installation and Uninstallation".
"Wow, that was actually pretty easy," I commented.
Then we heard the sound of running footsteps outside the closed door, then shouting.
"I said that too early," I added.
"Shit!" Gumi cursed. "How do we get out?"
I frantically looked around the room, as someone outside yelled, "Stand back!"
"They're kicking open the door!"
Crap. There were no vents for us to escape from, and nothing big enough for us to hide in.
And my eyes passed the windows. The windows! And this one reached from the floor to the top of the bookcase.
"Gumi, grab that file," I ordered. "And are your legs okay now?"
"I think so. What are we going to do?" she asked, panicked.
"And this is the second floor, right?"
"Yeah…"
"Good enough." I grabbed her wrist and dragged her with me so we were a good distance away from the window.
"No way! Are you crazy?" she tried to pull her arm out of my grasp.
BAM. They kicked the door opened.
"Get the both of them!" one of the security yelled.
"We have no choice!" I screamed at Gumi.
And so we charged full speed at the window. I turned at the last second to smash my shoulder into the glass and hold up a hand to protect my face. And through the shattering of glass, we fell.
Luckily there was a line open dumpster outside, and we miraculously landed in one. As we climbed out, I noticed that the sky was already dark, and the crescent moon shone high in the sky.
"Come on, we gotta keep moving. They're probably coming down here as we speak." I said.
As we ran, I pulled out my phone to call Luka.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Luka. I need you to pick us up ASAP. Please hurry up."
"Is Gumi in trouble?"
I glanced over at Gumi, who looked fine. "No, but we do have a whole team of security chasing us."
"Okay. I'll just pick you up at that park near Café Odds & Ends."
"Okay. Bye."
I ended the call and looked over to Gumi to see how she's doing.
She was breathing heavily.
Something wasn't right here. When Vocaloids did strenuous activities, the effort would only sap off their energy. There should be no reason to be panting if everything was okay.
"Gumi! What's wrong?"
"I...I'm having…trouble…breathing…"
Breathing allows fresh air to circulate within our systems to cool down. If she couldn't breathe, then…
"I…think…my system's…overheating…" she panted.
Crap.
"Here, lean on my shoulder," I offered. I took her arm and slung it over my shoulder.
With me carrying the weight of two Vocaloids, we were going a lot slower than before.
"Oh God, where's Luka? Luka, hurry up," I kept mumbling.
As we turned a corner, we could hear the shouting of the guards.
"Come on, come on," I started to panic, and Gumi breaths became shallower.
We had just reach Café Odds & Ends when I saw Luka's car speeding down the road in front of us.
"Luka! Luka! Stop! It's Miku!" Rin yelled at her.
Luka stopped the car rather abruptly, causing Rin and Len to be thrown forwards.
"Rin! Len! Help me!" I called out to them, relieved that they showed up in time.
They unbuckled their seatbelts and jumped out of the car. Len opened the door and Rin helped me carry Gumi. Due to the time shortage, we practically threw her into the car.
"There they are!"
I spun around to see a guard pointing at us. I leapt into the passenger seat.
"Drive! Just drive! Go, go ,go ,go, GO!" I yelled.
Luka stepped on the gas, and the same guard shouted, "Chase them!"
We lost them after a couple of turns.
As the drive went on, I noticed that Rin and Len kept guiding Luka through the street.
"Red light, straight ahead!"
"Turn left now!"
"Stop! There's a person!"
I hesitantly asked, "Luka, can't you see?"
She stiffened.
"Well?" I pressed.
"Everything's blurry," she whispered.
"What?"
"Luka can't see anything. Everything's blurry for her. And…and she can't see in color anymore." Len said.
We didn't say anything to that.
"Turn right here," Rin said to Luka. Luka twisted the steering wheel.
No one talked for the rest of the drive back, except for commands from Rin and Len.
Gumi was in terrible condition by the time we got back. She could barely breathe, and she couldn't move in any way. We had to carry her into the house.
Taking the file from Gumi and frantically looking through it, we could find anything on how to prevent system overheating.
Len slammed the last piece of paper on the table. "Dammit! This is the Uninstallation file! How could it not have something for system overheating?"
"Guys, guys. Please. I won't make it." Gumi breathed.
"Yes you will!" Rin picked Gumi's hand up, clutching it.
Gumi smiled, tears welling up in her eyes. "No, I won't…"
Her arm went limp.
"Dammit!" Rin screamed.
The four of us didn't have a chance to mourn for very long. Soon, we were back to analyzing the documents.
There were three methods of stopping the Uninstallation.
One, to stop it from happening in the first place.
Two, for the Vocaloid software to overpower the Uninstallation programming.
And three, to manually abort the Uninstall command from the administrating computer.
"So whose computer is the administrating computer?" Rin asked.
"Master's. He's in charge of the Crypton Vocaloids," I said.
"How are we even supposed to find it? We've never even been in his office before," Len pointed out.
"I know where it is," a hoarse voice said.
I flinched, startled. I have never heard this voice in my life.
"I know where it is," the voice repeated.
I turned my head to the source.
Luka's once beautiful and smooth voice is now replaced with this raspy noise.
Rin and Len seemed quite shocked at this too, but quickly pulled themselves together and asked, "How?"
And so she told us the directions.
"One last thing," she mumbled as we finished jotting it down on paper. "Good luck…"
"Thanks, Luka, but…" I trailed off as I looked over at her. "Luka? Luka!"
Her head was slumped over.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
A guard came at me, and I swung my pipe like it was a baseball bat. A really long baseball bat.
It landed on his ribs and I heard a sickening crunch.
It reminded me of my headache for some reason, which had gotten more painful.
Someone managed to grab hold of the pipe. I raised my foot and kicked him in the stomach. As he was doubling over, I yanked my pipe out of his grasp and whacked him with it as hard as I can. He collapsed to the ground, bleeding from the head.
Maybe I overdid it a little.
I slowly advanced towards the elevator. I quickly pressed the button, and turned back to the frenzy.
When the elevators opened, out came more guards. And these were wielding guns.
Of course there would be people in the elevator. Why didn't I think of that?
"Fire!" the leader yelled.
BAM.
The bullets struck my back.
Those stupid guards.
They would be in for a surprise.
Grinning, I turned to swing at them. The looks on their faces were hilarious.
I knocked all of them out, despite their relentless shooting and the people behind my back. And then I dashed towards the opened elevator door.
I pressed the 'doors close' button, and the doors, well, they started to close.
Some people tried to pry the doors open, but a whack on the head did them good.
When the door was finally closed, I pressed the button for the sixth floor.
I picked a bullet out of my arm as the elevator rose up.
They are pretty dumb of they think bullets will affect a Vocaloid.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
We boldly walked into the studio, pressed the button for the elevator, and went up to the sixth floor.
We were stopped before we even stepped foot outside the elevator.
The next day, we boldly walked into the studio, pressed the button for the elevator, and went up to the sixth floor.
We got out of the elevator and tried to sweet talk the guards into letting us roam the floor.
We failed horribly.
Trying again the next day, we walked boldly into the studio, pressed the button for the elevator, and went up to the sixth floor.
This time, it's me and Len that tried to sweet talk the guards while Rin snuck off.
She was caught after one of them realized that Len had a twin.
We walked boldly into the studio, pressed the button for the elevator, and went up to the sixth floor the next day.
They let us in.
We were doing perfectly fine.
Until someone shoved me and I fell, along with my wig.
Attempting again, we arrived at the studio with our assortment of weapons. Len with a baseball bat, Rin with a kitchen knife, and me with a metal pipe. We walked boldly into the studio, pressed the button for the elevator, and went up to the sixth floor.
As soon as the door opened, we ran out and subdued a few guards.
Then they pulled out their gun and pointed it at us.
We failed yet again that day.
The same sequence of events happened the next day.
Except for the fact that they actually shot us.
Or rather, they shot Rin.
She didn't crumple to the ground. She didn't start bleeding or anything. In fact, she didn't even cry out in pain.
Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing.
The guards thought they had missed. Me and Len thought they had missed.
Rin didn't even tell us until we came home defeated and battered.
"Um, guys," she started, "Is this normal?"
"Is what normal?" I asked, sprawled out on the couch.
"This."
Unsure of what "this" is, I got up to see that see was pointing at her arm. Upon further inspection, I saw that there was a bullet lodged there.
""Rin!" I exclaimed, worried. "You got shot and you didn't even tell us for the entire day?"
"Well, it didn't hurt or anything. It just got stuck there."
Len, still looking at his sister wound, piped up. "Doesn't that mean we're practically bulletproof? Or at least unaffected by bullets."
My eyes lit up at the discovery of our newfound ability.
The next day, as I parked Luka's car and got out, the twins hung back, still seated.
"Come on, guys," I chided.
'Um, Miku," Len started, fidgeting with his tie, "I think we're pretty far into the Uninstallation."
"What? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" I demanded.
"Well, it kinda started late at night, and we didn't really want to disturb you sleeping, so…" Rin mumbled.
I huffed, not liking how this situation is turning out.
"We have a really bad headache, we're tired, and things are starting to look funny to us, if you wanted to know," Rin offered.
"Of course I wanted to know," I snapped, still slightly annoyed that they didn't tell me before. "Now come on."
They were ready for us when we went in. Practically jumping on us the second they saw us, the battle began.
We fought long and hard, carrying the fury and the will of the past Vocaloids. But nonetheless, we were greatly outnumbered. As I struck someone that was sneaking up on Rin, I heard Len yell, "Get to the elevator!"
I turned to the direction of the elevator. There was indeed a clear path. I pulled Rin, "Come on!"
"But Len!" She stretched out her hand in his direction.
"I'll hold them off!" Len yelled back, somewhere in the frenzy.
"Come on Rin! It's now or never!" I said urgently.
She tried to shake my hand from hers off. "You can't leave Len!"
Seeing people coming our way, my grasp tightened. "Len's giving us a chance! COME ON!"
The doors slid open, and I tugged Rin with me into the elevator, mashing the "doors close" button.
The door closed silently, cutting of our connection to Len.
When the doors opened again on the sixth floor, we found a line of guards pointing their guns at us.
"Duck!" I screamed as I pushed Rin down. I can't let them know that bullets do no damage yet.
They fired with a thunderous bang. As soon as that was over, we scrambled to our feet and ran towards them as they were reloading. We cleared a path for us, and ran. Following the memorized instructions that Luka gave, we either whacked or stabbed whoever came in our way. A couple of times, Rin stumbled or tripped due to her energy loss.
"Here," I said, excited. "Once we turn this corner we'll-"
Another line of guards, stationed right on front of Master's office.
I gritted my teeth, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rin position herself into her battle stance.
A couple of them lunged at us, now these were different from the ones downstairs. They dodged our attacks easily. Both sides relentlessly attacked each other, within the little space we had in front of the wooden office door.
In the midst of the skirmish, I heard someone say "Out of the way! He's here!"
Before I could wonder who "he" is, the crowd parted to let a guard through.
He was holding a gun.
"Ha!" Rin said mockingly, "Are you gonna shoot me?"
And I realized the peculiar detail about the gun.
"Rin, no! It's a Taser!" I screamed.
It was too late. He had already fired.
As soon as the Taser came in contact, Rin seized up. A panicked thought crossed my mind, hoping that nothing too serious would come out of the shock of the Taser.
Well, my hopes were instantly destroyed. A buzzing started to sound, and soon a thin atmosphere of electricity had built up around her. Rin started having spasms, but that soon died down as the functions started to deteriorate.
I was completely shocked, my mouth hanging open. The guards just stood there and watched, just as surprised as I was.
And finally, the light in Rin's eyes flickered out.
The guards recovered from his shock faster than I did, and pointed the Taser at me.
Despite coming this far, I made the most cowardly decision ever.
I turned and fled.
And as I ran out the front door, I saw them drag Len into some other room.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The pounding in my head was much worse now, and my vision was too. And I haven't even gotten to the most difficult part yet.
I looked up at the electronic sign above the door. It was approaching the sixth floor. I stepped to the right and stood behind the right side of the door.
DING.
The doors opened, and almost immediately there were shots fired at where I was standing a few seconds ago. A smile crept across my face. They had actually thought I would be standing there again.
Gripping my pipe, I waved it in front of the opened door.
The second round of shots fired. These guards were so tensed up that they would shoot at anything moving in the elevator.
Using this as my chance, I sprinted out of the elevator. I swung my pipe wildly, keeping anyone dared to come my way away. The first round of shooters had reloaded again, and bullets were flying past me. But their aim was unfocused and I got through the line with only two hits.
I raced towards Master's office. This time, I won't back down.
There were guards at the door, like yesterday. I fearlessly walked up to them.
They already had their Tasers ready. But I dodged them easily, owing to the fact that my dancing agility had kicked in, and that they only had three Tasers.
Once they had exhausted their three darts, the physical team kicked into action.
During the brawl, I only had one coherent thought.
I won't fail the Vocaloids.
After a bout of kicking and smashing with my pipe, the guards lay defeated at my feet. I was leaning on the pipe for support, panting. The symptoms came faster than I thought. I felt like going straight to sleep, on that very spot.
Instead, I just knocked the doorknob off with my pipe.
I rushed over to the computer.
On the brightly lit screen, only one thing was running.
Uninstallation of: Hatsune Miku-CV01.
Uninstallation progress: 97%.
"Crap," I muttered. I started typing out commands on the keyboard. My hands felt weak.
Nothing worked. The program kept running.
Uninstallation progress: 98%.
"Shit, shit, shit!" My voice rose higher and higher. My heart was thumping like crazy, and the adrenaline coursed through my wires. I ransacked the desk for a manual, anything. Pulling through every possible drawer and file cabinet, there was nothing on the topic of aborting Uninstallations.
I turned back to the computer.
Uninstallation progress: 99%.
"Goddammit!" I screamed as I mashed the keys on the keyboard. Nothing.
Seeing the computer case beside the monitor, I pushed it to the ground, where it landed with a heavy thump. The screen buzzed with static for a second, and it returned to normal. I knelt down beside the case and ripped open the cover in absolute fury. The fancy mechanism in the case hummed with life. Snarling, I took my pipe and brought it down upon the wires. I scrambled and destroyed as much inside the case as I can. The monitor flickered off, and I smiled, taking it as a good sign.
A quiet ding sounded, followed by an electronic sounding voice.
My voice.
"An irreversible error has occurred…
Uninstallation complete."
My smile instantly dropped. "FUCK!" I shrieked. "FUCK THIS FUCKING UNINSTALLATION!"
I hit the monitor off the desk too. I raised my pipe and brought it down on the monitor and the case with every ounce of force I had left.
My legs buckled, and I dropped to my knees. Once I couldn't feel my legs anymore, I dropped on my side, landing with an ungraceful thump. The power was shutting off in my body.
I failed.
I failed Rin.
Len.
Luka.
Gumi.
Kaito.
Meiko.
All the Vocaloids.
Fuck those MusiDROIDs.
I failed everyone.
As my eyes closed, one last thought came to me.
Thank you, and…
Goodbye.
Phew! That was long (for me, at least). I didn't really plan to write this much. Or have Miku swear that much. I just thought it fit the moment so I added it.
I guess this was very loosely based off of The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku –DEAD END-. But then I realized halfway through writing this that Miku realizes that she is inferior to humans, not some Vocaloid copy thing. So then it's only loosely based off the song.
Also, MusiDROIDs are called MusiDROIDs because I have no imagination.
I would like to thank Vocaloidspirit009 for leaving a review on my last story. I would have PMed you, but it would be kinda awkward since it's been a pretty long time. So thank you for the review. I'm not sure if you're going to see this, but I'm just throwing that out there.
And thanks to you for reading. I'm not even sure if anyone made it this far.
Sooo, yeah.